Precious metals are hardened by fire. Business addicts are hardened by challenges. As a matter of fact, the most common attribute for all business people is perseverance. Different successful business people may have different integrity, luck, family backgrounds, education but all must meet in the ability to persevere. Some are born with it, others, a greater majority I believe, have developed it in the course of time.
One ‘mama mboga’ I met with yesterday, who requested I call her by her first name Mary, surprised me with her story and ability to persevere. She is a mother of two, a single parent, aged 35 and owns a six floor residential building in Umoja Nairobi. She has constructed a structure at the front of her building from where she sells groceries. In her store she has employed five guys who attend to the continuous flow of customers.
Mary told me the daily sales for that store ranges from a hundred to a hundred and fifty thousand in a day. Further, she has over ten grocery stores located in different parts of Nairobi which are almost the same size with the one she works in. she confidently spoke of challenges in the beginning.
“I begun with a bunch of tomatoes I used to sell in town. We were not allowed by the city council to sell in town, yet its only there were the market was very rewarding, we had to maneuver our way in with other sellers during the late hours of the day. Occasionally, an impromptu visit by the city council officers with clubs would force us to leave our stock their and run away. Yet the following day I would be at my spot, it was like an addiction to the place, I had a target, I had to do all I could to meet that target within the shortest time possible so that I could construct a store where I live.”
She continued,
“With time I managed the capital, within a year and half. I was then about to give birth to my second born. I rested for some three months after I gave birth to her, life was difficult but I fought not to touch my treasure capital. My ‘chama’ really helped in that period and I did not dig any little in to my accumulated capital. Then in August 2007, I constructed my first store, I rented the place. The next challenge was waking up early to go to the market. This helped me set my next target, I had to grow big so that I could afford suppliers bring groceries to my stores. I ate very little, saved more and ploughed back much of the profits. Within six years, I had met my ten year target. I had ten stores of this size and the return in most of them was above my estimated average. Last year I bought myself this place from my savings and the ‘chama’ chipped in a little. A bank helped me construct the building.”
She brushed aside my last two questions with a smile, the first was her average income in a month, and the second was why she still dirtied herself in the store when she could earn the same at the comfort of her living room. She said she did not know with a smile, as if telling me to guess the answers. Her next target is three more buildings of the same size within the next five years. She concluded,
“I can’t wait to have three more stores in each of those buildings.”
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