Jackson Muriuki is a Nakuru-based businessman who abandoned his journalism career to sell bicycles. With many Kenyans now buying bicycles for their children and for recreation purposes this ticked as a good business venture.
Riding bicycles as a form of exercise has been popularised by busy professionals. Here is his story as told by WoK
The interest in selling bicycles
Muriuki developed interest in selling bicycles after his father gifted him one while in high school.
He ended up selling it for Ksh12,000 and this started his passion for selling bicycles. After a while, he started buying bicycles in Nakuru and selling them in Njoro for a profit.
Going Big
After spotting the opportunity, he decided to fully venture into the business in 2013. His wife gave him Ksh300,000 capital and he started doing the business seriously.
With this capital he was able to import his first 300 bicycles. He sold the bicycles on the streets of Nakuru and in Masai markets during the weekends.
Later on, he obtained Ksh1 million loan and imported eight hundred bicycles. The bicycles are imported from Scotland. They arrive in parts and are then assembled by his mechanics.
The businessman, who boasts of high quality products, attracts customers from different parts of the country and hopes to expand to other parts in the future.
Depending on the size and brand, he sells the bicycles between Sh6,000 to Sh150,000 for both sports and normal bicycles.
“We stock a big range of bicycles from different brands like Shimano whereas for models we have kids’ bikes, mountain bikes, three-speed bikes, road bikes and BMX among others,” he shared.