Peter Mutua: Story Of Entrepreneur Who Started Own Business After Working In Paint Company

Peter Mutua, alias Piero Lē Rock is a technician dealing in production and tinting of paints.

He also does small scale production of household soaps such as toilet cleaners, hand sanitizers, shampoos and conditioners.

Mutua started his own business after gaining skills from different companies where he used to work before going solo.

Here is his story as told by WoK.

In an exclusive interview with WoK, Mutua mentioned that he does pain tinting, mixing base paint with pastes to get a specific colour.

Base paint is usually whilte in colour while pastes come in different colours.

He also makes emulsions, enamel and nitrocellulose series paints, wood varnishes, thinners and wood glues.

Mutua started his business in 2019 with Ksh 30,000 starting capital.

“At first, I was just mixing chemicals, but when I saw the end result, the idea to make a production line crossed my mind,” he said.

He also shared that starting off is not easy as he experiences challenges which include lack of enough money to run the business.

“I encounter several challenges including shortage of money when it comes to buying chemicals. My workshop is also not very spacious

“…I don’t have proper production and tinting machines yet though I lease them from light industry companies,” Mutua said.

Mutua further explained that he hopes to expand his business and  reach a new client-base in the near future.

“As we all know, every business begins as an idea, and them, from the moment it’s created, it becomes a start up. This constitutes the first phase of the company where by I trust my industry too will grow bigger as time goes,” he stated.

On his advice to someone who is starting out or wants to invest in the business, he said;

“For any one starting new business, kindly recall success is not final and failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts, so let us all remember the quote that says: “You don’t build a business, you build people, then people build the business.”

Mutua noted that the mode of transport, especially when doing deliveries, is among challenges that he is dealing with.