It’s not been all gloom for traders during pandemic 

For the thousands of hawkers in the streets of Nairobi and other towns in Kenya, the onset of Covid-19 in March last year presented an unprecedented business challenge.

With the streets clear due to containment measures to prevent the spread of the disease, many were left with depressed operations, some opting to pack their bags and travel to their village homes.

But some, like 42-year-old Susan Njambi, stuck it out and made money. Ms Njambi has been a hawker in Nairobi for over a decade, selling mitumba jackets in the Central Business District. When the pandemic hit last year, her sales took a heavy hit.

“I used to sell four to six jackets daily and make about Sh1,000. But when the pandemic hit, some days I would not sell even one,” says Ms Njambi. She had to act fast.

“I now sell masks and wallets both in wholesale and retail. Due to high demand for masks, I am now able to make profits of about Sh1,500 or more on a good day,” she says. The trader says switching to selling masks turned into a blessing, as its a commodity that the government requires every Kenyan to have.

Along Tom Mboya Street, Nairobi, Ms Joy Atieno’s “grocery” looks quite different from how it did before Covid-19. The lemon, ginger, turmeric and garlic stock is more pronounced compared to other groceries.

She says that due to increased sales of the products, her total sales have increased by about 30 per cent. 

Businesses that gained

“Before last year, I sold one to two kilos of lemon and garlic daily, but after Covid-19 hit sales demand has been high, today I sell between six and eight kilos of lemon daily,” she says. She adds that traders have been importing some of the products from Tanzania to meet demand.

The two traders are a pointer to the various economic sectors that, inadvertently, ended up gaining from the Covid-19 pandemic. Even though many businesses were ravaged, the pandemic also created new industries and production lines for manufacturers, and increased demand for some products.

In the alcohol industry, after containment measures led to the closure of bars, consumption shifted to homes, thus boosting wines and spirits businesses.

“There has been increased at-home consumption as our consumers now prefer drinking in groups and sharing costs. This has boosted sales for the mainstream and premium spirits mostly,” said East African Breweries managing director Jane Karuku when the firm released its 2020 financial results.

The brewer reported that sales for premium spirits in Kenya improved by 32 per cent and mainstream spirits by 22 per cent compared to the previous year.

Being a respiratory disease, many Covid-19 patients ended up needing oxygen supplementation. Oxygen producing firm BOC, in its 2020 annual report, reported a 17.5 per cent increase in its revenues from Sh930.6 million in 2019 to Sh1.09 billion in 2020, while profits jumped 121 per cent from Sh75.5 million to Sh167.1 million.

Other businesses that have gained from the pandemic are those that produce products such as sanitisers, masks, gloves and soaps, and those who retail them.