It is estimated that every year, close to 400,000 graduates are released into the job market in Kenya and out of these, 90 percent of them come out with the hope of getting a white-collar job.
Universities and other institutions of higher learning, however, have been blamed for only producing academic robots who have no idea of what the real world hold for them in terms of the job market.
Did you know that, selling cereals is one of the best business in Kenya that can lead to one making millions of money? The business of selling cereals is one that is less seriously taken with some only leaving it for the farmers but for the few who have ventured into the business, they are sinking in cash.
Economic analysts state that the Kenyan economy thrives on a satisfied population. This implies that the food sector is very key in Kenya and when the sector ails, the economy ails too. For instance, maize has been known over the years as being the pacesetter for the inflation in Kenya. The fluctuation of inflation in the country largely flows with the wave of the price of unga that is consumed over 90 percent of the households in Kenya.
Setting up a cereal selling business is the most convenient of all simply because it does not necessarily matter with the money you have as capital. Fridous Abdalla, a 28 years old who now brushes shoulders with the rich in society attributes her success to the sale of the cereals.
“I started selling cereals when I was 19 immediacy after my college and I have never known any other business other than this,” she says.
Her starting capital was 5,000 shillings where she could buy maize from the famers at a cheaper price and then sell them at a profit outside a grinding mill. She used to make a profit of 2000 to 3000 per week and nine years down the line, her business is worth of 10 million shillings and still going strong.
According to Fridous, for one to succeed in the cereal selling business, he or she should do the following:
Know your market
Before venturing into the business, one has to know what the market wants and how much the market can consume. According to her, knowing ones market give them a clear picture of how much to invest and in what to invest. Maize is the most lucrative cereal and the one that need a small capital to set up. With only 10,000 or 5000, one can set the business rolling.
Choose the site
This is the place where one chooses to run his or her business from. For startups, the sale of maize does not need a big place, someone’s verandah, at the road side or under a tree can do and then expand with the increase in demand.
Re-invest the profits
For the cereal business to grow, every little profits should be used to increase the capital until such a time that one will feel like he or she needs a store and a helper is when one will start saving.
Article by Juma Fred.