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| Roasting peanuts over a jiko |
How to make ends meet? One of the ways in which Philemon Foundation helps ex-offenders is by giving loans for business start-up or growth. One of our clients, Anne (
name changed), is a single mother of two who lives in one of the townships of Nairobi. She recently received a small loan to help grow her peanut roasting and banana selling business. I met up with her at the Kibera Probation Office in Nairobi and asked her about how she runs her small business. Anne has no premises - she walks around 'hawking' her wares looking for the best places to sell. In the morning she goes and buys fresh supplies of whatever she needs that day. The bananas are bought in bunches and then sold singly at a profit. At the beginning of the week she prepares a few days supply of roast peanuts. These are put into a pan over a
jiko and roasted with salt for flavouring. Peanuts are a good, she tells me, because everyone eats them for snacks. After roasting she wraps them in two sizes of paper cones and sells for either Ksh5 (about 3p) or Ksh 10 (about 6p). She also prepares breakfast for 20 builders on a nearby building site. The breakfast consists of tea, chapati and a porridge made with finger millet and a good dose of sugar. Once the building is complete in a few months time she will have to look for something else but in the meantime she is trying to increase the amount of peanuts she sells. She also has a sewing machine and from time to time gets orders of a school uniform - but she prefers the peanut and banana selling as this brings in a daily income. Anne thinks carefully about what are the best things to buy and sell. She watches people's behaviour and keenly observes what they regard as necessities and what they stop spending money on when times are hard. She hopes with the extra capital she can improve her life and that of her children. I hope so too!
