Page 62 - Issue 48_press_efile

LEISURE
Entrepreneurship; business is not for the
Faint-Hearted
If you won Sh10 million in a jackpot,
which business can you take up
that will guarantee you reasonable
returns. Notice, I did not say good
returns or maximum returns, just
something sensible. Break even.
The answer is NONE. Not any single
business proposal makes sense
anymore. Even daredevils, riskiest-
prone folks are now scared of venturing
into business. In my brief sojourn out of
employment, I have come to understand
why most people would rather live on a
modest pay check than risk business.
I have tried tomato farming, which I was
promised by a friend would be very
lucrative but I didn’t receive the memo
that you can’t do farming through a
remote control.
I outsourced everything, including the
management of the farms. The very
people I hired sold the tomatoes and
blamed thieves and I was left staring
at a loss, when the produce was so
promising. In another season, I tried,
now prudent, it was the rainiest year but
we got nothing in the end. I later learnt, metres and that is how everything went
it would have been better to import
from Tanzania and Uganda, but it was
too late.
Or this time, someone told me a matatu
will be the best thing because you start
earning the first day you are on the road. business of selling diapers. On paper, it
Now, whereas I love risking, this proved
60| SACCO Star Magazine
with Silas Nyanchwani.
to be a dumb idea. Matatu business has
its owners. And it either works for you, or import and grow the business. Until, she
not. There is no middle ground. It never
worked for me because you must pay
the police daily like you owe them.
In one week, I had to pick either the
driver or the conductor from the police
cells and part with at least Sh3,000.
Then, there are the cartels and the mafia,
who control each bus stop in Nairobi.
Typically, a matatu loses anything
between Sh2,000- Sh3,000 to the police
and cartels. The margins are not as good.
If you took a loan to buy one, you will
probably never repay the loan and live
to enjoy a day in profits.
A while back the missus said, in our
neighbourhood, there is no proper
grocery. It was a burgeoning middle-
class neighbourhood, then just starting
with no shops or groceries to support
the families that were fast moving in.
We opened a grocery. For a time, it did
well. We were happy. But we woke the
following day, and there were exactly
five fruit vendors in a stretch of 20
down the drain. Another, gentlemen who
run a shop nearby woke up to find four
similar shops, and he closed his shop in
June.
Then, the missus wanted to get into the
was an exciting business. It started well.
Things looked so good, she wanted to
came face to face with the impossible
task of importation. The taxes are crazy.
The handling of goods at the port until
you get your cargo deserves the patience
of Job and you must pay so many bribes,
it makes no business sense by the time
you get your cargo.
Besides, the big players are never kind
to small players. She was not alone as
many small players have been crying
daily about the cost of importation and
the goods held at the port.
There is hardly a sector that is
encouraging. Another colleague took
some loan to buy some cars to get into
Uber. He now tells me it is a sick model,
with very minimal yields. He has put the
cars on sale, and he wants to pay the
loans and work quietly.
Lately, you want to go back to the
office, work, build a home and live like
any other Kenyan until there is a better
environment for business. For now, if
you have some savings, you may want
to lock them some more, in an account
that can earn you some interest as you
speculate for a fool-proof idea.
Good luck.
@nyanchwani
e-mail: snyanchwani@gmail.com