Having a diploma in law did not stop 22-year-old Rumenta Kimonyi from venturing into entrepreneurship, particularly the meat business.
Kimonyi, who is currently enrolled at the United States International University pursuing an IT course, operates a butchery in his native home area in Koriema, Baringo County.
His butchery supplies meat to the major towns of Eldoret, Nakuru, and Nairobi.
He sells over 60 goats in a week and his clients include major restaurants, sitting and ex-Mps, governors, and other urban residents.
He runs his business under the name of Koriema Butchery Ltd and plans to venture into the export market.
This is his journey as told by WoK:
A One Of Kind- Business
Kimonyi’s one-of-a-kind business was triggered by a lack of quality and tasty meat while he lived in Nairobi as well as the need to lead his community in value addition.
He capitalized on the huge demand for goat meat products, which he describes as one of the rich natural resources that his home county Baringo has been endowed with.
“I saw an opportunity to supply meat in Nairobi, Nakuru, Eldoret, and other major towns where the proximity to Baringo was a bit reasonable,” he says.
To be a cut above the rest, he decided that instead of opening a butchery and waiting for customers, he would deliver meat to their homes.
“I decided to do my business a little bit differently. Butcheries and meat joints have existed since time immemorial. So, I decided that delivering meat to homesteads was a good way to stand out,” says the eloquent lawyer.
His idea was to benefit himself financially while also empowering the community.
Aside from goat meat, his butchery supplies kienyeji chickens as well as fresh local vegetables.
In a week, he supplies meat to over 200 customers. He hopes to expand his business to serve at least 1000 customers weekly, since the demand for meat is high.
The meat is stored in coolers, from where it is packed and delivered via vans to clients.
“We do home-to-home delivery, and on-credit clients have been credit-worthy, which has helped us to grow,” he says.
His future plans include empowering his community and doing his best to make Baringo a class-A meat producer, given that the county is the second largest producer of livestock in Kenya.
He hopes to capitalize on this festive season, traditionally a time when customers flock to butcheries and meat joints.
Low Demand
According to Business Daily, many butcheries in Kenya are now selling beef, pork, or chicken meat at the expense of goat meat.
The surge in goat meat prices has seen the delicacy slowly slip away from the menus of many Kenyans.
Goat sellers attribute the high costs to low supply.
The prolonged drought and ongoing Elnino rains have led to goat losses, and goat farmers are now reverting to the export markets, which fetch better prices.
Ghulam Nabi who runs Ibrahim’s Butchery in Nairobi, says each day, the price of goat meat seems to rise, as buyers from the Middle East, DRC, Sudan, and Egypt snap up the few goats available in Kenya.
“In the international market, goat meat is being bought in dollars, and the exchange rate is at a staggering Sh150,” says Mr Nabi.
He stated that as the reason why the price of goat meat per kilo is almost hitting the sh 1000 mark as quantities in butcheries reduce.
Other exporters attribute part of the shortage to the ban on goats from North Eastern Kenya, where there had been an outbreak of foot and mouth disease.
Now, slaughterhouses are competing with exporters for the small supply of goats from the markets of Narok and Kajiado.
Nevertheless, the butchery business is expected to pick up during this festive season when meat outranks other traditional meals as the choice delicacy in many households.
