WEEK Empowerment Journeys - Pauline Waringa Gathuri
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Authors
Francis Muchiri
Lydia Muchiri
Issue Date
2016-09
Type
Language
en
Keywords
Energy
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Abstract
Women in Energy Enterprises in Kenya (WEEK) project PAULINE WARINGA GATHURI BASED IN BANANA HILL, NAIROBI I am a single mother of 2 grown up boys. I used to work in a curio and artifact shop in Nairobi. Every time I opened the shop I would wish that I had my own business. I was certain that the skills I had been exposed to would make me some money one day. The first time I decided to get in to business, I started with a meat mincer. The income I got from this would supplement my employment salary and in any case I needed to get my boys through school. I had also learnt to knit floor rags, carpets and mats. I would then seek a market to sell these wares. This was an additional $200 per month. I stopped the NAIROBI meat mincing business because compared to the rags business I could only make $55 during a good month. And the drudgery involved was also taking a toll on me – having to wake up everyday at 3:30AM to get to the slaughterhouse where I was guaranteed to get fresh meat for my mincing business. I could not fetch as many customers to run it effectively and continued with the rags and a poultry farming. I kept rabbits and chicken. But the weather did not favour my poultry business and at one point I had a total loss – 250 chicks from Newcastle disease – equivalent to about $3000 if they got to maturity. I knew I needed a new less risky business. When I finally quit employment and focused on business, I found a good market for my woolen and polyester rags. I made good money from this but it was not to last. Soon the market was flooded with cheaper imports from China and other countries. I found myself begin to struggle. In fact at one point I wanted to quit and seek employment but my father advised me against it. He could see my potential then and I seemed to have been groping in confusion. I was watching TV one evening and I came across an exhibition documentary where an entrepreneur was describing the production of briquettes. I got interested. The man had machines on display and his demonstration seemed to make a lot of sense to me. I decided to visit his exhibition stand in Nairobi to find more about it. I was convinced that this was a great idea and a few days later I rented one of the briquettes making machine; reorganized my compound; and set it up in my homestead. I only produced 20kg of briquettes on the first day but did not know where to sell them. I gave them all to my father who operated a food canteen in the city and he became my first customer. Practical Action approached me and introduced me to the WEEK project and this seemed to have sealed my passion. They invited me to a training session where I gained skills on how to produce good quality briquettes as well as how to run a successful enterprise. I also met other entrepreneurs in the business who really built my optimism. Currently, I have a casual who comes in twice a week to work with me in the production. I am producing about 300kg every week (approximately $105 per week) and I cannot seem to even meet my dad’s weekly demand. I plan to increase my production to 750Kg every week and identify new markets to increase my sales using the skills I have gained. I hope to invest in a larger production space and at the same time improve the drying rack as the weather here causes briquettes to dry over a long period of time sometimes affecting my supply. I am certain that this is an exciting journey that will even benefit other households in my neighbourhood as briquettes are a cheaper and cleaner household fuel. https://practicalaction.sharepoint.com/sites/uk/Marketing/PFRU/ProposalsReports/PROJECT%20proposals%20and%20reports/WEEK%20-%20Gender%20-%20Kenya/WEEK%20Empowerment%20Journies-%20Case%20studies%20-%202016.pdf
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