Data and utilities for cybercafe

Entrepreneur

About Me

I am the first born in my family we are just two kids me and my sister, we moved to the Nairobi from a small town called Nyeri in Central Kenya which is my home town.

I originally wanted to become a music producer after high school but discovered my passion is in computers and technology therefore I studies IT and worked as a support tech for several years before finally switching from that to being a virtual assistant on www.odesk.com

It was not easy to hold down a good stable job because of the competitive nature of the IT industry so after the IT support job that lasted 2 years was over, it was time to use my skills to work for myself.

That is the reason I partnered with a friend and business partner who owns a cyber cafe to train your kids use computers and learn ways to utilize their skills to be their own bosses.

My Business

I am a virtual assistant on www.upwork.com which is a global market place for companies, entrepreneurs and organizations to outsource their work to remote workers from all over the world.

My goal is to use my skills to help young people get computer skills and be self reliant, I do my freelance work in a public cyber cafe that is owned by a friend, and that is also where I volunteer to teach kids to use computers.

Using savings and help from family I managed to purchase a small car that I use to provide taxi services in my neighborhood. This is a good way of earning money to repay the loans as well as provide a service.

Right now my only source of income is the taxi business, the online work has not been generating enough income to cater for my bills. This could be as a result of the financial crisis in the European and American countries, everyone is cutting back on expenses.

However I am very hopeful that things will work out for the better and I can fulfill all my goals. I thank the Zidisha community for providing this platform to help young people get a livelihood rather than end up in crime.

Right now at the cyber cafe, we need to buy two new computers, that will cost $400, we also need to upgrade our internet connection from the current 1Mbps to at least 5Mbps, this will increase the bill from the current $30 to $100.

The loan combined with savings that we have accumulated will be able to buy one new computer, then we can work out how to get the other one and upgrade the internet connection so that we can take in more kids, especially now during school holidays.

There is a huge demand for computer skills among young people who are looking for part time jobs in between school holidays, or for those fresh from high school. This is the reason why the cyber is the perfect place for these kids to come and get computer skills.

I choose to help teach because its very fulfilling for me to see kids getting real skills that add value in their lives, they become self employed and start their own ventures like typing services or working online doing different things like social media marketing or doing research work like myself.

The costs at the cyber are typically slightly above $800 that includes internet connection, rent for the cyber, stationery, business licenses and daily expenses that include but not limited to running errands.

At the moment the cyber makes very little profit because costs are high to run it but any money we make we pump it back to the business and also us it to repay any debts we incur.

The best thing about what I do is seeing kids getting computer skills and earning money on their own, just like I did when I switched from employment to being a freelance VA.

Loan Proposal

I have a passion for the internet and technology, when I decided to switch from employment to working for myself as a virtual assistant, I also vowed to assist other young people to be independent and use their skills to do something rather than keep looking for employment.

Currently I am training 5 young people from an internet cafe and paying for all bills and utilities from my pocket which hinders the number of people I can help. With regular cash injection from Zidisha it will be possible to increase the internet bandwidth thereby do more, move into a bigger space to accommodate more people as well as upgrade some of the equipment like computers.

In total the cafe needs $1000 a month just to keep going however I am only able to come up with $400 and the rest is collected from membership fees, supplementary income from selling airtime and services like photocopying at the cafe.

The big picture is helping young people be self reliant and acquire IT skills that are relevant in the ever competitive job market.

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