Our Biggest Week (Part 2)

Previously, Lucy had a business with a good location but poor inventory. We turned her stand into one of the most popular clothing shops in Kwangware slum. She sells knew clothes for children, traditional African dresses, and other woman's clothing. Including women's undergarments, which I think Wyclef had a little too much fun shopping for. Her business is doing well and she sells from sunrise to well past sunset. She has already had to return to the market during the first week to restock on many of her items. She never misses the opportunity to harass us as we pass by saying, "Panties? You buy Panties Bill? Keyur? Wyclef? Evans?". Of coarse her stand is located on the main road of the slum, so comedian Lucy always gets a few laughs- even if the laughs are from children high on glue.


Joseline has saved over 2,500 Ksh (about $30 US) in the first week! She also is one of the most high spirited, delightful people we have ever met. Every-time we come check on her business we want to just sit and hang out with her. She sells a variety of vegetables, as I am sure you can see. She has followed our savings and business expansion expansion plan perfectly. It has really proven to be successful for her. Her stand is on a very heavily traveled road in Dagoretti Corner. Foot traffic is especially high in the evenings, which you can find Joseline out selling until 10PM. Grab some tomatoes if you get a chance and support a wonderful lady.


Meet Agnus. She is HIV+, like everyone we start businesses for, but she is much younger than the field. She really seems to have an eye for fashion so she is selling second hand clothing. The brands and style of clothing that she has been able to find at the second hand clothes market in Gikumba is quite impressive (Ann Taylor, Hugo Boss, etc). Name brands that we know from adds in magazines, not by the tags on our shirts. She sold over half of her inventory in the first two days and saved 2,000 Ksh during the first week. This is about 30% of the money in which her business took to start. Just think about that for a minute. If a business start up cost in the US was X and you were able to save 30% of X during the first week- you would soon wake up from the dream or your last name is Gates. Agnus is taking her oldest child, a 5 year old little boy, to enroll in school next week. Her business has allowed her to afford her child's education. This strikes a special place in our hearts and it all is made possible because of your willingness to fund a business for a less fortunate person.


Velma has taken up a fish business. She has been ill so her stand is located close to her house. This has allowed her to earn income even while she is ill because neighbors are able to look after her inventory. This is a common occurrence in slum areas. If someone wants to buy something from a stand that is vacant, the neighbor of the stand will sell the items for the business owner. Everyone also knows the price of goods on the street. This is a positive thing in this instance but makes increasing prices of goods impossible. Anyway, Velma has already saved a good deal of money and has set aside her house rent in the first ten days. We look forward to seeing Velma get better and continue to run her successful fish business.

Meet Ms.Philus. We found Philus selling managu(a vegetable) out in front of Christine's Chips stand. After we found out that she was also HIV+, we wanted to help her get a proper business since we knew the work ethic was already there. She only pays $12.50 a month for rent and her children go to city council school (Public school), therefore, her cost of living is very low. We knew if she just had more inventory and a proper stand she would succeed wonderfully. It has proven to be true. She is always at her stand- any time of day that we pass by. Philus is the mother to 7 children (one of which recently passed away). She has also saved a good amount which is impressive with 6 kids to support.


Walk along the main road in Ngando and you will find Ruth out at her stand selling peanuts, popcorn, and small fish. Ruth, a timid lady, has really turned into a business lady. At first she seemed like she would be a pushover for customers, but now she is determined to save and make herself as much profit as possible. She is the only one that sells popcorn in the area, and to our surprise it has brought her a lot of profit. We added popcorn in at the end because she was under budget. Her CD4 was 30 at one point - dangerously low. It is now up at 370 and she is feeling well. She has turned her health and life around for the better.


Monica, the sweet potato queen, has been one of our biggest success stories. She seems to always be smiling and joking with us. Monica lives to save. She loves presenting her deposit slips to us, ranging from 500-2000 ksh ($6.25-$25). She is on a very busy road, especially in the evening. As you can see she already has bought herself another grill so she can cook more goods at the same time. Monica has really had the right attitude throughout and it is really paying off. We wish her nothing but the best.

Our Biggest Week (Part 1)

This week was filled with our largest group to date, we had a full roster of 14 people. With those 14 people we have nothing short of some amazing stories to share as you will read below. We also had a few interesting stories to tell of the Create A Job team. For instance, Evans, one of our translators had a scuff with the undercover Nairobi city council. Luckily, we were there to bail him out. Unfortunately, Nairobi city council can arrest you for just about anything, and when Evans put his foot on a handrail, they decided to do just that. When Evans was being led to the police car we had to incur a small bribe to avoid his prosecution. Evans – you owe us big time. Henry – our first bachelor, as he likes to say, has expanded his jewelry business and is now steadily selling his goods in kawangware market. We really liked Henry from the start, he is just a good person to be around. He has some good business ideas too. Henry makes some of his own jewelry, but where he makes the most money is by taking apart pre-made jewelry. Henry uses those pieces to create more jewelry, he can make one earring into 3 different pairs. He also does a solid job of buying jewelry in bulk and selling at significantly higher prices. Along with getting Henry the proper inventory, we set him up with a schedule to make sure he has enough days selling to make significant profit. Additionally, Henry also volunteers as a social worker at AMKA, the HIV clinic most of our candidates attend.
Emily has been struggling to put her three children through school. One of her children has not been attending school because she cannot afford the cost of books and uniforms for him. We knew Emily was a perfect candidate for a business. After brainstorming for a while, we decided the best items for Emily to sell at are peanuts, sweets, and sweet potatoes. The only tough part about Emily's business was selecting her stand location. After walking up and down the main drag of kawangware and finding and even negotiating a few possibilities, Emily was not satisfied. She wondered off by herself and when we found her, she had her location picked. After striking a good deal with the landlord, Emily was off to a great start and we look forward to see how the business affects her and her children.We pass by Jane almost everyday around kawangware, but until she came to us we had not known who she was. Jane sells boiled maize and nuts on a very busy intersection on kawangware. In fact, we still wonder how her table she sells on has not been wiped out by speeding matatus (buses). Jane insists she is safe at this location though, and it does attract a fair amount of people. We decided to assist Jane because we already knew she was a hard worker and she had the right attitude. Since Jane was already somewhat established, we worked on expanding and strengthening her business. She needed to make some additional income to be able to meet all of her bills, so we added tea leaves to her inventory as well as adding to the items she was already selling. She is also sporting a new table to attract customers instead of putting her items on the ground. She is doing well and the additional items have increased her daily sales - as you can tell by her picture, Jane is all business. Caroline came to us with some previous business experience in selling vegetables in the up country of Kenya. She was also, at one point, braiding hair when she could find the work. Unfortunately, her move to kawangware resulted in her losing her vegetable business and braiding hair was not providing her enough for her family. Caroline suggested a slightly different business idea, she wanted to sell sandals and shoes. She also wanted to sell sweets/snacks, although we were not really sure how she came up with the idea of a shoe/candy stand, we still liked it. The snacks would give her some steady income if she was not selling too many shoes that day.
Caroline bought the shoes and sandals for around 80 -120 ksh ($1.00-1.50), and plans to sell them for about 100-200 ksh a pair. We also liked Caroline’s selling location –outside a larger stand that sold clothing. We think both businesses will benefit from one another.
Judith is another candidate of ours that was already running a business, but she fell ill and her business faltered. This is why providing those we have created jobs for with savings accounts is very important, it gives them a back up plan when these types of emergencies occur and money to restart their businesses. Although Judith is still not fully recovered, she still sells mandazi (similar to a doughnut) everyday outside her house. She is doing well, and in order to boost her business we added more inventory, i.e. flour, sugar, oil, etc. Once Judith fully recovers and has more energy, we will help her obtain a stand in a more frequented area.
Josphin has been living with HIV since 1992 and is a widow with 5 children. She is as tough as they come. She is also unique in that her business idea was something we have not done before; she knows how to make cleaning soap for floors and other household surfaces. She makes a great profit on each liter of cleaning soap she sells too; each liter sells for about twice as much as it costs her to make. In addition, Josphin will be selling powdered soap as well as kerosene for cooking. Josphin was very thankful to us and all of you for providing her this opportunity. She said she had wanted to start this business for some time and is now finally able.
Violet is an easy person to like, she always seems to be smiling. She also has a cooperative attitude that made her stand out. Violet is married as has two children, a four year old and a one year old. Although her husband is a welder, his job is inconsistent and he can find work three times a week if he is lucky. Violet’s business is selling omena, dried tilapia, smoked tilapia, and an assortment of vegetables. Violet's additional income will help provide for her and her family and help pay the school fees for her 4 year old.

Moving on Up

Sarah is a bit of a unique case compared to others that we have started businesses for. She is young, has never been married, and does not have children. Nonetheless, she has a strong desire to work hard, and she is always happy to see the Create A Job team – which is never a bad thing. We had her business start with a variety of fruits and vegetables - which took the better part of the day finding the different items she wanted. However, in the end it worked out great, and Sarah keeps adding different items to her inventory and appears to be expanding her business quickly. We are very proud.

Let us flash back to the first week. We had 7 people in the room and we knew we had only called 6. Once we realized that neither of us knew this tiny lady on the end, we asked her who sent her. She stated firmly that she was their to start a business. We didn't know how to take this at first but we interviewed her in a later round and loved her drive. Robby Carren, aka RC, also came up with a different business plan- which we always like to see. It may appear as though RC is selling cocaine and marijuana, but I promise it is tea leaves and rice in those bags. The profit on 1 KG of rice and a single pack of ground tea leaves made us think about dropping this whole philanthropy thing and open a stand ourselves. Robby is caring for 4 orphans and will now be able to support them by herself.

Margaret is one of our more colorful businesses owners, she definitely doesn’t lack personality. She had selected to continue a business she had started years ago - selling boiled maize and charcoal. This past January, Margaret was bedridden due to HIV complications. She did not fully recover until April and her business was no longer operational. Margaret has had a bit of a slow start on selling her charcoal due to some issues with her stand. However, after giving her advice on how to rearrange her goods, we think Margaret will be just as successful in selling her charcoal as she has been in selling her maize.

Pamela (#2) is one of our favorite people here in Kenya. The mother to 4 beautiful children, she is always smiling and giving thanks for what your donations have done for her family. Pamela was a bit of a special case because she is a skilled tailor that was working in a co-op but not earning enough profit for her work. We were able to have her open her very own tailoring business. She is also a rare case because she has a husband that is alive and still very much a part of the family. Her husband, a carpenter, has helped her build a beautiful tailoring shop in Ngando. He is putting the finishing touches on it now but should be done very soon. Pamela is already hard at work making school uniforms for 5 children.

Lucy has started selling Githeri (cooked maize and beans) at an ideal location in Kawangware. She called us the other day to say thank you and that she is very happy because her and her children will become fat now. She has also been diligent about saving her money, a good habit to stick with. We look forward to seeing how Lucy progresses and how the business helps herself and her 7 children.

When we went to visit Rosemary we found her with her head in her hands, crying. Her landlord took off the doors to her house and refused to put the doors back until she payed rent. Rosemary lost her husband to HIV and TB last year. Since the death of her husband, Daniel, Rosemary has been working nonstop to try to get out of the debt that accrued since his passing. Her luck worsened when her oldest daughter was killed just a month ago. She takes care of 6 children currently. We helped her out by finding them an alternative place to stay and then created a very profitable business for Rosemary. We helped her on one single condition, she would no longer sell alcohol. We are proud to report that her stand is doing well and is alcohol free. She is selling an assortment of fish, vegetables, and goat meat. Rosemary is back on her feet and working hard.

Joyce was already an entrepreneur before we had the pleasure of meeting her. She had been selling larger supplies of tomatoes, onions, etc around town to an established clientele. This was a once a week job, so she came to us for help in starting something more consistent. In addition to her fruit and vegetable business, we have helped Joyce set up a chips business close to her home in Kongo, a place near the main drag in Kawangware. Joyce now has a job she can go to everyday to support herself and her 4 children.

Have you ever met a person that just makes you want to be a nicer person? Judith is one of those people. She doesn't seem to have a mean bone in her body. She also has turned out to be quiet the business woman- selling an entire sack of sweet potatoes in the first week. You are probably picturing a potato sack but it's equivalent to 3 of those. She is also housing Sarah, the first business women of the post. We expect big things from Judith and we know she will come through.

Eva is caring for 5 orphans. She currently carries water for the school that the 5 orphans are attending. She will be carrying water, in exchange for not having to pay school fees for the 5 orphans, in the morning and selling chips in the afternoon. Eva came to us and invited us to her house to see where the help is needed. We knew Eva was someone special from day one. Not too many people in this world would take in 5 orphans when they are struggling to survive themselves. We think Eva will be able to provide a future for these children and a more comfortable life herself.

9 People On Their Way to Living The Dream

Florence has started her very own hotel- basically a fast food restaurant. Her hotel is selling a mixture of cooked beans and maize called Githeri, Chipati, Ugali, and pakistani beans. She previously was washing cloths for a small fee and now walks outside the door of her home to sell her premaid meals. She is supporting her 7 children and is putting 6 of the 7 through school. As a widow suffering from HIV, Florence previously had a very difficult time coming up with funds for school fees and rent. She now has a profitable business that will alleviate the daily stress that lack of capital causes. Florence is a proud business owner.
Mary quickly got rolling with her sweet potato stand. She chose an ideal location, right outside of a well traveled bus stop. Every time we walk by, she is hard at work selling her goods. Even though she looks angry at us for taking her picture, she is very happy running her business. Mary surprised us with her business even after the second day her stand was up and running, she expanded her businesses and is now selling nuts as well as boiled sweet potatoes. Prior to selling sweet potatoes, Mary was washing clothes, whenever she had the chance, to support her 5 children - all of which are in school.


Beatrice, a young widow and mother to four children, has started a stand selling an assortment of goods. She is selling Omena, Tilapia, Tomatoes, onions, roasted peanuts, and crushed peanuts. Beatrice is now rocking a newly built portable kiosk, making all the other business owners very jealous. She is one of the most high spirited individuals that we have ever meant, dispite her positive HIV status. She truly understands the importance of saving and growing her business. We expect to continue to see great progress from Beatrice.


Teresia was our first clients that actually already owned her own business, however, she was having trouble with finding enough capital to really make her business profitable. Admiring her work ethic, we decided to assist her in gaining a greater inventory as well as providing a portable kiosk for her to sell her goods. We added tomatoes, maize, omena, onions, avacados, and chilli peppers to her stock. Teresia is definitely a hard worker, she sells her goods out of her house in the morning hours to neighbors and friends. In the evening she sells on Waynee Road to catch customers coming home from work. Teresia is grateful to you all for donating and helping her provide for herself and her 6 children.


Josephine was someone that we interviewed for the first week but we needed some time to think of a business in which she could truly excel. Due to her lack of education, it was a bit of a challenge. She came to us with a new business plan which would not involve very much math and profit calculation. She is now successfully selling charcoal in the area in which she is living. She buys a large sack of charcoal and divides it into small tins to sell at a higher price. Josephine is the only person in her area selling charcoals so she has done very well. She is the mother of 4 children and takes care of her two year old grandson.

Olifa has also started a hotel, selling a local favorite - beans and maize (githeri). She is set up to sell githeri during the morning hours (6am - 1pm) and then tries to catch the dinner crowd around 7 pm. Olifa was another of our clients that was washing clothes for income prior to starting her business. Olifa hopes to expand her business selling more items as she learns the ropes and generates additional income.

Roselia is extremely talented at knitting so we have tried to help her showcase her talent. Since she already had a sewing machine, we were able to buy her a large stock of wool to make sweaters, knit hats, scarves, and many more items. Roselia is one of the most kind-hearted people we have ever met. Her display kiosk, located on the main road of Ngando, is in the process of being built but should be ready in a few days. In the mean while, Roselia is busy knitting to increase her inventory.

Julius and his wife Caroline have started selling dried tilapia and omena in Ngando. Prior to contracting HIV, Julius supported his family working construction. Unfortunately, Julius could not continue in this field but he and his wife had some knowledge about the fish business. We assisted Julius and Caroline in going to the Gikomba market and selecting the fish as we have had experience with a couple other clients. Julius was stubborn about the location of his stand even though we suggested a few different locations. After helping him purchase the stand today, we agreed it was a great deal with strong businesses surrounding it.

Pamela and her husband Boaz have been making goods out of camel-bone to sell at the Maasi market for quite some time. They were previously borrowing money for supplies and were required to pay back the money once the goods were sold. Their problem was they did not have the capital in which to start. They could not get ahead and didn't have a plan to budget the money in which they were making. Now they have capital and a plan. The first shipment of goods should produce a profit of 20,000 KSH ( $260 US ). They will use a portion of this income to expand their business, a portion will be saved, and the rest will go to expenses. We expect them both to be living the highlife very soon. We are hoping to get Louis Vuitton suitcases and Gucci suits for our departing gifts.

Inventory Stocked- Businesses Up and Running

What a day. At 6am we were at Kawangware Market buying charcoal stoves, potatoes, charcoal, pans, frying oil, bananas, tomatoes, onions, ketchup, strainers, and anything else they needed for their businesses. We were able to supply them with everything they needed due to your generous donations. You should feel proud that your donations are making a huge difference in the lives of these Kenyans who struggle to provide for their families.
Christine's Chips is 100% complete and operational. She is out on the most heavily traveled road in Kawangware cooking fries and selling them in her new display case we had built for her. We will be stopping by for some fries in a bit. She made sure to let us know we have to pay, with no discount
Eddiah's Chip stand will be complete on Monday. All of her stock is bought and her stand was rented today. As previously mentioned, the bargaining tactic of offering a larger amount of money upfront and a small amount for the following months worked beautifully. The display case is still in progress but will be done for Eddiah to start selling chips Monday morning.

Tabetha's sweet potato stand, which is located 3 stands down from Eddiah's stand, has already sold a few dozen sweet potatoes and a number of bananas. We knew Tabetha was on a mission to succeed when we saw her running behind the cart that was transporting her sack of potatoes, holding on with one hand to make sure the porter didnt make off with her inventory. By the way, it was 5am.
Rebecca's necklace business has really impressed us. She is going to have the opportunity to truly succeed, and we think she will take full advantage of it. We gave Rebecca all of the stock she could possibly handle and are working on getting her a spot at the Maasi Market- A market frequented by tourists in Kenya. For now, Rebecca will be selling her necklaces at local boutiques.

Patricia's stand consists mainly of Omena (mino's), bananas, tomatoes, and onions. Kenyan's love their Omena, which Patricia demonstrated yesterday by eating a mino, raw- leaving only the tail. Good thing we hadn't eaten breakfast yet because we would have seen it again. We joked with her that we better not come by her stand and find only tails of omena left, but she explained that she needed to test them to see if they had stones.

Nina's bed cover stand has been postponed due to Nina falling ill. This is inevitable when your business owner's are suffering from such a harsh disease. We will meet with Nina again when she is feeling better next week.

In all, A successful week. Five fully functioning businesses have been started and 8 future business owners have been selected for next week. Pictures to come soon!

Putting The Pieces Together

During this week, we selected stand locations for our first group of businesses owners, which are located mainly in Kawangware. Renting the stands took some negotiating as we wanted to get the best possible monthly rate. We learned that offering a larger sum for the first month allowed for future months to be at a lower cost. This is ideal since we want the operating costs for the business owners to be as low as possible for them to effectively maintain their businesses. We negotiated most of the stands down to approximately 500 ksh ($6.50) a month and ensured the owner and tenant signed lease agreements.
Today, we traveled with the business owners to the regional market in Gikomba to purchase goods for their stands. In order to get the best quality items and price, we had to get to the market at 530AM. Even at this hour, the market was full of people fighting for the best deals. We will travel to another market in Kawangware tomorrow morning to purchase the remaining inventory. By the afternoon, the stands should be fully stocked and operational.
During this busy week, we also managed to interview 8 new candidates for businesses. We are excited to see some new ideas and interesting skills presented by this next group.

Stressing the Importance of Saving

This week we met with the future business owners on three different occasions to discuss bookkeeping, business strategy, and the importance of saving. Monday we will be opening savings accounts for all six business owners at Equity Bank. We will be requiring them to save a portion of their income each week. Many of the businesses that have fallen in the past were due to the need to use the business capital for emergencies (ie. hospital bills, increased school fees, etc.). This will allow for the patients to plan for such emergencies and increase their overall wealth. Each business owner will hand in their deposit slips at the end of each week. If they are able to save 3000 ksh (about $40), Equity Bank will loan them 6000 ksh ($80) to expand their businesses.