Hellen Tolbert is the CEO and founder of Ellen Designs, a clothing store in Nairobi which she established in 2012.
The entrepreneur set up the business with Ksh 5,000 capital which she was left with after paying her employer for quitting her job without a notice.
However, Hellen’s rise to the top was not easy as she had to engage in jobs such as cleaning toilets in java to make ends meet.
Here is her story as told by WoK.
Hellen was born in a family of 16, and growing up, she mentioned, she had to fight for her space and what she wanted.
She noted that her parents pushed beyond limits to ensure that they had access to education and other basic things.
Hellen attended St Patrick’s for her primary school education and later Rae Girls’ Secondary School in Nyakach, Kisumu County.
“We struggled a lot, when you think where you came from you want to give your best to become somebody in life
“When I look where I came from, I want to do better than that; that’s what gives me a push in life,” she stated.
Following the completion of her secondary school education, she joined Multimedia University where she pursued Business Administration.
It was after graduating from the institution when she was employed at Java House where she worked as a steward.
Her job description included cleaning toilets, washing dishes, and sometimes, preparing lunch for the staff.
“When I was asked about taking the job during the interview, it didn’t seem like a big deal because to me it seemed like a respectable job
“This was something that I did on a daily basis at home; the only difference is that I was getting paid for it. So I took it,” she explained.
Hellen took the job and after three months, she earned a promotion and stopped working as a steward.
“I earned a promotion and I would remove utensils from the table and clean the floor giving the waiters an easy time,” she mentioned.
She mentioned that she did not mind engaging in menial jobs since she wanted to live a good life away from the ghetto.
“I was not running away from home but I wanted to build a different story for myself and therefore I was willing to work as hard as I could to make something for myself,” she said.
Hellen quit her job at Java after three years.
“It was a really important part of my journey because it taught me humility, it taught me that it doesn’t matter what people say so long as you’re doing the right thing,” she said.
Following her exit from Java, she joined the Postal Corporation of Kenya where she was recommended by her father’s friend.
Unlike Java where they worked in shifts and rarely had free time, at Posta, they had lunch breaks and they could break from work at 5 PM.
“I realized that I had a lot of free time and I started going to Gikomba. I could go get clothes and reshape them or change the design and sell them,” she said.
This also made Hellen popular among her colleagues who would buy clothes from her from time to time.
Later on, she took a loan and from her Ksh 25,000 monthly salary, she was only remaining with Ksh 5,000.
This forced her to move to a cheaper house and engage in side hustles which included selling indigenous vegetables.
“My job was not able to sustain my lifestyle. I would go to Muthurwa Market around 5 AM, get vegetables and go with them to the office
“I would send it to my mother who would pick it and go sell it and send me some money which I used as fare,” she recalled.
After a while, Hellen made the decision to quit her job to pursue business.
“I had to pay my employer; I didn’t issue a notice, I just woke up one morning and decided that I was leaving
“All my savings and benefits that I had earned all those years went down the drain because I’m now paying this person for leaving them,” she said.
Which Ksh 20,000 that she was left with, she used Ksh 15,000 to start a business for her brother and Ksh 5,000 to buy mitumba clothes from Gikomba.
She would wash the clothes, iron them and sell them. Her initial clients were her former colleagues at Posta Corporation.
At the same time, she set up a tailoring shop with the help of her mother who provided the sewing machine and hired on tailor.
She was also growing tomatoes at a rented farm in Loitoktok.
“Growing up my mum was a tailor, a very good tailor, she used to tailor back at the Burma Market here along Jogoo Road and watching her do her thing, like take fabric from scratch, cut it into nice designs and make beautiful pieces out of them, I picked up the passion from her
“I used to enjoy watching her because at times she would do it overnight and through watching her, I picked up the passion from her,” she said.
Hellen explained that she faces among other challenges getting fabrics with the best quality.
“One of the biggest challenges is getting the right fabric. What we have locally available in the market is not able to put together what at times we have on our minds
“Our fabrics are priced a bit too high for marking up our prices. At times a client is thinking, you’re overpricing your item when it’s not actually that. It’s the price you’ve gotten the fabric for,” she said.
