She wanted challenge and fulfillment; she got it
- Ника Давыдова
- 17 февр. 2011 г.
- 2 мин. чтения
Having worked as a caterer for five years at Nairobi School, the urge to start her own business was so great that she called it quits in 1991, having joined the school in 1986.
“I was not satisfied with what I was doing and wanted to venture into something more involving; something I could call my own,” Mrs Betty Miriti says.
With a diploma in institutional management and food production from Kenya Polytechnic, she started Mika restaurant at Hurligham shopping centre, Nairobi.
“I started cooking ordinary food like githeri, beef stew and chapati in 1993, thanks to a Sh200,000 loan my husband took for the venture,” she says.
That was in November and in December when festivities peaked, customers who had tasted her food asked her to prepare food for their Christmas parties.
This led to the development of an outside catering facility, which now serves up to 1,500 guests at a single event.
The restaurant also supplies food to staff from various companies and is paid at the end of the month.
“However, if an individual orders food from our restaurant, payment is made on delivery,” she says.
“My business has 30 employees and I derive a lot of satisfaction from this, being a contribution towards wealth and job creation.”
Mrs Miriti’s business, which is now worth Sh5 million, has supported her children through university to start their own businesses, in the same line.
“An entrepreneurial spirit can only be honed if one identifies what to do to the best of his or her ability,” she says.
“I am not a rich woman but I derive a lot of satisfaction from paying all my bills on time and paying a salary to my employees. I am very happy every time I add an employee to my business,” she says.
Following in the footsteps of her mother, daughter Kendi Miriti has developed a great interest in cake-making.
She is now an elaborate cake-maker with her own business branded Kikiz Cakes.
“Our vision is to expand Mika Foods to other parts of the country, with an aim of giving quality affordable food to our customers and creating employment,” she says.
She urges new entrepreneurs to identify what they can do best and do it to the best of their ability, because every effort is be rewarded.
Comments