Husband’s call leads Phoebe to big money

Phoebe comes across as a shy lady who looks unlikely to have the courage to navigate the rough terrain of business. In the year 2008 she began selling vegetables in Voi town. She sold sukuma wiki, potatoes, spinach, tomatoes and onions. She mainly dealt with housewives and house girls who had the time to visit the market. With time it became boring because she felt destined to do bigger things. Meanwhile her husband, who is trained in matters computer, kept pushing her to venture into the IT industry.

Phoebe heeded her husband’s call and opened a small shop with a few computers. A friend told her how young people are making money by taking advantage of the loans provided by the Youth Enterprise Development Fund. She visited one of the institutions in partnership with the Fund where she obtained an initial loan of Kshs. 30,000. She bought a few computer accessories to diversify her range of products.

She graduated systematically and is now servicing a loan of Kshs. 250,000. She has since moved to bigger premises that can accommodate her expanded stock size of computers and accessories such as printers, speakers and toners. Her customers include individuals and institutions.

Her greatest challenge is competition from the bigger cities. Individuals within Voi town will normally facilitate her prospective clients to buy at wholesale price from Nairobi or Mombasa. This is why she is determined to abandon the small league and start importing and distributing to the wholesalers. She wants to be a step above them.

She says she has faced ups and downs in her business, which she however shies to describe in details. Her message to her fellow youth is that “they should get together into groups and start small businesses. When people are in a group they provide support to each other and their enterprises prosper”. She calls upon the youth not to despair “because there are a lot of opportunities out there”.