Grace Atieno, 39, is a woman who is very proud of her job.
The single mother of four operates a car wash along Ondiek highway, in Kisumu town.
Every morning, she religiously opens the car wash with the hope of economically sustaining herself and her children.
“I normally open the car wash at 6am everyday from Monday to Saturday. Closing time can stretch up to 10pm depending on the customers,” said Atieno.
“I do not open on Sundays because that's the day I go to church,” she adds.
Atieno operated a hotel eight years ago but says the business was loss-ridden because she was sometimes forced to throw away food.
“The hotel business was not good for me because of the losses I used to incur. Mostly when cooked food remained, it had to be thrown away. There is no way you can serve your customers food that was cooked the previous day,” she said.
After realising the hotel business could no longer sustain her, she decided to try her hand in a totally different venture.
“When I left the hotel business, I had not really made up my mind on what to do next. One day as I was walking down the street and saw a woman washing a car,” she said.
She then enquired whether she could get a job at the car wash.
“The woman told me the work is very difficult but if I thought I was ready for the challenge, I could start immediately,” she said.
She embraced the challenge and that is how she found herself in the car washing business.
During her first days on the job, she was only tasked with washing car mats and earned Sh100 per day.
“The job got more interesting with each passing day. I started learning how to wash tyres and then later how to wash both the inside and outside of the cars. I learned the ropes quite fast and my payment was increased to Sh250 per day. It was a new experience but after a while, I become extremely good at it," said Atieno.
That is when she started saving on a daily basis with the idea of opening her own car wash.
“I worked at the car wash for one year before I started my own car wash not far away from where I was previously employed," she said.
Grace Atieno at her car wash in Kisumu. [Photo/ Nancy]
"This was after I saved Sh20, 000 and bought a second-hand high-pressure car wash machine Kingmax model at the cost of Sh10, 000,” she adds.
She established her car wash near the Vunduba hotel in Kisumu, and her sacrifice started paying off bit by bit as customers from her previous workstation started frequenting her new establishment.
She operated the car wash for close to four years, before moving to the current location – along Ondiek highway, where she has been working for three years.
Atieno said she washes up to six vehicles per day, ranging from cars, buses, and lorries. Her car wash has piped water, which gives her an upper hand against her competitors.
Atieno washing a vehicle at her car wash located in Ondiek estate, Kisumu. [Photo/ Nancy]
By virtue of having piped water, she always gets contracts to wash vehicles belonging to institutions such as the Kenya Medical and Research Institute (KEMRI) in Kisumu.
“I can say this business has no loses compared to the hotel business I used to operate. It has very few expenses," said Atieno.
She makes between Sh1, 500 and Sh2, 000 on a good day, and Sh500 when business is slow.
"I use Sh1, 000 to pay my monthly water bills. I'm also required to pay Sh7,000 annually for my operating licence," she added.
Being a single mother, she depends on the car wash which she operates single-handedly to cater for her kids' needs. She is blessed with three daughters and a son.
“I did my Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) in 1999 but my parents were not able to pay for my secondary education. Through this car wash, I have a mission to ensure that my children get a better education,” she said.
Atieno challenges her fellow women to take up different roles and jobs traditionally believed to be for men.
“Women who just sit at their doorsteps waiting for their husbands to meet all their needs have a lot of problems. Even where I stay, a woman will come to you saying please assist me with salt or a matchbox or something else. Women should try as much as possible to be economically independent," said Atieno.
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