“I built this house with money from my business.”

Credit: Transform Trade/Ian Gatere

Lydia Karimi Muitari (left) and her friend Jenny Kajuju (right)

Lydia Karimi Muitari grew up on a farm in Kenya, and is the only one of her 15 siblings not to become a farmer. It is by running a farming business, that she has paid her children’s school fees and built her home.

Lydia’s entrepreneurial instincts, as well as her partnership with her friend Jenny Kajuju, have allowed her to prosper as a business owner in her community.

Recognising a new business opportunity, Lydia began selling produce at a market in nearby Isiolo after a new road opened, travelling through the town to Ethiopia. This is where she met Jenny.

“Once we got to know each well with Jenny and formed a strong friendship, we started buying produce together. She came with the working capital she had, me with mine, then we combined it.”

They were already running a business together when they received some training on finance and record keeping, allowing them to grow their business.

“Now it’s better because we have been able to build enough working capital to enable us hire a worker who harvests, then we arrive just to inspect, load in the vehicle and head to the market. Before we had this capacity, it was hard. We used to leave early for the farm. Then harvest for example carrots, clean, pack and sew them in netted sacks. You would find yourself leaving a farm at midnight!”

Lydia’s determination during those long working hours is paying off. Since her training in 2019 she says

“Our income has increased, our records have improved. Now we are able to sort out what is for the market and what is for your home. Even, to build yourself. Being in a group also helped, especially through table banking.”

Not only running her own business, Lydia chairs a group of traders called the Self-Help Women’s Group, helping build community capital together. Using the group’s savings and loan scheme, called table banking, she is optimistic about the future:

“Right now, we have about Ksh.120,000 circulating amongst us,” she says. “If we could build it to about Ksh.200,000 to Ksh.300,000 we shall be able to do major things.”

Trader, partner, chairperson - all roles Lydia proudly holds. And perhaps Lydia’s greatest success, and a testament to to her skill as a businesswoman, is the home she has built from her profits,

“I built this house with money from my business. Ksh.85,000 was what I spent to build it. Even the furnishing  you saw in the house came from the business. For sure that market has helped me!”