To buy portable warmer for my food supply business

Entrepreneur

About Me

My name is Tito Maloba Matete, 40 years of age, married with one child (I just lost my second born early this year). I was born in a family of 9 children and my parents were peasant farmers. We grew up in very difficult conditions and sometimes could miss school to do manual jobs to earn a living. I managed to finish my primary and secondary school by the help of well wishers. After my O' level, I managed to score a good grade which enabled me to get a government grant to study in the university.
Due to the high unemployment rate in Kenya, I have had mixed fortunes in securing employment. Currently, I am employed as a Human Resource Officer with a distribution company in Nairobi. The salary offered is not enough to cater for all my bills and other expenditures. That is why I have to look for alternative sources of income to supplement my salary. I regret that I was not able to give quality medical care to my child due to the low salary.
At my place of work, there are over 300 employees working at the premises which is located approximately one kilometre away from the main business centre. We all depend on food vendors to get meals as the company does not offer meals. I realized that the vendors do not adhere to strict hygienic conditions which is a threat to the workers' health. This prompted me to start supplying food to my work colleagues on request. Once a colleague gives me an order of the food he/she wants, I prepare the food and carry to the place of work and distribute to all that had ordered.
When I am not at work, I am either at the swimming pool or watching a soccer game, especially the English Premier league - My favourite EPL team is Arsenal.

My Business

Zidisha has helped me to have a second income through the previous two loans where I was able to expand my food business. I bought a food warmer with the first loan and later bought cutlery with the second loan. This business is now helping me to supplement my salary. I am happy to say that the business is now stable and able to support itself.

Given that there is no room for expansion for my current business, I decided to venture into Bee farming. Bee Keeping project does not require a lot of inputs and has less supervision. The only inputs that are required are the beehives and protective clothing.

I have an idle land about 100 km away from the main City-Nairobi. From the previous loan (third loan) I was able to buy four beehives which I installed in the farm. So far three of them have been occupied with bees and only one i remaining. I know it would not be long for it to be also occupied with bees. Harvesting is expected to start from the month of November/December. Thereafter, harvesting can be done at an interval of 2 to 3 months. One harvest will give 10 to 12kg of honey per hive. The harvested honey will then be sold back to the same company for proper packaging.

Loan Proposal

Once I secure a Zidisha loan, my desire is to buy a portable food warmer which will enable me to carry more food and thus supply to an additional 10 people. The current market price for a portable food warmer is Ksh.6,450 ($71.7). I will utilise the balance in injecting more funds in increasing the quantity of food to be cooked. I hope this will enable me to access more clients.
I also intend to make more savings to purchase larger portable warmers so that I can supply more food. This will be targeted to those workers who are only able to pay at the end of the month once they get their monthly salaries.
My long term plans are to put up a food court complete with a kitchen and sitting place at my place of work. I have already talked to management and they agree with my idea. They are ready to provide room space for this project and i will be expected to pay a small fee as rental to the company.
The will help me have a second income and also create employment for one or two people in the long run.

An initial loan of $100 will help me to start realizing my dream and fulfill all my objectives.

Thank you in advance

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