Coffee selling business transforms Kibera widow's fortunes

Kadara Abdi with her coffee vending unit that she uses to sell the beverage to customers in Kibera slums in Nairobi. PHOTO | COURTESY

What you need to know:

  • Though I never thought coffee would sell in the slums, I decided to go for it.
  • With only Sh500 for expenses on sugar and coffee, Kadara makes Sh15,000 an amount she can accumulate even before end month. 
  • I have used money from coffee to start-up other business including snack selling, have expanded my githeri business and even starting a boutique

Kadara Abdi wakes up to the smell of coffee.

For her, it is not just a beverage but a transformative force in her life.

Well before dawn, she adjusts her mobile coffee vending unit and makes her through the snaking paths of Kibera slums to reach her customers.

“I sell coffee from 6am at Sh10 per cup. During cold weather I make up to1800 per day,” Kadara explains.

Out of her earnings, Kadara saves about Sh8,000 per month to help achieve her goal of upgrading her residence fom Kibera to Ruai. 

HARD TIMES

However, life had not always been rosy for Ms Abdi whose life has been a series of rather tragic and unfortunate events. Growing up in the sprawling Kibera slums was not easy but her enterprising mother was a source of inspiration.

Ms Abdi and her siblings started out life with the challenge of living with a mentally challenged father. The whole family was forced to rely on their mother who worked as a lab attendant.

“My mother, who when aged only 10 would wake up at 4:00am to make and sell mandazi at the Nubian Village in Kisumu before going to school,” she says.

Her mother’s hard work paid off as she made it through high school and joined nursing school. She met and married Abdi Ibrahim Omolo a telephone operator at Kenyatta National Hospital where she also worked as a nurse.

Unfortunately, the family fell into hard times when her father became ill and the children had to cut short their schooling.

“I do not clearly remember the details of my father’s illness.  I believe as a result of stress caused by life’s daily pressures, he succumbed to the mental illness,” Kadara explains.

In seeking to escape the hard life at home, Kadara, who had dropped out of school at form two then aged 18 decided to get married

“My brother, who is the first born, also dropped at form four to look for menial jobs

The family was dealt a major blow when in 1998, Kadara’s mother passed away with her father also passing the following year. Kadara was only 27.

By this time, Kadara already had 2 children of her own and could barely contribute towards her siblings.

As if reading from a very bad movie script, Kadara herself lost her husband in 2005 following   a short illness.

“Life was tough for me. I was selling githeri then and making only Sh300 a day yet was the sole breadwinner,” she explained.

A good friend introduced Kadara to a chama (investment group) where she sought ways to diversify her business.

NEW BEGINNINGS

“Most of the chama members were selling coffee and invited me to give it a try. Though I never thought coffee would sell in the slums, I decided to go for it,” Kadara says.

In May 2014, when Nestle Kenya was seeking more vendors for an entrepreneurial project known as MYOWBU - My Own Business -Kadara was one of the applicants.

“We were trained us on proper hygiene, use of the coffee equipment, and gave us free flasks and cups,” she says.

Soon, her coffee business picked and she started making Sh500 a day which quickly rose to Sh1000.

With only Sh500 for expenses on sugar and coffee, Kadara makes Sh15,000 an amount she can accumulate even before end month. 

While there are many coffee vendors in Kibera, she observes that each serves their own customers who include pool table players, matatu touts and khat consumers. Thus, there are enough clients for us all.

“Most people in the slums don’t have capital to start a business and so when an opportunity such as MYOWBU with low initial start-up income comes along, we run for it. I have used money from coffee to start-up other business including snack selling, have expanded my githeri business and even starting a boutique,” said a proud Kadara.

I am now able to take my children through school comfortably.

“Going into coffee selling was the ray of sunshine I needed in my life. I have renovated our family house and put new roofing sheets,” she says proudly.

With increasing clientele, her son is now helping in selling the coffee.

“With my coffee business, I am training and mentoring my children just as my mother did to me. I want them to have an even better live than I have had,” she says.