My business affected my marriage but I don't regret walking out, I make millions in Gikomba -Tuko TV
me I went from South C all the way to Bellevue you know loves makes you blind but at some point things were just not adding up How much is this Jane? you mean this is KSh 25,000? let's say you can get up to when you look at this shop so how do you see this shop I think that I have finally landed and I have just been informed that a bedsheet goes for how much again? Ksh 1,600 then later on I will be taking you to Gikomba I think I am done here hey how are you? you good? you look nice madam you guys ae fine? we are fine you understand those stories we had those guys who worked as casual labourers where you are given a portion of land to till then you are paid the challenge now was where will I go to college as I waited to go to college the compound was not well kept someone was managing it for her the caretaker now those who live in Thika know that most plots are built with an extension of a shop my late mum had allowed her to built an extension like a kiosk which she built nicely just like a small house on the plot as I sleep on the floor I would wake up in the morning In Thika I used to see during those days so much milk that was being boiled then it's measured and sold in small plastic bags collect firewood in the estate, boil the milk the money that my brother would give me for fare attachment with a Shylock? yes, upon getting the attachment with a shylock they sent me to Embu branch I went to Embu and I can tell you with you a Shylock you see all manner of things one person came and filled the form then you are given your money he came armed with a well sharpened machete and asked for his money this one will kill me a stove and a few cooking pots so I disappeared sometime back the Githurai Round about was full of beds and other times for sale she had an eatery where where she sold breakfast and lunch to business people around that area she told me instead of staying home come and start hawking tea with Mwende and Akinyi then you are paid on commission exactly the people I had the tea and chapati to the thing is you give guys tea then get paid as you collect the cups from them I was a young and a naive girl whose job was to hawk tea guys used to take advantage of my naivity, they would disappear after taking the tea but then a job is just a job in the evening some cups were missing, I had less money remember I was used to hustling just around Githurai so I told myself since I have my certificates I will not just stay home we came all the way from the village I asked her where do you live, she told me she lives at Kariobangi at light industry I asked permission from my brother the lotion and we were offered a job as sales girls he would come to repair the machines used in manufacturing the nice and lovely lotion as well as repair the ones in Ruiru he told me he wanted to introduce me to his boss because Eunice had told him I was looking for a job everything was okay I don't know what happened and the company collapsed I was fresh from college and I had a lot of problems I got married to I met someone working as an accountant in a big company so it was obvious one of us had to lose their job by the time we were wedding I got a baby, I had no job and we were living in a small room in Donholm my hair was done by a certain lady her name was Betty I told her I just want a place where I can spend the day I would then go to Bettys salon where I would spend the day, I started undoing peoples hair A client would pay KSh 100 and I would be paid a commission of KSh 30 So I made sure I served as many clients as possible she was selling she was hawking these small belts, there was a time they were on fashion so I asked her where she normally gets them from she used to sell a piece at KSh 100 I asked her where she gets them from and she told me at Bus Station I asked me to take me there but she told me once I alight from the bus I will spot them, one goes for Ksh 50 at that time I had saved up to KSh 200 so I went to Bus Station I went and bought 4 pieces at KSh 200 I started hawking the 4 pieces, when I meet a customer who needs maybe a red one or perhaps a bigger one I would rush and collect more I could hawk and at the same time assist Betty in the Salon that is what I did on a daily basis I would pick just one shoe go out there to hawk, when a client gives me deposit I would then rush to bring the remaining shoe and get paid I would send him bus fare we have trench coats guys who deal with second hand clothes call them China trench coats, a bale goes for KSh 5,000 to KSh 7,000 I bought a bale for a start which I started hawking to friends she would give me her hand bags and together we would go hawking them around State House road we now had an income that would sustain us we moved from Donholm to Buruburu so I had done that job for I started keeping rabbits I started keeping rabbits but one thing about these animals they eat more than your own kids they started breeding and eating like nobody's business we jumped ship and starting rearing quails too, so we had both rabbits and quails so now some would buy but at this point we were undergoing hardship and started eating the rabbits now rabbit is chicken they didn't know this is not chicken, we survived on rabbits you went to set them free but they didn't want to go it's like they didn't know they were supposed to fly away you understand there's a difference between quails reared at home and those in the bushes this is so funny so you were so angry that you just wanted to set them free just go so will you feed the rabbits, the quails or the kids the children had really fed on quails eggs was sorted so now we were desperate and told her Judy for cars so I told Judy please help Bony get a job even if it means washing cars quails need electricity and it had been disconnected the rabbits needed electricity but they had been disconnected my husband had gotten a job but he could not even iron his clothes I had to spread the clothes under the bad, slept on them and in the morning they had no creases our lives changed for the better so we no longer had the rabbits and quails, I still did not have a job after I lost the one I had at Road A we moved from Harambee and went to Phase 1 later on we moved to South C I used to go to Moi Avenue to work in a salon as he goes to Lovington where the showroom was situated me I used to walk from South C to Bellevue held me from the back I was taken to Avenue, that is where mostly they dwell with Psychological problems at times I would sink into deep thoughts and when someone calls my name I get startled why you have not showered or eaten I used to drink them, lose all my energy, fall down, vomit I just kept it there's a piece of land that the road passed through they shared the money and gave each of us girls KSh 50,000 I would rush to Eastleigh to buy items for sale I opened a boutique he could get some deals and make money while at Moi Avenue, there's a friend of mine whom we met at a wedding she told me she wants to go Gikomba and I told her my dream is to be there as well one day she told me she had the capital, she was on maternity leave she told me she wanted to own a shop in Gikomba and I told her jokingly why don't you employ me she told me okay, so we closed my shop at Moi Avenue then we went to look for a shop in Gikomba then most of my family friends have businesses in Gikomba I used to go to their shops they are the ones who advised us on what to buy and even the store where we can start our business from with a small stock then she got someone who took her to a supplier where she bought much more stock I was left at the shop where I had been employed by Mary down there in the mud now I was done with Moi Avenue on a good day you will make up to KSh 300,000 but the profit is very little I worked for Mary and I was now forced to open an account to run our daily transactions I opened an account with Stanbic bank and I worked with Mary well for sometime it started trending you don't want your boss to find out you know nothing about the business I did a lot of research about the bales the post went viral until it was made the main post i did not have a single bale but I was teaching guys about bales in Kilimani she said she couldn't manage any more her stock took time to move because she had been overcharged the person who took us to a supplier wanted his commission so it became hard to sell the clothes I could manage to sell at least one dress after the other so when Mary said she had given up we had now moved to a place called Mumbai Hi Lillian hi Mary had given up, did her maths for her to give you this business the stock that she had been overpriced could not be sold any longer your account is looking good, we can lend you that was the biggest amount I had ever received as a loan at that time I was planning to pay this money yet I did not have money not even stock I was able to stock, sell Marys stock and still make profit the business went down at some point, she took me to a lawyer when I finished, the business started being stable you good? welcome Hello Rajab I am fine welcome Lyn thank you let me ask what a common Kenyan would want to know you haven't answered us but it's okay is someone able to tell what is in this bale packing list comes with the description it is written on you would find some of the clothes are torn, some have stains and I cannot accept any bale in my store if I don't know what it contains we have a stock book where we ensure we keep our records how much is this? his one is about KSh 25,000 to 32,000 you mean this here is KSh 25,000 lets say you can make up to KSh 80% profit out of greed I took the things that I got how much did you spend on it we cost shared in buying that container with a friend called Kui it was about KSh 4-6 million the stock wasn't moving, mostly they were items for winter Kenyans don't know anything about winter and I had brought them Jackets which were not even appealing and remained with 2 the basement one which was the biggest where I would offload my stock and the small one that is a mother shop I think to the landlady that was her savings because I was just paying rent to the bank I had no idea there were some months I had skipped paying, so for the 3 years the money had accumulated to up to KSh 150,000 I was given a letter informing me that I had arrears of up to KSh 150,000 this is corona, second hand business had been banned and I have arrears of KSh 150,000 she took away everything she took everything and everything had been take away I would enter your shop, sport a nice jumpsuit and collect if for my customer I would collect nice mixed dresses and now there was the lock down at some point I did not have stock I would take a Nissan move around collecting stock using customers money I would promise to deliver to customers within 72 hrs and they knew there was a lock down and vehicles were not moving at night I asked him do you have a shop and he said yes, he gave me the calculations for 3months I asked him if it was possible for me to pay in installments because of corona he told me I remember he told me which stupid person opens shop at such a time with this corona pandemic so 3 months had already elapsed and I had not paid anything I was so stressed because they were now going to repossess the capital I had recently gotten the bales I had now restocked in the small shop I was not restocking I was saving so that by the end of 14 days I have raised the required money I used to send the money in my customer care phone I used to leave the house to go to nowhere, I would just drive around the by pass my kids passed through hell, they were at home, their mum did not have a job I managed to raise KSh 320,000 within 14 days and I deposited it at least they pardoned me and gave me another 3 months even if he did not have money at least he should have showed some concern and said let's talk to a few people and see if we can raise something you know loves makes you blind but somehow my eyes begun to open at that point he cut my hand like you literally jumped over a wall? the government banned second hand clothes but not creme bales, those one are new stuffs truth be told the business will work I did not employ anyone because with corona I was not going to Gikomba I would just take photos and post Gikomba is all about second hand clothes a job is a job and my boys always tell me that in sheng meaning any job in a job and then a job cannot be a job because we have someone in Gikomba who is not making it they can see the posts each one of them at different corners and told them no cheating that have enabled you reach where you are today you just said a job is a job such kinds of jobs those ones people put on suits and ties you have even hawked tea don't chose a job a customer would tell you they have been retrenched and they were only given KSh 20,000 and they ask if they can manage to start a business that deals with second had clothes or a customer calls to tell me I will be coming with my car in Gikomba it has no title it's just common money some came from someone who unblocks sewages, another from a business person in Gikomba, another from a doctor in the ICU It doesn't matter where it came from but from sewages of whatever place they don't even know where top start from there's nothing like competition or someone will take away your customers I keep asking people when you go to the market you see so many tomatoes nicely arranged but you still want to go to the same market one tomato or perhaps two you want to go to the one that has so many of them isn't it? thank you so much thank you
2021-05-18 22:57
