Steve Mulinge Kiala is the director at Zanna Farms, located in Makueni County. The KU graduate practises mixed farming on his large piece of land.
While many Kenyans continue to grapple with unemployment, Steve Kiala quit his well-paying job in Nairobi, where he’d worked for over 5 years.
As challenging economic conditions continue to assert their heaviness on the economy, many will argue that leaving employment holds a notable degree of risk.
In 2017, Steve Kiala pursued agribusiness, immediately after he quit his auditor job at a big firm
During an interview with Citizen TV, he revealed that he sourced inspiration to take the daring move from a Zambian farmer who quit her nursing job in Australia.
Afterwards, she relocated back to Zambia and immersed herself fully in agribusiness. Her YouTube Channel is TheZedFarmer.
Steve Kiala recounts how the move from his Nairobi office day job to the farm in Makueni was difficult. People questioned his sanity, intelligence and motive.
“At some point, I had colleagues and friends who thought I had gone crazy. They thought I was mad and some even advised that I see a psychiatric doctor,” he reminisced.
Considering Makueni’s semi-arid nature, Kiala’s farming priority was getting a reliable source of water. He drilled a borehole for his venture.
“Luckily, God helped us and we found a lot of water there. 23,000 litres of water every day,” he said.
In addition to the borehole, Kiala thought it wise to excavate a dam which would supplement the borehole’s water. He says that it has been extremely practical, especially during the wet season.
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He has also installed solar panels on the farm for the purpose of pumping water from the borehole/dam to his storage tanks.
At his farm, he has implemented the drip irrigation technique, which has proven to be successful for him. Since then, his business has been thriving. He has cultivated crops on a total of 15 acres.
Onions have occupied 6 acres, maize 4 acres, tomatoes on 3 acres with cabbages having the least space (1 acre). He has also planted watermelons.
Through Agribusiness, Kiala has not only become an employer of permanent staff but also of casual labourers. This highlights his positive impact on the lives of people in the area.
“We have 8 permanent staff. From time to time we have between 15-70 employees depending on the amount of work,” Kiala added.
