Mama Wambo: Meru Trader Who Quit Ksh 30,000 Job To Hawk Groundnuts With Ksh 1,000 Start-up Capital

Eunice, better known as Mama Wambo, is among a host of many other Kenyans who decided to quit employment and go into business.

The business-lady quit her job where she was making at least Ksh 30,000 per month to sell groundnuts.

She sells her groundnuts in her locality, Makadara in Meru County.

Here is her story as told by WoK.

Background

In an interview with SPM Buzz, Mama Wambo explained that she was employed but she quit after facing some challenges.

She stayed home for a while, and when she thought about getting into business, she settled on selling groundnuts.

Eunice was determined about getting into the business even though she didn’t know how to make the groundnuts.

She noted that she learnt things such as frying and packing from her sisters who were already in the business.

“I trained myself because I had no idea about how it is made, although I knew it was lucrative and I’d make a lot of money from it,” Eunice said.

Eunice noted that starting off was not easy especially because she did not have ready customers.

“Getting customers depends with how you make your groundnuts… The first day of business was not bad as such although I was cautious about the amount of groundnuts that I made,” she said.

She got into the business with a Ksh 1,000 capital which she used to buy groundnuts, cooking oil and charcoal.

Eunice noted that she also faced some challenges because she was not familiar with most people.

“Customers would ignore me and buy from the next seller who was known by most people or customers would, sometimes, ask to taste my groundnuts first before buying,” she said.

She sells both retail and wholesale, and she serves kids, women and men.

“I started wholesaling when customers would approach me and ask for the groundnuts in bulk. Most of such customers are shop owners,” she added.

Eunice sources her groundnuts from stores within Meru that sell them in wholesale.

Challenges

She highlighted the spike in prices of basic things in her business such as cooking oil as her major challenge.

“At a time like this, I’m dealing with the prices of cooking oil and other things, and when you sell them, the profit is very little,” she stated.