Mary Wanjira Munyeki: I took KSh 500 loan to start business, after losing my job; now thriving
When life knocks you down, aim to land on your back, as Les Brown famously remarked. Because you can get up if you can look up.
You can also stand up if you get up. You can battle for your dream again if you stand up because you have something special.
This exactly is the story of Mary Wanjira Munyeki alias Cira wa Mitumba who borrowed KSh 500 to start a business after losing job in 2015.
Her life is marked by setbacks before a breakthrough came knocking.
The businesswoman told Linda Shiundu of TUKO that she was compelled to locate another source of income after the company she worked for closed down.
Cira, who formerly worked as an account assistant, began her career as a hawker in 2015, when she approached a woman selling second-hand clothing in Gikomba and the two struck up a friendship.
“I started as a hawker after losing a job. Lost all friends because of problems. That was 2015, and life was really hard for me,” said Cira.
Cira developed a client base who were ready to buy clothes, but she didn’t have enough money to get the stock she needed. Desperate to make ends meet and determined to succeed in business, Cira developed a client base who were ready to buy clothes, but she didn’t have enough money to get the stock she needed.
That did not stop the determined young girl; she spoke with the woman who supplied her with clothes to sell, and her prayers were granted when the woman consented to supply her clothes on credit.
“I used to take clothes on credit in Gikomba and sell them. After selling, I would pay the money later in the evening,” she said.
“That went on for some time untill I could manage to buy my own stock for atleast KSh 3,000,” added Cira.
Slowly, things started looking up for Cira, who now runs a thriving second-hand clothes business at the open-air market and manages three employees.
“After like two years, I was able to bring my own container of bales from the UK and Canada. Today I supply bales to any part of Kenya and East Africa,” she said.
Cira does not want to lead a successful life alone; she, therefore, started talking and teaching single ladies and housewives how to make their money instead of depending on people.
The lady who is the CEO of St Jude Mitumba Grade also helps people start small businesses by dividing and sharing bales of clothes among themselves.
Similar story
In another story, Christine Shiro, said that she knew from a young age that she wanted to be a businesswoman when she grew up because office employment were not her cup of tea, had a similar motivating experience.
Christine began selling second-hand garments in September 2016 and described her entrepreneurial experience as “not for the faint of heart.”
After graduating from high school, the young girl said she began selling various items and was planning to enroll in college, but she was unable to pay her school fees due to a lack of cash.
She and a group of four other young ladies would travel around the country selling various goods in order to generate money to help her mother pay her school expenses.
