Against odds: The businesswomen thriving amidst tough economy

The atmosphere is electric. Some 300 women are seated in the Kianda School hall, Nairobi, just days before the students resume classes for the third and final term of the year.

Some claims in the invitation backgrounder I received in the countdown to the Fanikisha Summit sound too rosy vis-à-vis a depressed and depressing economy that defines present-day Kenya.

Sample newspaper headlines that speak of an economy in doldrums, which Kenyans from different walks of life are experiencing: “Fury over rising taxes, fuel prices” and “Now petrol hits Sh210 per litre”.

A blurb says it’s the first-time fuel prices have crossed the Sh200 mark: “For Kenyans, this means food, electricity, transport and other related costs can only go up.”

Another newspaper captures the national agony: “Kenyans’ cry of pain”. The blurb speaks of families “reeling from unbearable cost of living”.

Amidst such gloom, the women’s upbeat mood baffles. My suspense ends as session moderator Anne Njoroge invites three women to narrate how a seven-month business training programme changed their fortunes, 60 per cent of them within six months.

Although she’s the last speaker, Ms Jane Muchiri’s testimony makes for compelling reading. Jane is the co-founder of Life Point Hospital, a level 4 facility in Gitaru, Kikuyu. The nurse of 26 years quit paid work 13 years ago to try self-employment in a tiny clinic in Muguga in 2008.

“Actually, it was two rooms. I did mathogothanye (implying hopeless work) for about two years based on the only profession I know: nursing. I had no business management skills.”

Awed

The confession tickles her audience, some bursting into outright laughter. Fast forward to 2010 and a team of business trainers with a mission “to promote the dignity of the woman, the girl and the family” shows up.

They want to meet businesswomen. While those who turn up seem keen on catering, they soon realise the package on offer has more than just catering skills. “It was like the training was cut out for me,” says Jane.

Within days, the trainers notice something amiss with the women’s businesses. “Do you keep records? Do you have a patient attendance register?” That’s a new one for Jane because “as a nurse, mine is to turn up and see my patients. I’m passionate about my patients,” she asserts. “All I want is to attend to them and take home a little cash for supper,” she says.

“So, when they ask me how much I make per day and how I manage to pay my rent, I’m lost.”

Jane is then taken through a programme on how to keep a record of her patients, earnings and to save. Her journey to acquiring business skills starts. She not only follows the lessons keenly but also puts them into practice.

“I get to know how much I make in a month. I start paying myself… like Sh3,000 per day. I can now pay my monthly rent without stress,” she tells fellow businesswomen.

As she grew, so did her clientele. Jane says she asked God: “So you can really bless my hand? I didn’t know you could bless me.” She went full-throttle into savings mode. The Fanikisha programme helped her to save “until I hit Sh5 million”.

From a hand-to-mouth nurse, her business grew to the point of attracting her husband. Her “super saving” signalled to him that Jane was a serious businesswoman he could partner with.

“That’s how we managed to put up the Level 4 hospital,” she declares to wild cheering. The Sh20 million facility was opened in July 2019, she tells the Voice in a follow-up interview.

Mothers are an important clientele of Life Point Hospital. “They deliver at our hospital. We’ve grown to hire 15 staff.” Jane sums up her success: “It’s about passion, budgeting and record-keeping. I’m grateful for referrals from my networks, including my trainers.”

About 4,000 women have participated in the programme, in 92 locations across the country, since its inception 20 years ago. It imparts business, catering and nutrition skills as well as mentorship and counselling of women and girls struggling to make ends meet.

Growing their businesses is uppermost in the businesswomen’s minds. Ms Cecilia Wanjiku Njoroge tells fellow women how she emerged from street begging to being an aspiring industrialist.

Her husband couldn’t understand how she could be out all day and come home empty-handed. She felt battered in every sense, including spiritually. “I couldn’t pray; I couldn’t even take a bath,” she says.

A tailor, her sewing machine had become useless. Paying rent was tough and putting a meal on the table a poser. Eventually, she gave up any pretences at tailoring and resorted to begging, surviving on alms of Sh10 to 20. “I had reached the end of the road.”

One Sunday morning in June last year, a business support group visited Cecilia’s St Charles Lwanga Catholic Church in Kamirithu Parish, Kiambu County, to talk to businesswomen. A friend tipped her off on the visitors but she was ill-prepared to participate.

“I didn’t even have a pen to write with. I attended the talk just out of curiosity,” she confesses.

“I thought I was beyond help. They were teaching cooking but I didn’t even have anything to cook,” a requirement for participating.

It turned out to be more than just cooking. When the trainers shared possibilities in handicrafts, Cecilia bought into the idea of stitching shopping bags from simple reusable materials.

Suddenly, there was light at the end of the tunnel. She retrieved her sewing machine and for the first time, ‘the beggar’ went home with Sh300 after selling her first shopping bag.

The trainees also learned record-keeping, “which was initially Greek to me,” Cecilia recalls, although it’s the game changer for most women who were used to spending the day’s income on immediate needs.

They also learned about mutual support instead of engaging in unhealthy competition. Before the training, Cecilia says, each member of her business community set her own price, leading to undercutting of each other.

Within six months of gaining business skills, she had upgraded to a Sh100,000 sewing machine. Cecilia had saved for the machine after learning to always pay herself first, separate business from domestic cash, and save for growth. “Never give up. Use your business skills” she tells fellow traders.

Cecilia is now building her own house on land her father gave her when he noticed her business prowess. “I want to put up a factory to help women in the situation I was in,” she declares eagerly. And all that within a year, and with minimal capital investment. The house should be ready for occupation in January.

Ms Elizabeth Mwembu, whose husband quit his matatu driver job to join her in running her suddenly thriving curio shop, is another example of improved circumstances. It all began in mid-2022 when she heard about training in catering for Kamirithu businesswomen. “I was excited about the training because I wanted to know how to cook,” she tells the gathering.

But catering turned out to be just an entry point. She soon realised that all businesses stood to gain from the training that taught her to prepare a business plan.

“By practising what I learned, I quit a life of struggle, and through teamwork with my husband, we’ve opened two more shops and hired two attendants.”

Elizabeth is happy that she didn’t have to quit her Blessed Curios shop that brings out her creativity. Her handicrafts include beaded bags, Maasai shuka, and jewellery. They attract buyers from far and wide. She also sells wooden carvings of wildlife and décor pieces. 

The couple have set their sights on a brighter future, with construction of their own house starting soon. Their business, she says, not only sustains the family but is an inspiration to the community.

The summit’s climax was a keynote address by Ms Mercy Wanjeri, a businesswoman, psychologist, wife and mother. She not only affirmed the skills the businesswomen have learnt, the former secretary also dabbled in office vending. “I sold cosmetics from floor to floor at lunch break.”

Citing Cecilia—who confessed to sinking so low as to be unable to take a bath—Wanjeri says she was shining just like the other women in the hall. Her first lesson to the women was on the strength in resilience: “Nurture a fighting spirit.”

Many in the room, she says, were symbols of resilience. Narrating her business journey, she says how after doubling up as personal assistant and an office hawker during the week she would take the night bus to Uganda on Friday.

“I would buy clothes, sheets, shoes… be back on Sunday and at work on Monday. I hired an attendant for my side hustle.”

Eventually, she quit her job altogether and went into full-time business. That meant she opened her shop, distributed goods, and was a messenger and cashier besides taking money to the bank.

“That’s my story of resilience without which I would not have made it,” she says.

Failing forward

She also tells the women about the importance of ‘failing forward’. She explains: “Treat your failed business as a school. You learned something. You’re not a failure. You’re failing forward because tomorrow you will be advising others, telling them what to avoid.”

To the women’s amazement, the woman they saw as an icon of success confesses to having closed six businesses “and none of them is like the other. I was gaining experience along the way. Whatever you’re doing should take you to the next level,” she tells them.

The speaker also warns against selling a struggling business. She sold her hairdressing salon and barber shop in 2017 when they were thriving. Nobody wants to buy a dead venture. A potential buyer will be attracted to a well-stocked chemist rather than a ‘Butchery for sale’ with no sign of life. “Let the booming business sell itself,” says Wanjeri.

She avoided selling her business equipment at the height of Covid and locked up her stuff to await better times. Wanjeri extols networking, which is evident among the women as they seemed to tip each other off whenever the trainers came to town. Spirituality, growth, and family support—which was evident in the three testimonies—were other ingredients of successful business, she says.

During group discussions, participants warn that business is not always rosy. They list unpredictable price hikes, especially in catering, after quoting for a client. They also mention the challenge of low-cost imports, such as eggs, which undercut local produce. Value addition is key to warding off competition.

“Add masala to your chips if everybody decides to sell the popular snack.”

Ms Kweyu is a consulting writer and editor ([email protected]).