John Kenduiwa, 60, has been repairing radios for 32 years in Mulot Sunset Township, Bomet County. At ten, his love for radios was ignited by his neighbour who used to repair electronic devices at his house. He acquired the skills by observing and learning from him.
“I would observe how the neighbour repaired old radios, and black and white television sets that people brought to him. He gave me some of the work to do as I learnt how to do repairs, soldering and fault detecting,” he says.
In 1984, armed with a set of screw drivers, soldering wires and soldering iron, he opened a radio repair workshop in Mulot Sunset Town with a capital of Sh800.
“I have repaired countless number of items. I have never seen a radio that I could not repair. I love making radios roar back to life and look great again,” he says.
He operates the repair business alone; sometimes he is overwhelmed by the high number of clients.
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On a bad day, he makes a net income of Sh2,000.
Kenduiwa is also a collector of antique radios, vinyl record and tape recorder players. His precious collections are from the early 1960s to the 1990s. His shop walls are lined with dozens of such collections.
He has made his passion for repairing radios his life-long job and is not quitting anytime soon.
“We should not complain that there are no jobs. We need to stop relying on white-collar jobs, but instead improve our lives by following our passion and exploiting our potential,” he says.
He advises those planning to venture into business to focus on one thing that they are passionate about and stick to it.
