Small Business Stories: How Nairobi Graduate is Making 60K Per Month from Selling Traditional Porridge

Small Business Stories: How Nairobi Graduate is Making 60K Per Month from Selling Traditional Porridge

By Susan Gitonga

At only 23, Kendi Kimathi is thinking beyond her age. As many of her age mates complain that there are no jobs, Kendi on the other hand has managed to turn a passion of hers into a successful business.

A Rough Start

When Kendi finished High School, she made the choice not to get employed. Her mother, however, was a bit sceptical about her choice and advised her to first get formal employment, save up for the business and get started while still employed. Not wanting to disappoint her mother, Kendi obeyed.

She ended up getting a Customer Relations job in a local Telecommunications firm.

Quit her Corporate  Job

Five months into the job, Kendi made the big decision to quit her Customer Relations job. She felt that the pay was too little, and working 6 days in a week for the firm did not give her time to work on her Uji Business.

The day her Passion for Traditional Uji started.

Kendi Kimathi got the Uji Business idea while still in Campus, where she has begun selling to her schoolmates, friends and family. And because of how good her porridge was, she started getting referrals and uji business started getting popular.

After quitting her job, Kendi used her savings together with financial aid  from her mother to travel to Meru to buy a grinding stone, to support her uji making process.

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The Uniqueness of Uji Benda

Ms.Kendi named her business Uji Benda and today, she is making a living out of it. In fact, her business is growing so much that she has now employed someone to be in charge of grinding the porridge and packaging it.

She, on the other hand, focuses on sales, marketing and making deliveries.

Her porridge is made out of pearl and finger millet, both of which she grinds. “It is the most nutritious uji around. It is a source of calcium, phosphorous and has high fibre content,” Kendi says.

Her uji product comes in two varieties, namely: Cooked and Uncooked. Once she grinds the pearl and finger millet, she lets it ferment for a couple of days.

The porridge also creates an alkaline environment in the stomach, which makes it very suitable for ulcer patients.
Because of the nutritious benefits of the porridge, some of her clients include elderly people who require meals rich in anti-oxidants to help in digestion. The uji is also bought by lactating mothers, as it enriches their milk.

In a nutshell, Kendi’s uji is a healthy drink that all should take!

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On making money

Kendi sells her Uji in three, five and 20 litre jerricans. She sells the five litre jerrican of cooked porridge at Kshs.1, 000, while the pre-cooked porridge goes for Kshs. 750.

A 20 litre amount of cooked porridge is priced at Kshs 4,000, while the raw version goes for Kshs 3,000.

On a normal month, Kendi doesn’t make less than 30K  and on festive months she makes up to 60K from her business.
Future Plans

“I am looking to offer a standard value for our porridge, so as to distribute it to supermarkets, hotels, restaurants, gyms and hospitals. I am also aiming at having a production centre where we can produce the porridge in large quantities,” says Kendi.

Have a business idea or looking for advice on starting one? Speak to us via susan@www.careerpointkenya.co.ke

Source: Nairobi News

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