We turned our hobbies into profitable ventures

Read the stories of four youngsters who managed to turn their pastimes into jobs that earn them good money. From left: Brian Owino, Jackline Odhiambo, Eric Mumo and Ezekiel Mumo. PHOTOS| COURTESY&MARTIN MUKANGU  

By LILYS NJERU
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Has it occurred to you that your hobby, that activity you love doing after a hard day’s work could earn you money? Or become your career?

This week, we interviewed four youngsters who managed to turn their favourite pastimes into money-making ventures.

Name: Jackline Odhiambo

Age: 24 years

Career: Gym and dance Instructor

Jackline, who works as a gym instructor with Fiti Dance, grew up dancing to music whenever she got a chance.

“It was nothing serious, it was just something I enjoyed doing after school and during weekends,” She says.

When she enrolled in secondary school in 2007, she joined a dancing group called ‘God’s Mercy’, which provided a worthwhile way to spend her leisure time after classes. The group would often be invited to attend gospel concerts during the weekends, where they got the opportunity to perform with popular gospel artists such as Daddy Owen and MoG.

Four years later, after completing high school, and as she waited to get her Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) results, a friend recommended that she join a traditional dance group called ‘Sounds of Africa’, if only to pass time constructively.

“I was not a very good dancer then, and to gain confidence, I approached a couple of veteran dancers, who I requested to train me.”

Within one year of joining, she had become so good, that someone forwarded her contacts to one of the mobile service providers in Kenya who were planning a series of road shows across the country.

“This contract was the gateway to what I now call my career. It started with me getting a job as a dancer with Safari Park’s ‘Safari Cat dancers’,” she says.

She recollects that the training was so intensive, it took her around six months to competently master the routines. While she was happy with how her future was unravelling, back at home, her relatives wondered why she had given up her dream of becoming an engineer to dance.

“I had performed well in my KCSE exams having scored B-, but I felt that I had found contentment in dance. With some convincing, my family accepted the path I had chosen, they are supportive of what I do especially because what I earn enables me to comfortably support myself.”

Depending on the number of dance and fitness clients she gets, she can make up to Sh6, 000 daily.

“I now work with Fiti dance, a group of dancers who teach dance and fitness. We are also contracted by various organisations during events such as team building.”

One of the biggest challenges she encounters in the course of her work is the fact that many do not take dancers seriously, since dancing is still not viewed as a “real” career. Such people are unwilling to pay dancers what they are truly worth.

Jackline is so enthusiastic about dance, that on Sundays, her off day, she offers free dance lessons in various children’s homes.

“My goal is to help kids nurture dancing to something more productive that they can draw inspiration from or pursue professionally.”

Brian Owino

Name: Brian Owino

Age: 25 years

Founder: Creampalla Ice-cream

 

“I was raised by my grandmother, and when I was old enough, one of my daily responsibilities was cooking, which I grew to enjoy. The kitchen was my favourite room in the house, and here, I would try out new recipes,” he says.

In 2014, Brian, who had completed secondary school the previous year, was invited to join Multimedia University to study Commerce. Unfortunately, his grandmother could not afford the school fees. Rather than forego a university education, he decided to try and raise the school fees required.

“I applied for a Higher Education Loans Board loan and invested part of the money in a second-hand clothes business.”

One day, he came across a hawker selling ice-cream outside the university entrance. After observing him for a while and noting the number of students who stopped to buy from him, it occurred to him that this could be an even more lucrative business than that of selling second-hand clothes. Convinced that selling ice-cream to fellow students would be a viable idea, he approached the ice-cream vendor, introduced himself, and asked whether he would consider a partnership  if he approached the school administration and requested for space to sell within the institution. The man quickly agreed, after all, he would have ready clientele within the university grounds.

“I sold my business idea, and the school administration allowed us to set up the business within the institution. The man would make the ice-cream while I would help him sell it during my free time. Within a few months, the business was doing so well, (in a month, he would make an average of about Sh10, 000) I was able to comfortably pay my school fees and take care of other bills such as rent.

After working together for about a year, Brian and his business partner disagreed about the vision of the business, and they went separate ways.

In 2015, while in his second year, he met someone else in the ice-cream business, who would go on to become his mentor and even offer him a job. Besides ice-cream, Brian learnt how to make various milk shakes, which he would sell in his mentor’s shop.

Seeing his unmistakable zeal and determination to succeed, the man offered him a job – he would work for him when he did not have classes, as well as during weekends. His pay was commission-based, and though what he earned was Sh5, 000 less than he did from his previous business venture, the experience was a great learning opportunity for him.”

“After working for my mentor for close to two years, he decided to help me start off my own business. He gave me an old dispenser and sold me a freezer for Sh60, 000, which he allowed me to pay in affordable instalments. With these tools of business in hand, I approached the university’s management, and they allowed me to set up a mobile ice-cream stall within the Rongai campus.”

With a starting capital of Sh60,000, Brian established Creampalla ice-cream in May last year. The shop, which currently has two branches, one at Multimedia University and the Technical University of Kenya, sells various ice-cream flavours, ice-lollies, milkshakes and smoothies. Sometimes, with help from his girlfriend, he bakes cakes for sale.

“I have a partner who manages one of the shops - we have five employees.

As it stands, Brian is earning a living from his hobby, making an average of Sh45,000 in profits every month.

The biggest challenge he grapples with is the costly nature of the business. The machines needed to produce ice-cream, Brian points out, are expensive. Another challenge is the wide-range of certification he has to acquire to operate, and which takes lots of time to get approved.

“Once I get all the required authorisation documents, I plan to set up a production plant in Western Kenya, where there is a gap in the market for milk-related products.”

Eric Mumo

Name: Eric Mumo

Age:  26 years

Career: Roller Waiter

Miles away from home, Eric works as a roller waiter at Dead Sea Marriot Resort & Spa in Jordan, a five-star hotel, one of the leading spa and resorts in the world.

His skating skills are what got him this job. He explains that he started skating as a hobby, and never at one time envisioned that the enjoyable pastime would earn him a job abroad.

“After I completed secondary school in 2012, there was nothing much to do at home, so my friends and I started skating to kill boredom. In December 2013, my sister came across a skating contest advert, and encouraged me to register.”

Although he did not win the competition, the exposure revealed to him the opportunities that skating presented, encouraging him to skate more regularly, this time not just for fun, but to develop his skill further. Together with a couple of friends, he decided to start skating beyond the estate they lived in, venturing to Nairobi’s CBD, home to a bigger number of more roller skaters who were much more experienced than they were. It is here that he met his first employer.

“Around January 2014, as I was skating around Aga Khan Walk in the CBD, a woman beckoned me, and when I stopped to talk to her, she told me that she was impressed by my ability to skate in such a busy street. She then asked whether I would be interested to teach her children how to skate, for a fee.”

Eric jumped at the chance.

For a year, with four sessions every month, he taught this woman’s children and those of three of her neighbours how to skate. Each session earned him Sh500. After the training was over, one of the parents recommended him to yet another parent, who paid him to train his two children.

What had started out as a way to kill boredom had become a job of sorts, which also saw him train tens of children how to skate at the car park along Nairobi’s Aga Khan Walk on Sundays and on public holidays. On average, he would make around Sh30, 000 every month.”

In January 2017, as Eric was thinking about joining college, another opportunity presented itself.

“I was surfing the Internet when I came across a job advert in the hospitality industry. A five star hotel in Jordan was looking for roller waiter, a waiter that could skate. I decided to apply for the job.”

That same month, he was invited for an interview, which took place on Skype, a few weeks later, he received the job offer.

“A typical day at work starts at 10am, where I serve drinks to guests around the pool, on skaters of course. There have been incidences of roller waiters falling into the pools, but it has never happened to me, thankfully.

“Working in an Arab state has been a great experience. I have learnt a lot about their culture. The pay is substantial, and I am saving to invest back home. When I got here in 2017, the first few months were tough. It was too hot and I really missed home. Now, I rarely get homesick because I have a good support system from Kenyans working here. I am happy that I get paid to do something that I love.”

Ezekiel Mumo

Name: Ezekiel Mumo

Age: 25 years

Career: Sales Executive, Bee-care Apiaries Limited

At only 25 years, Ezekiel is a well-known beekeeper in the village he comes from, back in Masinga, Machakos County.

His career started out as just something he did after school, but is now a venture that fetches him about Sh200, 000 every year. His beekeeping skills, which he learnt as a young boy while assisting an uncle, are what got him a job with his current employer, Bee-care Apiaries Limited.

His employer spotted him at a bee-keeping exhibition in Thika, in the outskirts of the city, where he was explaining to a group of farmers about the art of bee-keeping. He is a sales executive with the company. His roles include selling honey and beekeeping equipment such as bee suits and smokers.

“As a young boy, I loved accompanying my uncle to harvest honey from three beehives that my grandfather had left behind. My uncle would tease me, telling me that I only helped out due to the free honey I got, but after observing my big interest in the harvesting process, he handed over the hives to me in 2007. I was in class seven then.”

Ezekiel would harvest the honey during school holidays and then sell it to a neighbour, who would buy a 20-litre bucket of the stuff for Sh15, 000. He would use this money to pay his school fees and help his parents meet other expenses.

When he completed secondary school, a company that sells bee-keeping equipment offered to train him on modern bee-keeping and harvesting techniques. 

“The company took me for two-months training in Nairobi and Kisumu where I got the opportunity to interact with large-scale bee-keepers and visit their farms. After the training, the company offered me my first job as head of the technical team. My duties involved teaching farmers what I knew about bee-keeping and selling bee-keeping equipment such as honey extractors.”

He still keeps bees back home, in fact, from just three hives, he now owns 36 of them.

“I harvest the honey quarterly, making a profit of Sh200, 000 yearly. The demand for pure honey is so big, such that some customers pay me in advance. There is a ready market for honey, and right now, I am not able to meet the demand. I intend to increase the hives to serve a larger clientele,” he says.

Interested in this venture? Ezekiel says that all you need is to set up a modern hive, which costs about Sh7, 000 to assemble. You can then gradually increase the hives.

“This is a rewarding venture, one that doesn’t consume a lot of your time, yet is profitable.”

If this isn’t an example of money working for you, what is?