What was your rock bottom moment? That moment or situation you can easily point out and say ‘that was my lowest’.
A fight or flight moment.
Mine came so recently, I can still taste the salty rock I hit when I got to the bottom.
Struggling to make ends meet in this concrete jungle we call Nairobi, I made a conscious decision to supplement my salary.
I have been working as a waitress for almost a decade now.
Was it my dream job? Not exactly!
I have always had a thing for service and food. This is how I ended up at a well-known culinary school in the city.
The dream took a major detour when I started feeling funny in the mornings.
It was a complicated pregnancy, to put it mildly. From a father who suddenly forgot how to tap that green thing to answer calls, to close calls at the clinic that almost ended me.
Anyway, by the grace of God Lisa was born and the rest is history.
The waitressing gig had its perks, the tips were above average, and I built a solid relationship with the head chef.
She was also the one who introduced me to the very thing that led to my rock bottom actually.
2020 was bad for the hospitality industry, and I mean bad in every sense of the word as everything was shut down.
Were it not for the years I had put in at culinary school and my relationship with Suzie - the head chef, I think I would be job hunting right now.
In 2020, I was introduced to a loan offer by Co-op Bank called Msamaria Women’s Loan.
It’s an ingenious facility at Co-op Bank targeting women in business, it’s ideal if you are looking to expand or grow your Biashara.
I had been waking up at 4am for the last 2 years to whip up an array of meals in my one-bedroom apartment in Umoja.
My neighbours had christened me ‘mama vitunguu’, it must have had something to do with the unmistakable aroma that slalomed through our apartment building each morning.
I’d then park the food on those to-go plastic containers as well as brown envelopes, which I’d take with me on my way to work.
I had already built a solid base of clientele in the CBD which was where I made my deliveries. I actually used to ‘dandia’ Lisa’s school bus -for some reason these kids go to school before most CEOs hit the gym.
I needed money to not only secure my daughter’s future but also for my own project.
This was how I’d get to complete my course in the culinary arts school, make some money on the side, easy right? Wrong.
There is nothing easy about entrepreneurship, if there was we’d all be lounging somewhere sipping cocktails with tiny hut straws.
I have found that it takes a lot of sacrifice, persistence and an unquenchable thirst to win at all costs. That last part is the only reason I didn’t lose my mind when I woke up one day to a world where my clients no longer needed my services.
They were now working from home, where they could practically work from their refrigerators and microwaves.
I won’t lie, I cried... A proper wail is always good for the heart, as my mum always used to say -God rest her soul.
I was as low, as low gets. Schools were closed, money was ‘hiding’ and my landlord could not take any excuses.
For some reason, Suzie thought that this would be the ideal time to get that Co-op Bank Msamaria Women's Loan and expand my business.
She was so sure about it that she actually bargained for a stake in my makeshift Biashara.
I wasn’t so sure, but I did it...Call it desperation or whatever but I did it.
I upgraded my inventory and secured the services of several boda boda riders in my hood. I wanted to get a nduthi of my own but Suzie explained to me why outsourcing would be affordable.
Things didn’t kick off, we actually stagnated for a while. The plus side was my little girl got to eat 5-star meals each and every day.
Slowly but steadily, and with a lot of help from social media posts, ordering in became a new kind of culture in the city.
The work-from-home brigade no longer had time to even make meals for themselves, and that’s where I come in.
Had I not taken up the Co-op Bank Msamaria Women's loan, I am almost certain I wouldn’t have been able to service the flood of orders that came in soon after.
I’m not complaining.
I am back at culinary school and set to graduate soon actually.
I have also added a food truck side of the business that roams around the city from day to day.
Someone once said that every cloud has a silver lining. I'm not sure who said it, but they were right.