Sermon inspires vet into décor business

A captivating Sunday service challenging the faithful to exploit their talents pushed Rodah Nyambura into action.

Empowered by the Jubilee Christian Church, Nairobi, sermon, she decided to quit her animal health job and try her hand at the décor industry.

With a capital of Sh10,000 only, but laden with determination to succeed in interior and exterior design business, her investment has become a success story — hitting over Sh1,500,000 in net worth.

For some years, she had struggled with a job she did not like, yet she gained admiration from both friends and family.

Today, she has not only employed 10 youths but also mentors many others to venture into interior and exterior décor.

Ms Nyambura, 28, joined a college for a course in animal husbandry; convinced that she was in the right career.

Little did she know she would find her fortune in interior design and events organising later in life.

After graduation, she secured a job at the University of Nairobi as an animal health technician.

All through her work, she found it easy, because her duties revolved around things she had either done or seen done as she grew up in Ol’Kalau, Nyandarua County. Later, she found the job rather boring.

“I thought, had I grown up outside the farm, I would have been exposed to other things that would have influenced my career choice,” she says.

But life for her would change for the better on the day she attended a new church. She was attracted to flowers arranged in the church.

“I imagined, if only the flowers were done differently, maybe, they would look better,” she remembers.

When her curiosity got the better of her, she volunteered to decorate the church and discovered she had a passion and talent for it.

Soon, the church attendants started inviting her to decorate their events during occasions such as birthday parties.

She says her first job was to decorate a wedding venue. With Sh10,000 savings, she bought a stand and hired other equipment that she needed.

“I used the deposit paid to me by the client to buy flowers, and the event was a success,” she says. This became the start of her new job, which is both rewarding and enjoyable.

However, she had to contend with an unsatisfied lot — her family members. They thought she had wasted herself, a claim she would prove wrong later.

When Jubilee Cristian Church opened a branch in Nakuru, she offered to decorate the church for free.