On your way to Daraja Mbili market near Nakumatt supermarket in Kisii town you will find Jared Momanyi at his stall busy selling electronics and clothes.
This has been his point of operation for the past 10 years.
“I moved to this location after a similar business I had at the town center did not go as expected. Here I have access to more customers and this has made my business grow,” he said.
Momanyi says he started the business after dropping out of school, for lack of fees. Coming from a poor background and being the eldest child, he decided to do something that would help support his younger siblings.
“With a capital of Sh3,000 I set up a small kiosk at home where I would sell the basic food items. The shop did well and I was able to raise enough capital to start selling electronics,” he says.
The shift was however, not easy as Momanyi says he would at times go a whole day without selling a single item. It took a while but he eventually built up a reliable client base.
“I started by establishing good working relationships with my neighbours who then introduced me to people who became my clients. From these, another chain of contacts emerged as they referred me to their friends,” he says.
Momanyi says when he decided to move from the town center, he made sure to inform his clients and also ensured he delivered whatever they needed for those who could not come to his new location.
After a while, he also started selling women’s clothes and this brought even more clients his way.
Today, the business has stabilised and he makes a profit of about Sh2,000 to Sh3,000 per day which helps him take care of his wife and three children.
The business is however, not without its own challenges with Momanyi saying the rainy seasons really affects his work as he is forced to seek shelter elsewhere.
“My plea is for the Kisii County Government to build shelters for people like me who conduct open air businesses,” he says.
