I started doing business at a very tender age. I rem selling biscuits and icecreams during church service when I was still a Sunday school kid. OK, my mum owned a small kiosk that’s where i used to steal…no…to pick such items…not just picking but taking posession of the items without acknowledging mum. I sold them at a Bob each. I was the sonko among a group of boys that I paid Cinema shows for after the service.
In primary school, the kiosk was still there. That meant I would illegally take possession of pens and excersise books to sell at school. A sinlge pencil went for 5Bob from captain unlike 2bob at other kiosks far away from our school. Speedo, aim and bic pens went for 10bob or 12bob unlike the usual 8bob. U were either to buy from me or go drying. If u tried to sneak out of school to go and buy the cheaper one, as the class monitor i would do what I knew best and that found you face the wrath of Mr, wakamau…our school headmaster. That was like f**king up with my bizz…I even sold Kasuku exercise books. That’s how i started making cash to buy my own cloths aged 8years.
In high school I first sold my big brother’s C.Muturi mathematics book at Kshs 800. Of course I never required the book at that time until third form. Out of the cash I was able to buy a couple of New king James versions required by our syllabus at 150 each and sold them at 400. A brand new one costed like 700. Bought setbooks from the outgoing forthforms and sold at a profit to other students in lower form 3s and potential candidates as we called them. Our school never had a kiosk. How I illicitly smuggled ngumus, weed cakes, pinpops, FHs is a tale for another day.(FH ni zile makali za Frying Horse, ingine ilikuwa Tiger Brandy, KC, KK n so on). Don’t worry I even sold “makorofear”.
During my times in college I saw an opportunity to sell Tees to the many clubs I found there. I started branding different colours for diff clubs. The CUs, YCs, The Rotaracts, among others. There’s this company named Kiboko that makes plain t-shirts at Enterprise rd where I used to buy each at 200bob, brand at 150 and sell at 1k each. Life was good in college coz I lived like PMs kid.
Out of college, job hunting , hustles here and there and into business again. U rem the gas business at Zimmerman that saw me run buncrupt. Kuchengwa, kuibiwa, kunyang’anywa gari na bank, kusota na kufirisika. I went back home… 014 (Hekaya ziko nahuko chini)…I went ahead into farming nikafuga some funny funny birds, chicken, pigs, operated taxi(probox that malysyad with the bank) and later came back in the city, bizna kama kawaida.
Now, all this time I’ve been looking for moneys,trying to fulfil my dreams and actually getting to a point levelled “self actualisation” . Hii level hata Mimi siijui saana but I long for that moment I’ll sit at the middle of the city like Chris Kirubi and look at my uncountable wealth surrounding me from all directions.
The memoir continues shortly