Entrepreneur
Name
Gertrude
Member since
May 2015
On-time repayments
168 installments • 53%
About Me
My name is Gertrude Masiga, born on the west most county of Kenya - Busia. Busia is on the border of Kenya and Uganda and there is a lot of cross border trade between the two countries. It is an an area endowed with natural forests and rivers but sadly some have disappeared due to human activities occasioned by rapid population growth. In spite of all those issues, it is a nice place and I hope to return and settle there some time.
I lost my both parents at an early age and I went to live with my aunt in Mombasa town which is on extreme south of Kenya. This is where I did my primary and secondary education and I will forever remain grateful to my guardian who paid for my education and upkeep.
My aunt is not a person of means and that is the far she could afford to educate me. Without any other formal training, I resorted to using my hobby - hair dressing to make money. I am talented as a hair dresser and I do plaiting effortlessly and this has earned me many clients across my area.
My Business
I am a freelance hair dresser and I walk from house to house while attending my clients. I normally communicate with them using my mobile phone and I go to them since I do not have my own business premises. Plaiting is very common in our region and over 50% of women and young girls have braids or cornrows at any given time.
My charges range from $5 to $10 per head. I can do 1 or 2 heads per day depending on the complexity of the job to be done. This is what brings food on the table and I am glad that I due to my good work, I now have many clients due to referrals.
In spite of my relative success, moving from house to house is very inefficient because of the time lost while moving around. Ideally, this work should be done in a salon but I am yet to get funds to enable me rent a saloon, For this reason, I have come to Zidisha to ask for credit which will enable me take my business to the next level by opening a hair salon.
Project Proposal
I purpose to buy and print T-shirts for sale and others are pending orders. I do get different orders from my different customers to buy and print them tshirts according to their specific events and occasions for example: birthday ceremonies, funerals, family get together, anniversaries, baby showers, school events e.t.c
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Project Info
Project Type
Pay It Forward
Disbursed amount
$138.00
Date disbursed
Oct 6, 2023
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