Entrepreneur
Name
Mercy
Member since
October 2018
On-time repayments
42 installments • 33%
About Me
My name is Mercy Wanjiku. I live in the Coastal town of Mombasa in Kenya, where I partly grew up. I am an entrepreneur currently running an LPG (cooking gas) retail business.
My entrepreneurship journey began way back in my post post-high school days. With plenty of time in my hands while I waited to join college, I would engage in small income generating activities to keep myself busy and also make some pocket money instead of depending on my parents. I did vegetable gardening, sold second-hand clothes, made hand-made crafts for home décor and also traded in farm produce (buying during harvest time when prices were low and re-selling after a few months during planting season when prices hiked.
Fast forward, I went into employment and it was while serving in the corporate sector about 2 years ago that I came face-to-face with the alarming reality of youth unemployment in my country. See, my duties in the professional organization where I worked involved linking students and members of the organization with prospective employers to enable them secure employment or advance their careers. This exposure, coupled with a deep desire to make positive impact in the community re-awaked my entrepreneurial side. I then made a decision to go into business and soon after tendered my resignation from my job.
Apart from business, my other interests are charity work (I have been a member of Lions club almost my entire adult life). I also enjoy reading, gardening, landscaping and interior home decor, mentoring the youth, travelling and interacting with people from different cultures.
My Business
My business operates as an independent dealer outlet for cooking gas and is located in a residential area. This offers convenience to my customers (mainly medium and low income households), saving them the hassle of refilling their gas cylinders at service stations which are located far away.
My choice of the business idea was informed by the realization that almost 80% of Kenyan households depend on the traditional cooking fuels such as charcoal, firewood and kerosene which are known to cause health and environmental hazards due to emission of carbon and other harmful pollutants. My desire, thus was to provide convenient access to clean, safe and efficient cooking energy to the low and medium income households in affordable quantities.
I retail the gas in the standard LPG cylinders of three, six and thirteen kgs which are high in demand, seeing as food is a basic need, it then follows that domestic cooking energy is a requirement in every household.
I get my profits from selling the gas at a small mark-up, having previously refilled my own stock of cylinders at wholesale price at various oil companies’ gas depots. At the point of sale, a filled gas cylinder is delivered at the customers' door step in exchange for the (now empty) customers' own cylinder of corresponding size.
The typical costs of my business are shop rent, salary for one staff (shop attendant), transport/delivery costs and communication (phone call) charges. I use the profits grow the business and cater for some of my living expenses.
Loan Proposal
I intend to use the requested loan amount to further boost working capital for my cooking gas retail business.
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Loan Info
Project Type
Classic Loan
Disbursed amount
$72.00
Date disbursed
Dec 15, 2018
Repayment status
On Time
Projected term
2 months
Other loans
Lenders
Turkey
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