MAINA: Who said women need to be bankrolled by men?

Back when I was in campus, things got especially thick in my second year when the HELB loan I had been counting on failed to come through.

Inasmuch as I had financial support from my parents, it only took care of the major expenses; school fees, accommodation and a meagre food allowance. Now, if you have been to any public university in Kenya then you know that the food from the school mess is…a mess! It is affordable and great quantity but the quality of the food is disastrous to say the least.

Still, I ate there for a while because I had to make do with the shoestring budget I was operating on.

MAKING LIQUID SOAP

One day I bumped into an old friend, Sam, while running errands in Eldoret town. In the midst of our chitchat, Sam mentioned that he had learnt how to make home detergent and that business was booming.

When you are broke, business and booming become buzzwords that give your heart instant palpitations. I put down my spoon that had been digging continuously at the delicious plate of pilau-- Sam’s treat, and asked him to tell it all. After the chat, he showed me the shop from where he got the ingredients to make the soap and we parted ways.

I had Sh500 in my pocket which I intended to buy some braids to plait my hair, but what is a great hairdo when you are too broke to buy yourself some airtime or cook a decent meal? I retraced my steps to the shop and got the supplies.

What they say about market niche is true because my business took off and soared. I was the only one selling liquid soap in my campus and I extended my client base to the business traders around campus, from mama mbogas to the salons, hotels, clubs, you name it.

IMPRESSIVE PROFITS

I had lecturers who placed orders of up to 10 litres and paid handsomely for it. The profits were impressive, from Sh500 worth of ingredients; I would make one bucket--20 litres of liquid soap-- that fetched between Sh2000 to Sh2500 depending on how I packaged the soap.

At some point I would make three to four buckets a week. My broke days were gone and it was evident in my conspicuous absence at the school cafeteria and neat hair .

By the time competition was catching up, my HELB loan disbursement had unclogged and I was almost done with that academic year anyway.

HUSTLE PAYS OFF

Fast-forward to post campus life; I have had my fair share of ups and downs financially speaking. However, I have learnt that the hustle pays off. I have worked and gotten paid for it.

I have had an opportunity or two to invest, and reaped from it. Having progressive people in my life who continue to teach me on the principles of wealth creation, wise spending et cetera has informed most of the choices I have made so far.

I have a very long way to go but at least I am on the route of that journey. Interacting with these progressive people has made me seen how money is made, lost, multiplied and grown.

They have taught me that research, timing, patience, instinct and sometimes a sheer stroke of luck is how riches are made, regardless of one’s gender, because money has no gender inclination or preference.

Men and women alike are gifted with the wisdom, skills and knowledge of creating wealth. In fact if we are to draw an example from the Bible, Deuteronomy 8:18 says that it is God who gives the power to create wealth.

SOCIAL MEDIA TROLL

I was appalled the other day when someone took to social media saying that it was impossible for a young woman to own a V8 vehicle or run a successful business without the help of a man.

Referring to the recent case of Monica Kimani, the social-media mansplaining troll stated that young women were incapable of leading financially stable lives dotted with excesses unless a man somewhere was bankrolling them. And because such trolls are painfully predicable, his exact words were: “unless that woman has a sponsor.”

True, there are women who live off men just like there are men who live off women. But what is it that makes it difficult for our society to grasp the fact that a woman can be wealthy on her own merit?

If a woman invested Sh10, 000 wisely, would it refuse to grow because it is a woman’s money? If she walked into a showroom to purchase that V8 which she has been saving up for, would the cash refuse to transfer from her bank account because it’s “a woman’s money” or would the V8 refuse to leave the showroom because it “cannot be bought by a woman?”

Women go to work every day, they put their best foot forward, deliver results and receive a paycheque at the end of the month. Where does this money go to if not to progress her life and financial well-being?

Does society think that women are paid in birds, which fly away immediately they are transferred to women’s accounts?

Why is it so hard to believe that a woman can pay her rent, pay school fees for her kids after the man responsible bails, or even drive a certain type of car?

What makes a woman’s money lower in value and limited to what she can and cannot afford? How many men out there are managing their own financial independence let alone bankrolling a woman’s life?

SAD TRUTH

The saddest part of it all is that we have women who are living way below their means because they do not want to be thought of as “kept women".

Women who are refusing to buy homes and get that dream car because they do not want mouth-runners to accuse them of having sponsors. Women who are shying away from shattering corporate glass ceilings because they do not want to be “too wealthy” because that will either scare away potential husbands or give them a bad reputation of having “sponsors.”

Well, that is not true. While I was in campus whipping up liquid soap, I tasted financial independence and I am positive that none of those despicable sponsors hitting on me back then would have given me that Sh8, 000 per week, regularly for the entire academic year. I am positive about that.

CHANGE THE NARRATIVE

Presently, there are many women, many YOUNG women who are toiling day and night to build their dream life and many more are living that dream life without a man bankrolling it.

It is unfortunate that society keeps painting every young successful woman as a sponsor beneficiary.

Our younger sisters are growing up thinking that all they need is an old but filthy rich man and they will be set for life. And the men of our society are not helping the situation by their constant whims and male-tears all over social media of how girls are thirsting after the big life courtesy of sponsors.

This narrative needs to change. It is time we told the other larger side of the story that women go to work, same as men, earn a salary same as men, invest wisely same as men and acquire wealth.

A woman's money can purchase apartments, luxury cars, property et cetera. And yes, a YOUNG woman can be financially independent because money has no gender bias or preference, it is not a preserve of men.