David Rugut is the proprietor of Chemelil Wholesalers situated in Kapsabet, Nandi County.
The businessman was forced to dropout of school due to lack of school fees following the death of his father.
Rugut who now owns two wholesalers also turned to hawking in a bid to make ends meet.
Here is his story as told by WoK.
As a kid, Rugut lived a normal life and joined school until when he was in Class Six when he lost his father.
It was then when life became unbearable as he and his siblings were solely depending on their mother for everything.
“My elder brother had moved out while I was home with my mother and my other siblings,” he said.
As days went by, life continued becoming unbearable, and as such, he was forced to drop out of school.
“I decided to leave school so that I work and earn some money to take care of my siblings and help my mother,” he added.
Rugut started doing menial jobs and saved money which he would use to sustain himself as he continued to explore available options.
The trader did casual jobs for a while before he started selling cow salt lick in Kapsabet Town.
“I went to town and asked a space outside someone’s shop to sell the salt lick. In exchange for the space that he gave me, I would work for him for free,” Rugut said.
The owner of the shop had a wholesaler and this inspired Rugut to set up his own business, and he immediately started looking for a place to let.
He got a space to let and started selling the salt lick from the shop, before he ventured into wholesaling although he had no goods in his shop.
Rugut said he would display empty boxes of different items in his shop and when a customer would make an order and pay, he would get the items from a different shop.
“I continued that way and in not less than I had items in my shop that I would sell in dozens. By one year, the business was already booming,” he said.
He later secured a Ksh 60,000 loan from a local bank which helped him expand his business to the level that he is today.
Rugut has employed about 10 staff in his wholesalers.
