Scratching her head, she confesses the obvious to me:
"I have a big problem" she laughs.
More than any other person I have met in Kenya, Mama Zelpha laughs a lot, almost as if she produces an excess of natural happiness that her body needs to frequently drain off the surplus.
She is, by any measurement, an incredible woman.
Mama Zelpha is the local pastors wife, mother of four children and owner of a fabulously successful business. Her business is not like the traditional businesses we know but it is its success which is the greatest threat to her and her home.
You see to fund her remarkable venture, she runs a clothes shop to generate income. That is, she used to run a clothes shop to generate income for since the 6th May this year, her’s and all other stalls in the marketplace in Kilifi centre were removed by the calamitous county council to a new location (very much) out-of-town.
This catastrophic event means Mama Zelpha has had no income to put into her extraordinary business leaving it in an extremely precarious position.
Mama Zelpha’s business is to take a homeless orphaned girl Feed her, School her, Care for her, Love her and produce for her a Future as a healthy, educated, well-adjusted woman.
Her current stock is seven. That is seven girls aged between 11 and 16. These girls live with Mama Zelpha, her husband and their 3 children.
Mama Zelpha has come to SCOPE to try find a solution for her life-sized business issues.
During our discussions, Mama Zelpha explains that for this business to continue she needs to earn Ksh500 a day from her income generating activities. For a clothes shop to generate enough profit to earn Ksh500 a day, she needs at least Ksk160,000 capital to restart her business. This is impossibly difficult for a women with an existing loan, no income and no assets.
We’ve come up with new ideas to help her set up her business and to capitalise on the removal of almost all her competition. We’ve also come up with a more appropriate pricing strategy. But the same problem always re-occurs – no finance. So we’ve agreed that we may need to temporarily suspend her clothes enterprise, which she has operated since 1999.
We have discussed some other activities that are less capital intensive – selling fish - but this will perhaps supply her business Ksh150 a day, Ksh350 less than needed. But atleast it will help her save, and with saving she can apply for a new loan to re-open her clothes store.
In the long term, running a clothes store and selling fish will generate enough income that should allow her continue her business – the seven girls.
But the sinister elephant lurking ominously is that at the moment, she does not have the Ksh500 daily income needed to run a business of turning parentless and homeless girls into cared, sheltered and loved for women. She’s in effect overstocked by maybe 3 or 4 orphans.
I meet Mama Zelpha again on Wednesday where we aim to put together a plan to plot the way forward.
I intend to discuss with her how Arsenal can win the league next season.
Mama Zelpha’s story sums up a lot of the Bad and Good in Kenyan society – orphans, young vulnerable girls, inept civil services, no property ownership (Zelpha does not own her house or the business premises), limited access to finance and a people who are all to willing to share whatever little they have with others unimaginably less fortunate then themselves.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Chili farming in kenya
After the indulgence of last weeks blog, something more palatable what?
There’s a farmer (there are several but anyway) in Choyni, a division in the Kilifi District, who grows something called ABEC – African Birds Eye Chili. They are small red/orange chilli's and are extremely hot, Kelly Brooke hot.
ABEC are somewhat particular to this part of Kenya and to the division of Choyni. The farmer there believes, with some justification, that there is a market for this potent african chili and thus a potential source of valuable income.
Problem 1:
The chili farmer has no source marketing information for ABEC (i.e. doesn’t know where the customers for it are) and his only access to the market is via a broker who dictates terms of trade and sells the chili’s wholesale to a factory ‘up country’. ABEC supply is than monopolised and sold to small traders at greatly inflated prices.
Problem 2:
The broker pays 50Ksh per kg of ABEC (108sch=1€). Harvesting these chilli's cost 150/200Ksh a day in labour and at present only 2.5kg’s can be harvested per day. A free chili for the person who spots the big problem here.
Problem 3:
The other problem is that under these impossible business conditions, it is very difficult to save to invest in the fertilizer needed to produce a good ABEC harvest. And access to finance is next to impossible plus, very few farmers have the confidence to borrow to invest.
The district agricultural officer of Choyni, Mr. Ngotho told me this on Friday. This and other issues facing farmers. Mr Ngotho is working with farmers to boost production and introduce the idea of running a farm as a business - not just subsitance - by running Farmer Field Schools and bringing together all stakesholders (like NGOs and Micro Finance Organisations).
Que hero music, enter stage left SCOPE with one possible solution.
We are piloting (that at the moment is my favourite word, “piloting”. If it fails I can just say “Of course it didn’t work. It was a pilot, silly”) a project that will bring farmers and Micro/Small Enterprises (MSEs) together directly – rather than via the current exploitative middlemen system described above.
The correct speak for this is to remove farmers and MSEs from the current supply chain and create sustainable value chains or dynamic value chains between them.
Speak like this is important if in fact, you don’t really know what you are doing but need to convince other that you do. The ‘dynamic value chain’ bit is my line for example, Mr Ngotho seems impressed with it anyway.
We will find such farmers with a particular penchant for farming such crops like ABEC (or any crop really) and find markets for them. Collate all this market information in one database, supply farmers and MSEs with the info and facilitate the bringing together of each party utilising a mobile phone payment system call Mpesa – agricultural blind date! We call it the Virtual Marketplace.
The meeting on Friday with District Agricultural Officers was positive, a breakthrough of sorts for me, finally some progression. We’ve along way to go for the Virtual Marketplace to even work on the very smallest level. But at least we’ve got progression.
And at least I’ve got something to write about what?
Take it easy
There’s a farmer (there are several but anyway) in Choyni, a division in the Kilifi District, who grows something called ABEC – African Birds Eye Chili. They are small red/orange chilli's and are extremely hot, Kelly Brooke hot.
ABEC are somewhat particular to this part of Kenya and to the division of Choyni. The farmer there believes, with some justification, that there is a market for this potent african chili and thus a potential source of valuable income.
Problem 1:
The chili farmer has no source marketing information for ABEC (i.e. doesn’t know where the customers for it are) and his only access to the market is via a broker who dictates terms of trade and sells the chili’s wholesale to a factory ‘up country’. ABEC supply is than monopolised and sold to small traders at greatly inflated prices.
Problem 2:
The broker pays 50Ksh per kg of ABEC (108sch=1€). Harvesting these chilli's cost 150/200Ksh a day in labour and at present only 2.5kg’s can be harvested per day. A free chili for the person who spots the big problem here.
Problem 3:
The other problem is that under these impossible business conditions, it is very difficult to save to invest in the fertilizer needed to produce a good ABEC harvest. And access to finance is next to impossible plus, very few farmers have the confidence to borrow to invest.
The district agricultural officer of Choyni, Mr. Ngotho told me this on Friday. This and other issues facing farmers. Mr Ngotho is working with farmers to boost production and introduce the idea of running a farm as a business - not just subsitance - by running Farmer Field Schools and bringing together all stakesholders (like NGOs and Micro Finance Organisations).
Que hero music, enter stage left SCOPE with one possible solution.
We are piloting (that at the moment is my favourite word, “piloting”. If it fails I can just say “Of course it didn’t work. It was a pilot, silly”) a project that will bring farmers and Micro/Small Enterprises (MSEs) together directly – rather than via the current exploitative middlemen system described above.
The correct speak for this is to remove farmers and MSEs from the current supply chain and create sustainable value chains or dynamic value chains between them.
Speak like this is important if in fact, you don’t really know what you are doing but need to convince other that you do. The ‘dynamic value chain’ bit is my line for example, Mr Ngotho seems impressed with it anyway.
We will find such farmers with a particular penchant for farming such crops like ABEC (or any crop really) and find markets for them. Collate all this market information in one database, supply farmers and MSEs with the info and facilitate the bringing together of each party utilising a mobile phone payment system call Mpesa – agricultural blind date! We call it the Virtual Marketplace.
The meeting on Friday with District Agricultural Officers was positive, a breakthrough of sorts for me, finally some progression. We’ve along way to go for the Virtual Marketplace to even work on the very smallest level. But at least we’ve got progression.
And at least I’ve got something to write about what?
Take it easy
Monday, June 8, 2009
Pages
My first finger rests on the page I've reached and the index finger on the book cover, holding the small slice completed. The block between my first finger and my thumb rests on the thunderous 5pages of the unread. The dauntingly vast story yet to be told.
The early pages were marked by the typical excitement which a much-anticipated book offers. Familiarising yourself with all the original, the exotic and the compelling events, characters and stories.
A few chapters in and the book settles in to the slow ‘setting the scene’ pace. Building the foundations – signposting the reader. It becomes a little slower, at times empty and sparsely sprinkled with the enthusiasm so rich in the early chapters.
Some words no longer flow from the page. They stick and cling. Some pages now start to become a little difficult to finish, become a little heavier to turn, a little more challenging to piece altogether.
My eyes fix on the intimidating mass of pages; the sum and the substance.
So many stories untold, dramas to unfold, plots to uncover. So many pages to read.
There are books that are written in a way to communicate the essence of the story. Perhaps this plodding approach too. Infact, it said so on the cover – I was told to expect this. That doesn’t make it any easier to read, nor to be fair more difficult.
It still holds considerable appeal, some chapters still captivate, fueling the burning desire to finish, to understand and to absorb.
But it burns slower. More deliberate. More conserved. More routine.
Do I want to skip pages? Do I regret picking the book up? Do I want to start something else more familiar?
No. No. No way.
It’s time to batten down for there are so many pages yet to read. Some great, some tired, some bored and some bad. But each and every one will be read. Not waking up until I finish this obstinate dream.
The early pages were marked by the typical excitement which a much-anticipated book offers. Familiarising yourself with all the original, the exotic and the compelling events, characters and stories.
A few chapters in and the book settles in to the slow ‘setting the scene’ pace. Building the foundations – signposting the reader. It becomes a little slower, at times empty and sparsely sprinkled with the enthusiasm so rich in the early chapters.
Some words no longer flow from the page. They stick and cling. Some pages now start to become a little difficult to finish, become a little heavier to turn, a little more challenging to piece altogether.
My eyes fix on the intimidating mass of pages; the sum and the substance.
So many stories untold, dramas to unfold, plots to uncover. So many pages to read.
There are books that are written in a way to communicate the essence of the story. Perhaps this plodding approach too. Infact, it said so on the cover – I was told to expect this. That doesn’t make it any easier to read, nor to be fair more difficult.
It still holds considerable appeal, some chapters still captivate, fueling the burning desire to finish, to understand and to absorb.
But it burns slower. More deliberate. More conserved. More routine.
Do I want to skip pages? Do I regret picking the book up? Do I want to start something else more familiar?
No. No. No way.
It’s time to batten down for there are so many pages yet to read. Some great, some tired, some bored and some bad. But each and every one will be read. Not waking up until I finish this obstinate dream.
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