First In, First Out
on Colm in Kenya (Kenya), 22/Jun/2009 15:14, 34 days ago
Scratching her head, she confesses the obvious to me:"I have a big problem" she laughs.More than any other person I have met in Kenya, MamaZelphalaughs a lot, almost as if she produces an excess of natural happiness that her body needs to frequently drain off the surplus.She is, by any measurement, an incredible woman.MamaZelphais the local pastors wife, mother of four children and owner of a fabulously successful business. Her business is not like the traditional businesses we know but it is its success which is the greatest threat to her and her home.You see to fund her remarkable venture, she runs a clothes shop to generate income. That is, she used to run a clothes shop to generate income for since the 6thMay this year, her’s and all other stalls in the marketplace inKilificentre were removed by the calamitous county council to a new location (very much) out-of-town.This catastrophic event means MamaZelphahas had no income to put into her extraordinary business leaving it in an extremely precarious position.MamaZelpha’s business is to take a homeless orphaned girl Feed her, School her, Care for her, Love her and produce for her a Future as a healthy, educated, well-adjusted woman.Her current stock is seven. That is seven girls aged between 11 and 16. These girls live with MamaZelpha, her husband and their 3 children.MamaZelphahas come to SCOPE to try find a solution for her life-sized business issues.During our discussions, MamaZelphaexplains that for this business to continue she needs to earnKsh500 a day from her income generating activities. For a clothes shop to generate enough profit to earnKsh500 a day, she needs at leastKsk160,000 capital to restart her business. This is impossibly difficult for a women with an existing loan, no income and no assets.We’vecome up with new ideas to help her set up her business and to capitalise on the removal of almost all her competition. We’vealso come up with a more appropriate pricing strategy. But the same problem always re-occurs– no finance. So we’veagreed that we may need to temporarily suspend her clothes enterprise, which she has operated since 1999.We have discussed some other activities that are less capital intensive– selling fish - but this will perhaps supply her businessKsh150 a day,Ksh350 less than needed. Butatleastit will help her save, and with saving she can apply for a new loan to re-open her clothes store.In the long term, running a clothes store and selling fish will generate enough income that should allow her continue her business– the seven girls.But the sinister elephant lurking ominously is that at the moment, she does not have theKsh500 daily income needed to run a business of turningparentlessand homeless girls into cared, sheltered and loved for women. She’s in effect overstocked by maybe 3 or 4 orphans.I meet MamaZelphaagain on Wednesday where we aim to put together a plan to plot the way forward.I intend to discuss with her how Arsenal can win the league next season.MamaZelpha’s story sums up a lot of the Bad and Good in Kenyan society – orphans, youngvulnerablegirls, inept civil services, no property ownership (Zelphadoes not own her house or the business premises), limited access to finance and a people who are all to willing to share whatever little they have with others unimaginably less fortunate then themselves.