Geoffrey Kiragu: How Businessman Lost Ksh 5 Million In Supermarket Business

Geoffrey Kiragu is the Managing Director for real estate company, Lesedi Developers Ltd.

Before his venture into the real estate business, Kiragu lost Ksh 5 million through an investment in the retail industry.

It was after this mistake that the businessman decided to start from scratch and invest in the real estate business.

Here is his story as told by WoK.

Supermarket business

In an interview with the Daily Nation, Kiragu noted that before investing in the real estate business, he was running a supermarket business.

However, a year into the business, the businessman noted that he had made a huge financial mistake and ended up loosing over Ksh 5 million.

He said by the time he marked a year into the venture, he had overstaffed and rented a big and expensive office space which didn’t make financial sense.

“I only scaled down after realizing that I was not getting value for the money I was paying out. Always strive to minimize recurrent expenditures,” Kiragu noted.

It was then when Kiragu opted to start from scratch again and ventured into the real estate business, an industry which he says he understood better.

Real Estate

Kiragu runs Lesedi Developers Ltd which deals with the sale of land and construction of houses.

He advised budding entrepreneurs to invest in business that they have an idea of how it works, the challenges and how the competition will be.

“Through entrepreneurship, I have read and received lots of financial advice. But the best piece of advice I ever got was to always follow the plan and to never mix businesses

“Running diverse businesses is a good thing. But having one business that you are good at and which is a wealth creator is even better,” Kiragu said.

The businessman also noted that he doesn’t mix his business and personal budgets, even revealing that he has a standard salary.

“I also never mix business funds with my personal money. In fact, just like any other employee, I draw a salary at every end of the month

“From this salary, I set aside funds for my personal use, savings, budget and emergency fund. I have learnt that it is very important to always save with a financial target in mind,” Kiragu added.

Kiragu also addressed the issue of crook investors running scams in the real estate business, also shifting the blame to land buyers.

“For example, if you acquire a plot with XYZ developer, you must endeavor to set up a small development such as a fence or a pit latrine

“Failing to do this creates loopholes through which mischievous developers perpetrate illegalities such as double plot allocations,” he said.