Peris Kahuthia: From A Shop Attendant Earning Ksh6,000 To Owning Ksh900K Beauty Parlour

Peris Kahuthia is a businesswoman in the beauty and cosmetic industry who has invested in a beauty parlour.

She is the proprietor of Peryk Beauty Parlour located along Ronald Ngala street, RNG Plaza, 3rd floor room FC11.

However, her story is one for the books having launched her cosmetic business right in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite coming from a humble background and doing casual jobs to make ends meet, Peris now runs a successful cosmetic business.

Here is her story as told by WoK.

Background

She was born and raised in Gathaithi where she attended her primary school education and later her secondary school education.

Unfortunately, despite scoring a B in her Kenya Certificate of Secondary School Education (KCSE), Peris did not proceed to campus.

In an exclusive interview with WoK, she attributed the same to lack of school fees.

“Considering that I came from a poor background, my mother couldn’t allow me to fill the forms for joining campus because she felt I couldn’t make it to campus

“When the results were out, I had managed a B and it really hurt me because I couldn’t be invited to join any campus,” Peris said.

Moving to Nairobi

With no hopes of making it in the village, Peris left their home to join her uncle who hosted her in Nairobi.

She stayed at her uncle’s house and even enrolled for computer studies and driving classes but she did not complete due to lack of fees.

“Life got more challenging and I could feel that I was pressuring my uncle because he also had children in school and other expenses to care of,” Peris added.

Peris later started looking for a job within Nairobi to make some income, and later got a job as a shop attendant.

With a Ksh 6,000 monthly salary, she rented a Ksh 3,500 house and used Ksh 40 as transport to and fro.

It was after some time in her new job when she thought of joining Utalii College to pursue Hospitality Management.

“I had so much desire to do hospitality management, I looked for a vacancy at Utalii, I got the offer but it was expensive for us

“My mother managed half of the semester’s school fees… I stayed in school for a while before I was forced to stop studying,” Peris said.

After quitting school, Peris left her job and moved in with her cousin as she looked for a more affordable school to continue with her studies.

“I managed to get a school in Thika. We were lucky that the school was allowing us to pay the school fees little by little,” she said.

She studied Hospitality Management at and managed to graduate with a Distinction.

Jobs

After graduating from college, Peris worked at hotels, mostly on weekends, and she could earn Ksh 500 per day.

“It was challenging because you could only work from Friday to Sunday and the Ksh 1,500 is what you have to survive with for the whole week,” she stated.

Peris was later employed at a restaurant in Westlands but she later lost her job after the owner let go some staff after venturing into politics.

Shipping businesses

After the retrenchment, she got a job at a hotel in Nairobi CBD where she met a client who referred her to his friend who ran a shipping company.

Peris was hired and later sent to China where she stayed for a month before returning to Kenya, and back to China again.

“We had to do a fundraiser going to China where I stayed for one month, came back to Kenyan and back to China where I was allowed to work for six months

“I was working on commission basis yet I didn’t know  customers who need to ship goods. I could even go for a month plus without Ksh 10,000 yet the expenses are high,” she said.

She worked with the company for a while before it was closed down after which she joined another company which was not performing well.

In 2019, Peris joined another shipping company which she works for until today.

Cosmetic business

In January 2020, Peris was in Kenya when COVID-19 struck, and with no hopes of going back to China, she ventured into business.

She set up a cosmetic shop but with people wearing masks, the business was not doing well with the situation.

“We closed down considering the rent that we were paying and the expenses that we occurred every month,” she said.

It was after the business failed when Peris decided to start her own beauty parlour, Peryk Beauty Parlour.

Services offered at Peryk Beauty Parlour include manicure, pedicure, stick-ons, makeup and eyebrows shading among many others.

They also do hair which includes braiding, twisting, locs and hair treatment among an arrays of other available styles.

They can be contacted via 0724 620 720 or 0784 84 84 86 or through Facebook and Instagram at Peryk Beauty Parlour and @perykbeautyparlor respectively.