Dan Okwiri
#PenningMyJournal.
I was invited for Christmas lunch by a senior citizen in his mid-80s. Was in awe of his lush greensy lawns. In its midst stood a simple but airy house that dotted many windows.
He has lived well in swell, kept daisy for his years. I pondered what was his secret? His wisdom would soon bell, straight from the horse’s mouth.
“I have never had to struggle in my life Wuod Baba. I think simple and practical. Most youth think complicated and want to sway with the crowd. If you wish to do what everyone does and expect to be successful, you live in fantasy. Wuod Baba, let me spill my truth?
In hot funk decades ago I struggled with life, no business venture worked. Then I asked myself, what need could I fulfil for others that I can create a business around? It popped in my mind that women walked long distances in search of water! The community was constructing schools, it needed water, cement and sand.
On my research realized the most effective means for local transport was a donkey. The cost of donkey was a whacking kes 300, well beyond my means.
I approached my bosom buddy Late Hon John Henry Okwanyo who I campaigned for to be a MP in Migori for financial assistance. He loved my idea, and he immediately handed me my seed capital Kes 2500. A great leader.
This was a whale load of money. With it I bought 8 donkeys. Long story short, my business thrived, the whole village used my donkeys to transport their goods. A donkey can carry 2 bags of cement on its back, but on cart it carries 8 bags, as much as a tuk tuk.
Money rivered in, I took all my seven kids all the way to university without strain. I even paid fees for neighbors children, for they were all my customers. Today my children have great jobs in the military, medics and they too ensure that am never broke.
Young people think that buying bodas will make them wealth. Let me tell you this, the money spinner in any village ain’t a boda but a donkey. On a normal day each donkey will earn me Kes 2000 in a building site. In a good day it hits Kes 4000.
There’s no risk of accidents, no mechanical breakdowns and no fuel needed other than grass. Donkeys work hard without complaining.
There are no competitors, the business seen as murky. Our young folk don’t want to own donkeys cause they don’t see it as sexy, they prefer cruising around with pikis, swirling around the village girlies yet they are broke to kingdom come. What has anyone of them achieved?”
A fat cat, Mzee quietly has built a fleet of 50 donkeys in Suna West and Nyatike which is a semi arid area. A fat city, the workhorses carry water for the gold miners of Nyatike. They are also used in many construction sites, his money oils in by the day.
They say old money is silent. It doesn’t bray. Fine & dandy, Mzee’s donkeys are well fed. The years have rolled and he has certainly seen it all.
Now before you buy a boda, think about this, and ask would you be better be off with a donkey? Starting capital is low, no running cost, with greater returns on investment. Picture this, the going price of donkey is 40k, a piki is 160k. This means, you can get 4 donkeys at the price of one piki.
For real, the 4 donkeys will net you Kes 8k daily, there’s a fat chance that a boda piki will net you 1k if you’re lucky! Let it not fall on deaf ears like giving a donkey strawberries, a donkey will fetch you 8 times daily what you earn on a piki with no running cost.
As I drove home, I realized that this golden oldie made a lot of sense, that you work for donkey years in boda biz and end with little.
#okwirimyjournalmythoughtsmywalk
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