Meet Ann Wangui, a shopkeeper from the Rift Valley city of Nakuru, Kenya. Her second-hand suit business enjoys healthy margins thanks to low operating costs and high demand. From her kiosk at the heart of Nakuru's municipal market, Ann sells at least 80 suits per month and diligently saves a portion of each sale for future investments in her business and family. Zidisha has helped grow Ms. Wangui’s store and support her young children as they climb the ranks of secondary education.
By Vivien Barbier, Kenya Client Relationship Intern
Mrs. Wangui is running a shop in Nakuru’s market that sells secondhand suits for men. Every suit is in a very good state, so it is hard to see that they are secondhand. Before joining Zidisha, Mrs. Wangui was client of other organizations that provided loans, but the interest rates were too high for her to make enough profit to grow the business. In addition to repaying the debt, Mrs. Wangui has to pay for the school fees of her three children. Two of them are in high school and her youngest son is still at primary school. She told me that thanks to Zidisha and the low interest rate loan, the business is now much more profitable. Mrs. Wangui also expects that her older son will be accepted to the university. In this case, the government will pay for his education. Mrs. Wangui and her husband are putting in a lot of effort to ensure the success of their children.
The last few months have been a rough time for their family as Mrs. Wangui's sister became very sick. Mrs. Wangui had to pay for the substantial medical fees, which prevented her from paying back the loan for a few months. Fortunately, things are better now. Her sister is doing well and Mrs. Wangui can focus again on running her business. She also explained to me that during the last month, the business was not great in the whole region. July and August are usually bad months for business and things improve in September. This is not the first time I have heard that in the area. The other day, a farmer explained that this was because the harvest period only starts in September.
Mrs. Wangui's plan for the future is to buy at least one new full suit to expend her product line. With secondhand suits it is impossible to have a pants and a jacket from the same fabric and color. New suits can be sold for 30,000 KES ($350) so the profit that she can expect to earn will be much bigger than for secondhand suits.
I lost the count of the number of times she said “Thank you” to the Zidisha community for having helped her when she needed it. She also told me that I should come back next year to visit her shop again and that I will be amazed by the change that I will see then.
Learn more about Ann Wangui's story on her Zidisha profile page!
Article originally published at zidishainc.blogspot.com.