Versatility is the key to success

Here is the latest update from our Client Relationship Manager in Kenya!

Hello, my name is Dan Cembrola, one of Zidisha’s Kenya Client Relationship Managers. I am currently visiting Zidisha borrowers in Nakuru and its outskirts.

Today I met with Josephine in Kahuo, a small village 25 kilometers north of Nakuru. Kahuo is a small agricultural village and is also Josephine's birthplace. She now lives in Nakuru where she is a primary school teacher, teaching English, Swahili, and mathematics. However, she still is very interested in business and maintains a poultry business in Kahuo.

Josephine used to raise a breed of chickens that are locally referred to as "broilers." She found that it was too costly to maintain them and purchase the type of feeds they require. To rectify this problem, she decided to use a portion of her loan from Zidisha to invest in 150 chickens that are of a breed that is indigenous to Kenya.

 

From the 150 chickens, Josephine was able to get around two trays of eggs per day. There are thirty eggs per tray, this is the method in which eggs are sold in the local markets here. Josephine sells each tray for 450 Kenyan Schillings. An income of 900 schillings today is very good in this region of Kenya, especially considering that Josephine is also employed as a teacher.

Unfortunately, Josephine suffered a setback when nearly two thirds of her chickens died due to Newcastle disease. This is an all too common problem among poultry farms in Kenya. Josephine was able to replace the chickens she had lost and has had the new chicks vaccinated against Newcastle disease. Her business is now once again operating at its previous strength. She also occasionally sells her chickens to local butchers where she makes 800 schillings per rooster and 600 schillings per hen.

In addition to purchasing chickens with her loan, Josephine also purchased four sheep. Once each sheep has given birth to a lamb, she will sell each adult sheep for a profit of 1,500 schillings per sheep. She will then raise the lambs until they older enough to give birth, and repeat the process.

Finally, Josephine also maintains a one acre farm where she grows maize. This is also where her chicken and sheep are located. She employs one local farmhand to take care of the day-to-day maintenance. With her next loan, Josephine plans to invest in the expansion of her poultry and sheep business as well as her farm.

The Young at Heart

Margaret, who is on her second Zidisha loan, was visted by one of our Kenyan Client Relationship Managers this past week. You can read about Dan's meeting with Margaret below:

Hello, my name is Dan Cembrola, one of Zidisha’s Kenya Client Relationship Managers. I am currently visiting Zidisha borrowers in Nakuru and its outskirts.“I am here! I am here! I am here!” Margaret proclaimed as she deftly hopped over a small ditch on the side of the road. After a warm greeting Margaret began quickly leading to me her shop in Bahati Center, an agricultural town north of the city of Nakuru. She jumped over puddles and potholes the whole way before hopping on top of the step at the entrance to her shop. Margaret is 65 years old. Her shop is part of a building that Margaret owns. The shop sells some basic supplies and contains a storage room that she will soon fill with bags of maize from her farm to be sold through the shop. The shop also contains a soon to be operational MPESA stand. Locals use the MPESA service to send and receive money electronically. Margaret had used her first loan to purchase a sheep and has used her current loan to open the MPESA stand. Margaret’s shop only occupies a small portion of the large L-shaped building that she owns. She has created six hotel rooms with the remaining space and built one additional free standing room. She currently is renting out rooms at the rate of 600 Kenyan Schillings for a single and 1,500 Kenyan Schillings for a double. Since the new constitution was passed in 2010, the town of Bahati has become a district capital. Margaret expects to continue to enjoy full occupancy as her hotel is located adjacent to the new government office. After explaining these various business ventures, Margaret announced, “Now I will take you to my home business.” With boundless energy, she led me three kilometers down the road to her farm, where she lives with her husband. They cultivate mainly maize and tomatoes but also have sheep, goats, and a few chickens remaining after they recently sold 2,000 chicks. Margaret explained that the land they used to live on was ten acres but it was lost during the post-election violence. Since relocating to Bahati, they now only have two acres but she seemed to lament more the fact that each of her five children are now adults and working in different parts of the country. In addition to Margaret’s “town business” and “home business” she also found time to become the chairwoman of the Happy Mothers Group. This started out as a collection of five women and has now grown to seven who are all Zidisha borrowers. As Margaret escorted me the three kilometers back to town, she excitedly told me about how her family will all be returning next month for Christmas, a happy mother indeed. 

The Young and the Restless

Even with a primary level education, Benard Njoroge still manages to use the investments in his education to build a sustainable life for himself and his family. His occupation as an electrician did not detract him from seeking out a Zidisha loan to engage in farming and the purchase of livestock. His wife is also a farmer and together, they make a power team. Below is a recent account of the duo family business run by Mr. Njoroge and his wife:

Hello, my name is Traci Yoshiyama, Zidisha’s Kenya Client Relationship Manager. I am currently visiting Zidisha borrowers in Kenya.

The youths of Kenya have had the advantage of growing up in the ubiquitous world of technology. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, many young entrepreneurs dive head first into the business of digital entertainment. What many believe only to exist in developed countries is easily accessible in the most unlikely places.

Twenty-six year old, Benard Njoroge, resides in the sleepy village of Waka, Rongai. A single dirt road stretches for miles, and the only sounds are those of nature and the occasional comings and goings of motorbikes. Unbeknownst to a newcomer, one would never guess Bernard’s cinema and electronic shop operate alongside the lone road leading to Waka. Made out of thatched mud and pillars of wood, the interior of Mr. Njoroge’s shop is well stocked with cell phone covers, chargers, earpieces, and multiple tools for electronic repairs. Trained by a friend, Benard opened his shop three years ago. Behind the shop lies his cinema. Tiered wooden benches cover it’s floor, while a few lucky viewers can enjoy some added comfort on recycled car seats. Arriving too early, I unfortunately cannot catch a glimpse of today’s feature presentation of Moon Monster, a Chinese kung fu film. At 10 bob a viewing, Chinese flicks are of the most popular showings, for who can resist those classic Jackie Chan fight scenes.

 

Referred to Zidisha by fellow borrower, Sammy Kanja, Benard received his first loan in August. With the loan and income of his two businesses, Benard is now the proud owner of a plot of land. Currently living with his father, Benard hopes that a second Zidisha loan will assist him in building a home for his family. In lieu of a house, Benard’s wife planted maize and beans on their newly acquired shamba, which she tends to while he manages his electronics shop and cinema.

Having only a couple of hours in Waka and more Zidisha borrowers to visit, my time with Benard was brief. Although short-lived, the impact of Zidisha on Benard and borrowers of a younger generation provides strong insight into the future of Kenya, for when given the opportunity to strive for something greater, there are no shortcomings of hard work, dedication, and innovation.

This is the link to the borrower's Zidisha profile

Fighting Crime in Bahati

Here is a recent update from Dan in Kenya. He met with Joel Mwangi this past week and was able to see what Joel's Zidisha loan has done for him. Be sure to check out Joel's profile page if you're interested in learning more about him.


Hello, my name is Dan Cembrola, one of Zidisha’s Kenya Client Relationship Managers. I am currently visiting Zidisha borrowers in Nakuru and its outskirts.

I visited Joel at the place of one of his businesses in Bahati. It is evident that Joel is a natural community leader, and a well-respected one at that. His most idealistic long-term goals are eradicating poverty in Bahati. Toward that end, he has used his Zidisha loan to expand his farm and invested in higher quality fertilizer and seeds to ensure that his crops will be healthy and bountiful. Joel strongly advocates the use of high quality seeds and fertilizer to his neighboring farmers. He evidenced his point clearly as he gave me a tour of his village, pointing out which farms were able to afford fertilizer and quality seeds. 

In an effort to advance his community, Joel is selling a portion of his land that he has tilled and prepared for the next growing season to a neighbor. His intent is to give his neighbor an opportunity to begin a small farming business to help support his family. Joel regularly advises members of his community on improving their fertilization and irrigation practices. With the now abundant crops Joel is growing with his loan from Zidisha he has been able to employ laborers in Bahati to assist him and his wife during the harvest season. 

In addition to operating a three and a half acre farm, Joel also serves as chairman of the group of motorbike operators in the region. In the past few years, there has been a rise in the incidence of common thievery in Bahati, many crimes were committed with the aid of motorbike drivers. With the assistance of the local police force and the support of his fellow motorbike drivers, Joel was elected chairman of the group. As chairman, Joel has instituted a policy that mandates that every motorbike driver must have a registered identification card which is displayed to all of their customers. This measure has provided a sense of accountability to the motorbike operators and allows their customers to be confident that each driver is registered and approved by the local government and police department. 

A Little Caution Never Hurts

Leah Wanjiku Muniu is a married woman with three sons. She is a diligent worker within her farming business where the bulk of her income is derived from products such as milk and cereals like maize and wheat. Over the next few years, she intends to cultivate her farming skills so as to maximize her yield; she intends to do this by adding two more dairy cows. A week ago, our Client Relationship Intern for Kenya, Vivien, visited Mrs. Muniu to inquire about her progress and the benefits she is acquiring from her Zidisha loan. The encounter is described below:

Hello Lenders,

My name is Vivien Barbier and I’m a client relationship interns for Zidisha in Kenya. Today, I had a meeting with Mrs Leah Muniu and she showed me the path to her maize and wheat fields.

I meet Mrs Muniu in Karunga village during a meeting organized by current Zidisha borrowers to present the organization to future members. I’m very grateful to her for coming to the meeting. She agreed to share her experience with Zidisha with others. I think that she made a better job than I did to convince others of the advantages of Zidisha. It was wonderful to see how much enthusiastic she was about Zidisha. She explained me that people like her never go to bank because of the high interests rates but also because of the collaterals that are required. She even told me: “I prefer to stay poor than to go to these banks”. She is also grateful to Zidisha because it has been for her an “eye opener” on the rest of the world. It pushes her to learn how to use computers and interact with people outside her community. 

Mrs Muniu has inherited 5 hectares of lands for her parents and she is renting 3 hectares from another villager. In February, after having paid the school fees of her three children, she didn’t have money anymore to buy seeds for her fields. She was planning to rent her fields to other farms in order to earn at least a small profit.. But then, in March, she has received Zidisha’s loan and things changed. She was able to buy maize and wheat seeds for her 8 hectares. As you can see on the pictures, the crops have grown well since then. The harvest season should start in October and we calculated that her profit should be approximately 45 000 Shilling ($535) in only six month. This profit almost equals the amount of the loan she took. It shows that microcredit loans can be the nudges to start a sustainable activity that will then be able to finance itself. This is very encouraging for the future of Mrs Muniu business. 

Regarding the future, Mrs Muniu hopes that she will be able to buy enough fertilizer for all her fields. This year she didn’t have the money to buy enough of it, so the yield of her fields is not optimal. 

It was a real pleasure to spend a few hours in her company; she is a very smiling and lively person. She made me meet many other villagers and taught me a lot about Kenya. At the end of the meeting, she offered me a delicious Kenyan tea prepared with fresh milk from her own cow and fresh tea leafs.

 

Tailoring in Munanda

Stephen in front of Irungu Modern Tailoring

Stephen in his shop

Stephen Irungu is one of our Kenyan borrowers living in the town of Munanda. At 25 years of age Stephen is quite busy running a tailoring business to support his young family. Stephen designs pants, shirts, skirts, and alters them as needed. For all of his hard work Stephen earns a profit of about $2.38 per day. While Stephen is a tailor by trade, he also farms to make money on the side (like many other Kenyans do). If his loan is funded (this will be his second) then Stephen will be able to stock his store with clothing during the upcoming harvest season. One of our Client Relationship Interns was able to visit Stephen last week. You can read about their meeting below in her own words:


Thursday, July 4, 2012

Hello, my name is Traci Yoshiyama, Zidisha’s Kenya Client Relationship Manager. 

I was welcomed into the town of Munanda today by Stephen Irungu, the proud owner of Irungu Modern Tailoring. It’s hard to miss his quaint shop, even amongst the many businesses blooming in the Munanda, for hanging on his door is a brown all-leather suit created by Stephen himself. 

In 2005, Stephen started Irungu Modern Tailoring with only one sewing machine. With this flourishing business, he now has three sewing machines, an iron, and also employs three people. It is also a family business, for his wife often times assists with the ironing.

This is his second Zidisha loan and he plans on creating a boutique for the people of his village, the first of its kind in Munanda. With the funds, he hopes to buy clothes from Nakuru and sell it in shop. His passion for fashion is evident, as he describes his store not merely as a job, but a hobby and his happiness.

After my visit to his shop, Stephen kindly took me around his village, showing me various shops and introducing me to friends. He even assisted me in finding some much needed supplies that cannot be found in Mugaa, the village I am residing in. 

Best of luck with your loan Stephen. It was a pleasure meeting you. 

Staying Busy in Senegal

Serigne

Serigne Mbacké Guèye is a young sheep farmer from Sema, a village in Senegal. Serigne has raised sheep since he was a small child, and has grown quite fond of the profession. His sheep are especially popular during certain Muslim feasts. Serigne originally wanted to purchase 20 sheep, some feed, veterinary services, and a shepard to watch over his flock while he works in Dakar. His Zidisha loan has allowed him to buy the additional sheep and pay for the other related costs. In addition to paying for his farming related activities, Serigne was able to invest in a street boutique! While he was is in Dakar our Client Relationship Intern Sam Gant had a chance to meet up with Serigne. Below you can read what Sam wrote about their meeting.

The Mosque where Serigne works part-time.

Dear Lenders,

My name is Sam Gant and I'm one of the Client Relationship Managers active in Senegal right now. Today I met with Serigne at the mosque where he works in the genteel Point E neighborhood, and in only a few hours received a dizzying and informative tour of the Mosque, Serigne's home, and the neighborhood in general. Serigne remains engaged in a diversity of industries--he primarily divides his time between doing upkeep work at the mosque and working at his store Parapluies Mondiales in the HLM market. Although he continues to buy food for his sheep he has stopped expanding the flock that his family maintains in the village. 

He explained that business has been slow following the tumultuous elections, and he expects that he will be able to maximize his loan once the commercial climate improves. He anticipates a significant financial boost in the fall as clients begin buying sheep for a number of upcoming festivals, but for the time being the flocks need time to mature. He was very appreciative towards the Zidisha lenders and hopes to keep you apprised of future developments. 

-Sam Gant

Meeting a Visionary

Wanjira Ngure is a Zidisha borrower from Kianjoya, Kenya. Wanjira is married to a teacher, together they have one child, Gladys. Mrs. Ngure used to work for a HIV/AIDS group were she analyzed data. Since 2010, Wanjira has been running a small show near a shopping center.

Mrs. Ngure used her Zidisha loan to purchase an irrigation system to help her grow produce on her family's 2.5 acres of land to put up for sale at her shop. Mrs. Ngure recognized the need for fresh produce as a good business opportunity because most of the areas produce are shipped in from far away, and not usually fresh by the time of arrival!

Our in-country Client Relationship Manager Achintya Rai recently met with Mrs. Ngure and her family. Read about his visit below:

Hello lenders,

My name is Achintya Rai and I am Zidisha’s new Kenya Client Relationship Manager.
This Sunday (5th Feb 2012), I went to the village of Kianjoya to visit Rahab Wanjira. Rahab’s husband James Ngure is a teacher in Mugaa Secondary School, where I am putting up. When I visited their home I met James in his work clothes, tending to his farm. He was the one who explained the business and its functioning to me.

If I were to use one word to describe James, I’d call him no less than a ‘visionary’. There are certain people who have that spark that employment advertisements profess to look for. I feel very strongly that James has that spark of brilliance. The things he is doing with the resources he has at this remote location are remarkable.

James has been working in the school for around 8 years. 4 years ago he decided to settle near here and bought this piece of land in Kianjoya. He did not know what else to do with the land so he and Rahab farmed it like everyone else to grow crops typical to here. Rahab also bought a shop in Mitimingi, which she used to take care of. They took their first Zidisha loan to stock this shop.

A year ago, James and Rahab attended a seminar in Naivasha. That is where they got the idea of constructing a green house and using drip farming to irrigate the crops. A green house kit being sold at the seminar cost around 210,000 Kenyan Shillings. James investigated further after returning and was able to construct his first green house (15m x 8m) in around 50,000 shillings. They sold their shop in Mitimingi to arrange for this money. 

The returns from the first green house were so tremendous (James claims that a tomato crop inside the green house gives FIFTY TIMES more returns than a tomato crop the same size outside the green house) that they have now decided to gradually bring their whole farm under a green house. They used their second Zidisha loan to increase the acreage under greenhouse and to buy a drip irrigation kit. Now they have three green houses, all using drip irrigation and all made from local materials (polythene/plastic sheeting and local wood logs).

James has dug two tanks in the farm to collect rainwater. He directs water flowing on the road into his farm to collect it into these tanks, which he uses to drip-irrigate his crops for the whole year.

His future plans include lining his tanks with ‘dam liner’, which is a plastic sheet that prevents water from being absorbed by the soil.

When one is in the presence of wisdom, one tends to test his own (perhaps not everyone, just men)- so I asked him that why didn’t he try keeping fish in his tanks to supplement his income. He nodded solemnly and said it was a good idea (I am sure he was smiling in his heart, but is too big a man to smile on my face). 

I also met Rahab and James’ little daughter Gladys, who didn’t smile at me till the very end, when I pulled her cheeks.

Achintya
Mugaa Village, Kenya
7th Feb 2012 

Photographs & Farmers

To keep interest rates low for borrowers, Zidisha eliminates the middleman and relies on hardworking volunteers and interns. To find out about opening positions, click here. Our Client Relationship Interns work diligently to connect with borrowers and bring lenders up-to-date about them. Here are more posts from Achintya in Kenya:

Andrew Mbugua 
I visited the business premises of Andrew Chege Mbugua.
Andrew runs the business of instant pictures. He has a desktop computer, a digital camera, a printer and also a small photocopying machine. Most of his clients come to him to get instant passport sized photographs, which they had to get from Nakuru earlier. Andrew’s printer cannot print beyond small sized photographs and he feels that there is a potential demand in Kiptangwanyi and nearby areas for larger photographs (family photographs for example)

He wants to invest the loan money in either buying a bigger printer, or replacing the old one before it breaks down (last time it broke down, it was three months before he could get a new one). He also wants to buy what he calls a “state of the art” camera. This would cost him 20,000 to 25,000 shillings. Always a businessman, Andrew offered to exchange his camera with mine (which has lesser megapixels than his, but is green and sits in a red cover which perhaps made him think it was better than his). I said “sure, as soon as you get your state of the art camera”. There was general laughter at this (there were many people who had collected to watch the discussion/interview)

Of all the people I have met here, Andrew is the first one who has been to college (even though I must add that the general level of education in rural Kenya is exceptionally good). His wife is a teacher. He wants his kids to study even further than him and do well in their lives.

As a last note I’d like to add that it is hard to believe that Andrew is 35 and has 2 kids. He doesn’t look a day beyond 25 (when I told him this, he was quite delighted-I guess a little vanity finds us all some time or the other) 

To read more about Andrew, check out his profile page!   

Paul Ngugi   

Two things I observed about Paul- first, Paul is truly ambitious (this seems true for many Zidisha clients). He wants to go places, and looking at his energy (he starts his day at 6 in the morning, working on his piece of land till noon, whereafter he takes care of his shop, while also finding time to graze his animals, visit Miti-Mingi or Nakuru to buy supplies and act as a de facto Zidisha coordinator), I have no doubt he will.

Second- Paul has practical, doable ideas about how he wants to go there. He used his Zidisha loans for his shop and to buy large quantities of grains from farmers, which he sells to traders from the towns. He was also able to buy a piece of land and construct rooms, which he now rents. 

His plan now is to make a cattle-shed where he can provide food to his animals in the enclosure, without the hassle of taking them grazing. He wants to use his next Zidisha loan to buy ‘high quality’ cows. Not speculating and trying to exploit season shifts in grain prices, he appears to have solid plans based on data. For example, he plans to sell the milk to the Milk Cooperatives who pay a better price (around 4 shillings more per liter) and also guarantee purchase.

I was able to meet his three sons, his mother (who is also a Zidisha client), his aunt and his two donkeys (Toto and Kijana). Everyone smiled for the camera (except the two donkeys, who turned their faces away in disdain at human frivolities) 

To read comments from Paul and older reports from interns, head over to his page!  

Trucks, Crates, & Cows

Here are three more updates from Achintya, our intern in Kenya:

Abraham Mwangi
I visited Abraham Mwangi at his shop in Kiptangwanyi on Thursday (2nd Feb, 2012). Abraham was the first person in Kiptangwanyi to receive a Zidisha loan and he claims that all the other Zidisha borrowers in this area came though his reference (“all” may be an exaggeration, but I’m sure most lenders there came either through his reference or as a result 

of his good experience with Zidisha).

Abraham runs a shop where he sells petrol, diesel, kerosene and motor spare parts. He also owns a (bright green) pickup truck, which he uses to transport oil from Nakuru and also rents to other people. Abraham is also an “expert mechanic” (though he doesn’t service vehicles other than his own any more) and a trained truck driver. He used his loan to add to his stock. He says the loan was really helpful because the fuel prices increased faster than he anticipated. Apart from having a spare parts shop, a fuel supply business and a transport business, Abraham also has a cereal shop, where he stores maze and beans and sells at the times of demand. This shop was closed in this season though. He wants to use the next loan to buy a cow, which costs around 60,000 Kenyan shillings and gives 20 liters of milk per day. Abraham told me that there is a company called Brookside that buys milk in bulk. 

Abraham has 2 boys and one girl. Even though he himself has studied only till form two, he wants his kids to study further and perhaps go to college.
I took many pictures of Abraham and his pickup truck, after which he had some really nice things to say about Zidisha.

To read more, check out Abraham's profile page here 
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Jackline Muthoni Waithaka
I went and met Jackline Muthoni Waithaka at her business premise on this Thursday (2nd Feb 2012). She has a small shop from where she sells packaged bread. She used the Zidisha loan to increase her stock (she offloaded around 860 packets of bread in front of me. When I asked her how long it’d take her to sell all these, she said “just one day”).

Jackline now wants to buy a motorbike so that she can supply to nearby areas. Right now she uses a bicycle to supply, but this limits her reach.

We reached Jackline’s place right before her supply truck arrived. It was impressive to see her offloading crates after crates of bread. Right now she is the only one supplying bread in the area so she has a comfy little monopoly going on. A bike would perhaps increase her sales manifolds. Apart from selling bread, she also supplies water to people’s home. She collects the water from public bore-wells and supplies it to people’s home for a small fee. Jackline has two little children, both in primary school.

My one regret after meeting Jackline was that in my pursuit for getting a picture of her working, I did not help her in offloading the crates. I should have. In fact I would have, had I not had the blessed camera in my hands.


To read more about this entrepreneur, see her page here 
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Jane Wambui
I visited Jane Wambui at her premises to see her at work and to talk to her. I found her at her shop where she sells vegetables and fruits that she grows mostly on her own Shamba (farm). She was dressed in smart slacks and a white t-shirt and greeted me with a firm handshake (this I found to be true for all women here- their hand-shakes are always full-bodied and firm- showing confidence and also warmth).

Jane appears to be quite enterprising. She, like most Kenyans, has a very strong desire to improve her lot and works really hard to make sure she and her family have the best that is possible.
She used the Zidisha loan and some of her own money to buy a good breed of cow. The cow cost her around 60,000 shillings (her loan was for 45,000 shillings), but gives around 20 liters of milk per day (at peak capacity), which translates to a revenue of around 15,000 shillings from the cow. She spends 5,000 on the cow and the remaining 10,000 shillings are her profit.

She has sent her two sons to boarding schools because she feels the quality of education is much better there. She told me that she paid the fee of 51,000 shillings for one of her sons and 28,000 shillings for the other. This appears quite steep to me, but she wants to make sure her children get the best education and will not compromise on this. She told me she wants one of the sons to be a lawyer and the other to be a doctor. I couldn't help feeling admiration for her.

With her next loan she wants to buy an even better cow. This would cost around 120,000 Kenyan Shillings but would give 40-50 liters of milk per day. When I said bye to her, she offered me a banana, which was very nice and sweet of her.

To read more about this produce seller, check out her page here