After his employer folded up, Moses Muthama had to think fast on how to make ends meet, writes JOHN KARIUKI
Moses Muthama was a salesman for many years, selling beauty products for a distributor in the expansive Rift Valley province. But in 2003, the company folded up and he found himself without a job. He registered his own business, Active One Investments, the same year and continued doing what he knew best — selling beauty products.
Muthama opened a shop along Nakuru’s Pandit Nehru road and stocked it with these products. He used his old salesman’s contacts to get a foothold in the market. And he began supplying cosmetic shops and beauty parlours in Kisumu, Kericho, Meru, Eldoret, Nyeri, Narok, Naivasha Nanyuki and Nakuru town with these products.
"I resumed my salesman’s life but now in my company," he says. His life settled in a pattern of distributing beauty products to far-flung customers and remaining idle when there were no orders.
Last year, Muthama bought a second hand car, for doing taxi rounds in Nakuru town.
"But after analysing the taxi business, I realised that I could only make an erratic income," he says.
Bring home
Taxi owners are at the mercy of their drivers who bring home unpredictable earnings, he says.
Ditching this idea, Muthama thought of retailing artificial hair around town with his car on the days when he was not travelling to supply distant customer.
"I applied for and got a licence from the municipal authorities and set about selling the hair from my car. I would park my car at strategic points along the streets," he says.
His wife was worried about his sudden change from a salesman to a street hawker and expressed her reservations.
"I was a little apprehensive because people knew me as a salesman in suits and ties but I rolled up my sleeves and the first day was a huge success," he says.
Muthama says that after a few days, his customers began referring others to him and they would come looking for his red car.
He realised that it would be better off if he stuck at one point and that’s when the idea of a permanent parking position occurred to him. He chose a point along Pandit Nehru Street for which he pays Sh3,500 a month as a reserved parking and has never looked back.
"I earn more from my car than from my shop along this same street," he says.
"I had planned to be on the street on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays when I was not scheduled to take my products to other customers," he says. But the response from his clients made him change plans and is now available in Nakuru every day, he says.
Muthama sells the hair, which he sources from overseas for between Sh550 and Sh1,600 a piece. He also sells the hair at wholesale price ranging from Sh450 to Sh1,300. When he is engaged elsewhere, his wife runs the business. His business has enabled Muthama feed and cloth his family, besides meeting other financial obligations.
Muthama has learnt several valuable lessons from his venture. The first one is that an entrepreneur has to be permanent at his or her station, lest customers come and miss him or her.
"Be available at all times including after hours to answer to customers queries,"he says.
Another crucial lesson he has learnt is that any business operator has to understand all aspects of the merchandise they deal with, and give the best services all the time. Modern buyers are vastly knowledgeable, and want only the best quality, he says.
"I have learnt to spot counterfeit artificial hair from merely feeling its texture and I remove it from my stock," he says.
Quality time
For the time that he has been on the street, Muthama has learnt that it pays to give all customers quality time even if they are merely window shopping.
"I have come to realise that if i give more time to clients and answer their questions, they are likely they are to come back when they have money," he advises. And often they come with friends in tow.
Perhaps his biggest lesson is that price is not an issue when customers are satisfied with the quality of services or product. "One is bound to fail if he or she opens a business for the sole purpose of making huge profits", he says. This, he says, is tantamount to stealing from one’s clients.
Over the years, Muthama has come to specialise with individual clients more than with corporate ones, like supermarkets.
"Supermarkets buy bigger volumes but they take too long to pay, seriously affecting cash flow," he says.
His immediate plans are to get a bigger car, preferably a van, in which he can stock other beauty products besides artificial hair.
"I have to move with the times and stock other things that my customers ask for besides the hair, he told Business Unusual.
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