Former Cashier Cashing in on Chicken

After completing her training as an accountant, Esther Mwangi landed a job as a cashier in a firm in Westlands. Like any other fresh graduate, she was proud to have landed a job right in the heart of the city. A few months on her job, Esther had too many needs and her meager salary seemed to shrink every month. With a salary of Kshs. 15,000 and commuting to Westlands from Githurai every morning, she could not make her ends meet. She had rent to pay, she had to feed, clothe and save for the future.

Esther Mwangi, a poultry farmer based at Membley Estate, along Thika Road

“Life was unrewarding to my long hours counting money for my employer every day. I lived hand to mouth waiting on my peanut earnings to get through four excruciating weeks before the next pay day” Esther recalls.

She had to boost her income to survive. She tried her hand at buying chicken from farmers in Kikuyu, Uthiru and Mwiki (Kasarani area) and selling them to start up restaurants along Thika Road. She would buy the chicken on her way from work and deliver them early in the morning before going to work the next day. She would a make a profit of Kshs. 30 for each chicken she sold. Simple economies of scale quickly translated into profit for the young mother of two. 

Selling chicken to boost income

Esther would buy 100 chickens from farmers and make Kshs. 3,000 upon delivering them to restaurants. Two orders a week would make Esther Kshs. 4,000 richer after deducting her transport expenses. In a month, Esther would make more than her salary from selling chicken. It soon made more sense to quit her job and concentrate on buying and selling chicken to the ever growing market.

Getting into chicken farming

Three months into her new business, Esther realized she had too many orders and the farmers she was buying from would not meet the demand. As an entrepreneur she saw an opportunity and grabbed it. She started rearing broiler chicken.

 “This is the wisest decision I ever made,” says Esther. Since 2009, the former cashier has been rearing broiler chicken and supplying it to restaurants along Thika road such as Comfy Inn, Upways restaurant, Eagles Restaurant and Lily restaurant.

Every three weeks Esther has 380 chicken to supply and 500 hundred others that she is rearing. Broiler chicken is only reared for meat and has a fast maturity rate of 6 weeks. Esther always has two groups of these domestic fowls with a three weeks age difference. After selling each bunch she quickly replaces it with one day old chicks and the cycle begins again.

Esther, 34 years old, makes a clean profit of Kshs. 91,450 from her business every six weeks. She has employed two people to help her run her business. She confesses that she can never get back to formal employment even for a higher pay than her the income she gets from her business.

Esther supplies 380 chicken every three weeks

“Chicken farming is simple logic,” she says. “You feed the birds in the morning, then feed them again at around 11 am and feed them one last time in the evening. So long as they are healthy and in a clean environment, you will always smile to bank.” Esther says the simple approach to her business frees up her time to look for new markets, attend chamas and bring up her children.

Entrepreneurship is not for the slothful

Esther advises young people who are wish to get into poultry farming to be hardworking (she wakes up at 5.00 a.m to feed her chicken), aggressive at searching for markets and have a clear goal. Esther is working towards opening a distribution center at Githurai where she can sell her chicken on retail in addition to her existing business. Another key pointer for success in the supplying business is to keep old contacts and treat customers with dignity. Each customer is the key to your next customer. 

As you enjoy chicken on your extended Mashujaa holiday challenge yourself to start an income generating business especially in the agricultural value chain. There is little to lose when you try.