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.