24-year-old Busia Resident Starts International Imports Business
24-year-old Busia Resident Starts International Imports Business
With a twitch of a smile, she boasts to me of being an international trader.
At first, I think she is just pulling my leg; until she began relating the facts about her business.
“I buy my raw materials from Uganda and Kenya. It depends on the season though Uganda has a steady supply all year round.”
So that makes you an international trader? I joke as I fiddle with my small image capture device. The weather around Busia, the Headquarters of Busia County Kenya, can be termed as hot-hot most of the year-round, with bright sunlight. When I look up at her again, the small smile is still pasted on her face. This is when I realize she is not smiling at me; this is her business trademark. You cannot help but feel comfortable at her kiosk.
Her business is located at the tail-end of the walls of St. Mathews Boys’ High School on the road known as Kasarani Street. The business is directly behind Busia’s new Soko ya Samaki (Fish Wholesale Market). Standing at her kiosk, you can see the huge temporary Soko ya Samaki which is a stone's throw from Kenya’s border with Uganda. It is a very busy area. Every few minutes a bicycle or motorcycle loaded with goods zooms past either going or coming from the direction of the border.
A soft-spoken 24-year-old runs a full-fledged factory with all the elements of a modern industry scaled down. To appreciate the magnitude of Mary Namwangu's business, one has to consider that despite her facilities or lack of, she goes through the full cycle of manufacturing, just like any modern factory. The process involves:
STEP 1: Procurement
As a purchasing entity, she sources her raw materials from various places. She personally undertakes the purchasing and transporting of raw materials in Kenya or from Uganda depending on the season and prices. She then orders and buys the packaging materials.
Her main raw material is Peanuts and Simsim (Sesame). She sources her supply from middle-traders who buy them from farms during harvest season. She travels once or twice a month to Uganda to buy her supply.
Why doesn’t she ask someone to bring the materials to her kiosk or send someone else who is going to Uganda to buy the supply on her behalf?
It makes economic sense she agrees. However, there are several inherent challenges. The first is that she uses her supplies for manufacturing, so she needs to ensure personally do the selection of the peanuts and Simsim to be sure of freshness and they are of the highest quality.
However, the main challenge is the reality that the cross-border trade ring is very latent. One day there can be few customers; the following day a flood of buyers. It can happen the time the person you sent is returning coincides with the customers’ flooding day. This person will simply sell your stock on the way and return to Uganda to buy you a different lot. He/she will have used your money for their trade and you won’t be any wiser. Meanwhile, if your stock level in the store was low, you suffer a catastrophic blow in production.
Farmers in Uganda are harvest twice a year; that is why we buy mostly from there. Besides if you stay so long from the trade route, your contacts will dry up. You will end up buying from brokers whose prices are exorbitant.
STEP 2: Storage
The next step in her production is sorting, drying, and storing
STEP 3: Processing
The Peanuts and Simsim are then roasted to the required standard. The roasted nuts are then processed to remove the covers. This is followed by grinding to different types of finesse in preparation for mixing for different products she packs and sells.
STEP 4: Packaging
Mixing paste ready for sale both in manual measurements or pre-packed, sealed tubs containers. She mixes and packs her products in three different forms: Paste, soft cake, and powder.
The paste and soft cake are sold in ready-packed sealed plastic tubs, but large quantities can be measured in take-away packs.
The products, packages, and sizes include:
Peanut Butter as bread-spread packed in sealed plastic tubs sizes: 250g and 500gm
Simsim Butter as bread-spread packed in sealed plastic tubs sizes: 250g and 500gm
ODI No 1 as an additive for cooking sweet potatoes, or as an accompaniment when eating ugali
Odi no 2 as an additive for cooking vegetables, bananas or sweet potatoes
Peanut Powder as an additive for cooking vegetables. It can also be mixed into OD 2.
ODI No 1, Odi no 2, and Peanut Powder are measured and sold in amounts of 1, 2Kg or more according to the customer’s requirements.
Some customers buy in large quantities then go to sell in small measurements to households users or in spoonfuls to customers who like to eat the cake as a snack. It is really sweet.
STEP 5: Sales and Marketing
“I sell my finished products in both Kenya and Uganda… Yes, I am an international trader”.
I ask her: I thought Ugandans have been using these products for eons, don’t they make enough for themselves?
Again that permanent smile: “Business is business. If you have a better product and you make an effort to present it well, customers will always come for more. Even you; I know if you buy and take home, your wife will always ask you to bring some. My prices are also so competitive compared to what is sold in Supermarkets from elsewhere.
On this particular day of our visit, Simsim Butter is out of stock. Apparently, it is her most popular brand and moves like the proverbial hot cake.
She encourages us to buy a sample of each of the rest of her products to go and try at home. She is one business lady one cannot resist promoting.
Which supermarkets does she supply? She names two shops and skits around the question. Says that is her business secret.
“You…. you want to know all the secrets of my business, how do I know despite who you say you are; you are just another competitor?
Challenges
Namwangu has heard of a machine that can do all processes in one run: fry, cobble, and grind the peanuts in one go. But she has never seen it. “Iko huko Nairobi.” But she knows it is sold in Nairobi’s Kariobangi Light Industry. Her butter and paste products have a shelf-life of 4 months. She needs a preservative to increase this. Also, she needs to improve her product promotion, labeling, and going further afield to reach more customers.
Her production is also affected by shortages of raw materials.
Why can’t you stock sufficient material to last you say, 6 months of production? “Nitatoa hiyo pesa wapi?” (where do I get that kind of capital?) She bursts into laughter.
“This may look to you like a small business but…wachatu! If you want to make a good profit, you have to stay on top of the game.”
What is her dream?
Namwangu has been in this business for four years. To grow her business to full-scale manufacturing. For that, she requires a better location. “This place is good for the customers I have, but look, is it ideal for supplying to shops and supermarkets?” She poses.
Namwangu says her dream of being a full-fledged businesswoman in her product range can be actualized with an injection of capital of Ksh.200,000.