At a seemingly lonely joint near the Makao estate Matatu terminus in Eastern Nakuru town stands a rusty iron shhet buid structure that is home for chai and mandazi where Everlyne Muthoni a 45 –year- old mother of three mints over sh.50,000 per month. Muthoni says she targets construction,Jua Kali and farm products distributors in the area who have a liking for the cheap food supplement of tea and mandazi as they cool off during the tiresome engagements. She says a cup of tea at sh.10 while a piece of mandazi goes at sh.5/= each. Muthoni says she started this venture in 2007 after she moved to Nakuru from Eldoret during the post election violence.After she and her family were accommodated briefly by a relative she started off by visiting construction sites in the semi -urban area where developers were fast moving to put up residential houses and business buildings. She says her husband Raphael Njuguna, a construction worker after identifying the daily food needs of construction workers encouraged her to try venturing into the food-hawking venture that has since helped educated her children and buy a plot. The couple’s first born son joined the National Youth Service in November last year while the second born will seat for KCSE this year.The last born,a daughter is in standard five.The family has since constructed a semi-parmanent house on their plot in Engashura and will put up a permanent house anytime in the near future. “I could sell tea ,uji and mandazi to construction workers on credit throughout the week and get paid on Saturday,the day the workers are normally paid,’’she says. Muthoni adds that after consolidating a loyal chain of customers she decided to settle at a permanent joint where her customers could be coming. The born again Christian hints that business is all about market survey and supply at affordable prices. According to her, her customers are low class people who cannot afford a meal of more than sh.50 at ago. They also don’t have money all the time hence a compromise based on mutual trust has to be reached at to keep the business running and the customer satisfied. “The trust and confidence you build in yourself and your customers is all that builds up the business. This is what I have learnt and am still learning more. Sometimes I go at a loss after a customer moves out of this area without paying me,but the risk is minimal compared to what I get out of the trust I have in most of my customers who keep on introducing others,’’she says. At the popular mandazi – chai kiosk Mithoni also sells potatoes at wholesale and retail prices she buys from some of her customers who ferries them from the potatoe -rich Ndundori in the neighbouring Nyandarua County. She has also ventured into poultry farming and she sells eggs at wholesale level as well as chicken to locals and restaurants. Her bigger plans are not yet fully designed but to this hardworking middle-aged woman, the sky seems to be the limit.

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