Mary Waiyego
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Authors
Patrick Meinhardt
Issue Date
2018-04
Type
Language
en
Keywords
Energy , Gender
Alternative Title
Abstract
Mary is a cookstove, solar and briquettes entrepreneur in Murang’a as well as a dairy and coffee farmer. She also grows maize and bananas. She is a 56 year old widow with 2 daughters and one son (36, 32 and 28) and 4 grandchildren
Through the WEEK project she received training in: briquette making, record keeping, empowerment
“I am a widow, my husband passed away 13 years ago. I am still strong and focused on taking care of my children. I have a daughter who does not have a job but I am able to put my grandchildren through school. I have lived here since the time I got married in 1978.
“I am a full energy entrepreneur. I sell all three and also train people in how to make briquettes.
“A long time ago, I used to work for people on a farm, life was really difficult. There were days when I could not get work and my family relied on me.
“I heard about the training, at this time I had already started selling solar and wanted to learn how to make briquettes. When I started training, we started as a group of women, every one dropped out except for me. It was dirty to make and many didn’t like it.
“It has taken me some time to convince people to stop using firewood and to use my briquettes. Through perseverance, I have pushed on with the business, now many people come to me.
“Because of Practical Action I have had exposure. I was on the TV and radio. The women who began training at the same time now want to get back involved and want to know how I’ve made it a success.
“Most houses in this area have electricity, so I mainly sell the smaller solar lights for blackouts.”
She sells x7 ICS a month at 1,000 KES
X7 lamps a month at 1,000 KES
2,700 per month on briquettes – 30 KES per 1kg bag
“I make briquettes by hand but they are not compacted enough, ones that are made by machine are much better. I sometimes struggle to get repeat customers. If I could access a machine, I could grow the business and employ other women and help lift them out of poverty like I was.
“In my old job, I made 600 KES a week, that job was tedious and hard work. Now, I get calls for orders. I get more time to do other things, not just my business. I now make around 2000 – 5000 KES per week.
“I am able to take care of all my children and grandchildren, they can now go to school. My family are happier and more comfortable. I now employ people to work in my farm so I don’t have to do it.”
“Record keeping training has been really beneficial because it means I can plan for the future and I always know the state of my business.
“The empowerment training helped in running the business and speaking to customers. Before, I could not speak to a crowd or many people, now I can easily do it. I have learnt good customer service – of people don’t buy my products then I do not get angry, they will come back.
“When I was growing up, girls would do more work than boys – they would collect firewood, water, do the cooking and boys would just have to take care of the cows. There was limited finance for school, so the boys would go and the girls wouldn’t. This made me feel bad, I decided that when I was older and had children, I would make sure the girls would have those opportunities.”
When her husband died, she had to look after her family on her own – “I felt very bad and stressed, I had to be put on medication. After a while, I decided that I must take care of my family. I joined women’s groups and was able to access training, this really helped me.
“I am happy with my business but if I could get capital, I would get a stall/shop in town. I would be able to expand my business, I’d also buy a briquette machine. My family are really proud of me – they say they have a famous Mum. My standing in society has really improved.”
https://infohub.practicalaction.org/handle/11283/620998