Inventory of environmentally friendly cooking fuel

Esther

Mombasa, Kenya

100% repaid

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How it Works

Entrepreneur

Name

Esther

Member since

June 2014

On-time repayments

415 installments • 69%

About Me

My name is Esther Wanjiru and Kenyan citizen. I am a teacher of English and English literature. I am a second born in a family of five. I was born in Kiambu county Kenya where I went through my primary school education then secondary school. I later joined Kenyatta University where I took a course in Bachelor of Arts and later a post graduate diploma in Education. I later got employed as a teacher and posted to Mombasa County where I am still teaching.
I am a mother of two young children.

I started a business in 2010 to supplement my salary since I had difficulties in meeting my many expenses such as rent, school fees for my children, transport e and also helping out my ageing parents back home. I run a general shop where I sell common household items like flour, soap, sugar etc. I also sell cooking gas in cylinders. I also started a money transfer business (M-pesa) within the same establishment. I rely on two workers to run the business since I spend most of time in school where I work.
I am a go-getter, focused and very ambitious woman. I believe in integrity and hard work.

My Business

As stated above, I run a three in one business – the main one being the shop where there is a steady flow of shoppers who buy goods worth anything from $0.5 to $20 per shopper. I also sell gas cylinders in quantities of 3kg and 13kg at a retail price of $7 and $26 respectively. I also do a money transfer business (called M-Pesa locally) where I serve about 60 clients daily.
The three departments give me a net profit of about $650 per month – after paying the rent, other bills and salaries.
My business requires heavy investment for buying stock especially the gas section. I sometimes fail to cope with the demand of the gas cylinders since my stock gets depleted very fast especially during the end-month when most workers get paid. I have decided to join Zidisha to access credit which will enable me to build up my stock as this will bring satisfaction to my customers.

Loan Proposal

I have been retailing LPG gas for a number of years now. I normally sell about 30 cylinders per month. I have found this business to be quite lucrative and less labor intensive compared to the other types of business that I do.

I want to expand this business and run it in a separate premises. I want to get the cylinders directly from the dealer and then sell them at on wholesale. I have done a proper feasibility study and the business looks very promising.

I will use USD 800 to lease the new premises and get the necessary licenses. I will use the remaining amount to buy my first stock of these LPG cylinders.

Thank you.