By Meshack Nyambane
As you walk through the environs of Tutii market along Chwele-Bungoma highway slightly after Cardinal Otunga Girls High School, a makeshift boutique bursting with multi-colored clothing majorly ladies and kids wear will catch your attention. Behind the displays is a building with two open doors both labelled “M-Pesa” but one is conspicuously a mini bookshop and another, a cereals store that also sells a few poultry products. All these investments evidently pronounce a resilience story of entrepreneurial Elphas Were, a second-year student at Kibabii University pursuing Bachelor of Early Childhood Education. Elphas 23, hails from Kisa East in Kakamega County. He is a second born in a family of eleven. In 2010, Elphas’ father Mr. Joab Kendira, the then sole breadwinner was involved in an almost fatal bodaboda accident involving him and a hit and run lorry that left him for dead. He (the father) would remain in bed for over three years paralyzed, automatically knocking him out of his daily routine. Although senior Kendira is today well and up, he is unable to vend for his family through his bodaboda business the way he used to do back then. Having sought for justice in vain, he today stays at home counting on his young sons and daughters to guarantee him a restful and comfortable future. In this edition, we meet his son, a student who is striving to beat the odds in the murky waters of business challenged by COVID 19 closures and uncertainty.
Read the story of Elphas Were.
Q: Tell us about your early school life
I attended Mushichibulu Primary School until 2014 and later joined Ekatsombero Secondary School in Khwisero Constituency. Here, I used to be a lover of books and my most favorite subjects were History and CRE. I also participated in athletics where I represented my school to the County level. After my father’s accident, life became very difficult for us. My mother, who is a subsistence farmer had to provide for all of us clothing, food and medication. It became almost impossible for me to proceed with my secondary school studies because of the school fees. Luckily, Khwisero Constituency through the then MP Hon. Benjamin Andola identified my needy situation and paid my school fees until Form 3. However, the sponsorship lapsed when the MP lost his seat during the 2017 general elections.
As luck may have been, at the same time my elder sister secured a job at a small supermarket in Port Victoria, Busia County. She was able to support me to complete my secondary education and in 2018 and I scored a C+ of 47 points.
Q: Congratulations for the good grades despite your struggles. So, what did you do after KCSE?
After completion, my sister sought an opportunity for me at the supermarket that she was employed. I worked there for two
months but because the company’s policy did not allow relatives to work together, I quit with my two months’ salary savings. I opened a stationery shop at Port Victoria and that’s where my investment journey started.
Q: How did you gain interest to join Kibabii University?
While in my stationery business, I met a friend who got interested in my grades. When I asked him about the best university to join, he did not hesitate to refer me to Kibabii University. He explained to me that young universities do not experience disruptive unrests and that facilities are not overstretched. I have always had thirst to complete my studies in record time and get into formal employment. That is how I made up my mind to choose KIBU.
Q: You decided to pursue Early Childhood Education. What was your motivation?
I have always had a passion for children. I give a lot of attention to babies as low as 1-5 years. When they are happy, I derive a lot satisfaction. I enjoy attending lectures in ECDE especially topics on child development. My mentor is my lecturer Dr. Robert Wafula and I wish to be like him some day.
Q: Take us back to your business enterprises.
When I joined Kibabii University, it became difficult to operate my shop at Busia County. I tried employing someone to carry on the business but the reported profits kept on dwindling. I had to make a bold step to salvage my investment. I transferred the business to Bungoma. Around Kibabii University where we are currently located.
In this business, I sell CBC material, set books and story books, dictionaries and Kamusi, printing papers and other kinds of assorted stationery. My main clients are university students and school going children from the nearby primary schools. This forces me to wake up as early as 4.30 am to cash in on pupils who may want to buy pencils, rubber and such items. Apart from the bookshop, I also run a boutique and also run poultry business. Today, I have an incubator with a 64-egg hatching capacity. I sell chicks and fully grown improved kienyeji chicken.
Q: How do you raise extra money to rapidly expand your business?
I am a beneficiary of HELB loan and this has been my biggest financier. They pay part of the loan to my school fees and the rest is deposited to my bank account as subsistence. It is this money that I use to invest in my business. Despite the interruptions from COVID 19 closure that almost collapsed my business, I was able to complement earnings from the wide portfolio of products that I deal with. The lesson here is, business is dynamic. Do not rely on one line of investment.
Q: What is your monthly turnover?
My business runs all my expenses in campus. After paying all business related and personal expenses, I report a net profit of approximately Ksh. 10,000 which I again plough back to expand the business. My elder sister pays school fees for my sister at Bishop Njenga Girls High School and my brother at Karatina University. I occasionally support them with fare, pocket money and books.
Q: Any challenge to students in campus?
Do not eat all your earnings. Try to multiply it even if it means by a small percentage. You can strain at times yes, but those are the challenges of entrepreneurship.
