Duo turns small gift shop into money spinner

Diana Martha Mwaniki (left) and Aryton Bett, founders of Purpink Gift Shop. Photo/SIMON CIURI  NATION MEDIA GROUP

By SIMON CIURI

In Summary

• Purpink Gift Shop targets high-end clients and corporate bodies with customised gifts
• In a good month, the business makes between Sh600,000 and Sh1 million per month
• Purpkin Gift Shop deals in buying, packaging and delivering gift hampers — targeting both corporates and individuals
• Clients can make online orders. Pricing is based on what the client wants delivered and the distance covered. The firm customises gifts to look more appealing and presentable

Two classmates started a small on-line gift-shop selling simple and low-cost jewelry to fellow students late last year with a capital of Sh500.



Today, the business has grown and diversified into a profitable venture making up to Sh1 million per month in profit.

Purpink Gift Shop targets high-end clients and corporate bodies with customised gifts, thanks to an idea that was born inside a classroom by two broke students.

‘‘We started this business last year November with a small pack of jewelry. We were buying the pieces at Sh30 each and re-selling  each at Sh50, ’’ said one of the founders, Aryton Bett, 21, in an interview with the Business Daily at Strathmore Business School  where he is taking a Bachelor of Business Information Technology (BBIT) course.

The idea was to cater for a huge  number of students at Strathmore University who wanted to propose to potential partners in a special  and affordable way.

‘‘We started by wrapping a simple ring or even pen to look sophisticated and appealing.

Buoyed by the response, this came with more orders,’’ said Diana Martha Mwaniki, a co-founder, at an exhibition of SMEs at Strathmore University last week.

In a good month, the business makes between Sh600,000 and Sh1 million per month, they said.

Purpkin Gift Shop deals in buying, packaging and delivering gift hampers — targeting both corporates and individuals.

Clients can make online orders. Pricing is based on what the client wants delivered and the distance covered. The firm customises gifts to look more appealing and presentable.

In the first three months after opening their briefcase enterprise, Bett and her business partner Martha were struggling to make ends meet.

‘‘We hardly made profit as we had expected, we had to go back to the drawing board and plan how to diversify our portfolio,’’ Martha, 22, who is also pursuing a BBIT course, said.

Initially their presence was limited to Strathmore and because advertising in both the electronic and print  media was very expensive, the duo decided  to  exploit the social media  platform.

Two weeks after posting their services on Facebook, client numbers grew rapidly with enquiries about their products, prices and delivery methods coming from as far afield as Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania.

‘‘Two weeks after placing  our services on Facebook we got good business and made Sh100,000. We used part of the income to set up a website and register our  company,  we ploughed  the remaining money back into the business,’’  said Martha.

With the growth came the need to have a store to operate from, with the aim of giving their trade a corporate touch.