Graduate duo soiling their hands into real wealth

Kenya: Generation Y are go-getters; they are not held back by anything. That description fits 23-year-old Cosmas Kavinda. After graduating with a First Class Honours degree in International Relations from United States International University, young Kavinda secured a well-paying job with a top NGO.

One day, after working for six months, he quit his job. Reason? It was not satisfying. Next stop was the farm. “I have always admired the life of a farmer and after quitting my job, I settled into farming quite easily,” Kavinda, who hails from Runyenjes in Embu County, shares. Interestingly, the same passion was also burning in a friend of his, who would later team up with him.

“I had also worked for some time but I was not getting the satisfaction I wanted. I had that conversation with my friend Kavinda and he struck the idea that we team up to start something,” says Erick Maingi, a Business Administration graduate from Mount Kenya University.

Using their savings and a loan from family, they raised Sh200,000 and jumped into agri-business in December last year. They used the cash to lease a three-acre land in Ithatha village, Kiringa sub-location in Embu County.

Lucrative deal

To start off, they bought courgette, dhania and capsicum (hoho) seeds, a water tank, and pipes for watering.

“We did our research and started with vegetables. We bought the seedlings, planted and within a short while our first harvest was ready. We made more than Sh3,000 a day from selling 65kgs of courgettes,” Kavinda says.

To water the plants, they use the nearby Ithatha dam.

They have planted vegetables on their two-acre farm and have started tilling the other one acre on which they want to plant water melons and butternuts. The two recently landed a lucrative deal bound to boost their venture.

Two big grocery proprietors in Runyenjes and Embu town have contracted them to supply vegetables to their stores.

“The buyer from Embu town told us they used to have another supplier, but the person used to give him a raw deal. So he heard about us and got in touch,” Kavinda says.

The two have 2,000 ready courgette plants from where they harvest daily. In their first week of harvest, they got 107kgs. They saw it increasing to 363kgs in the second week. Currently, they are harvesting 95 to 100kgs of courgette daily.

“To maintain the quality and quantity needed by our esteemed clients, we harvest our courgette daily. If overgrown, few courgettes will make a kilogramme. This will make us lose market because they will not buy the overgrown courgettes,” Maingi explains.

What is the secret to their success?

“We are first friends then business partners, so we know each other well. We are from the same municipality and we both love agriculture,” Maingi says.

Their slogan ‘ukulima si ushamba’ is the message they preach to other youth.

Since there are hundreds of young people idling in the town, the two have taken it upon themselves to encourage colleagues to take up agribusiness.

“For instance, there are many graduates in Runyenjes Municipality who are idle in the streets while others abuse drugs. We understand that unemployment is a major setback in our county but we are challenging them to think outside the box. Maingi and I have created permanent jobs for three other youths in our farm,” he says.

Maingi and Kavinda are working hard to get orders from the big the supermarkets in Embu County.

“There are some big supermarkets in the county that we are eyeing. But the problem is that we have not met one of their requirements. They need at least 150 kilos of courgettes daily. We hope to attain that target in the next few weeks. The demand for our products is very high,” Kavinda discloses.

So what about the degrees they paid handsomely to get, are they going to waste?

“Not at all. My studies in International relations helps us in managing clients and satisfying them so that they keep coming back. Maingi’s Business administration degree helps us in marketing, searching for new clients and how to get maximum returns,” Kavinda says.

Mentorship

Lucrative as it may appear, they say it takes hard work to be where they are.

“Everyday including Sundays, the two of us plus our other three staff are in the shamba by 6am. We harvest the courgettes, then water the plants.

We put the harvested courgettes in plastic bags before they are packed in boxes for transportation to the market. We transport them using a motorcycle which we bought recently from the profits we got,” Kavinda explains.

So why are courgettes an attractive venture?

Stephen Njeru, a Horticultural Crop Development Officer based in Runyenjes says the vegetables take 45 days before they are ready for harvest.

“The courgette should be planted at a spacing of 1.5 foot by two feet to give them enough space. It also requires enough manure and be sprayed regularly to keep off pests and diseases. From the first harvesting time, the crop has a lifetime of two months. They can be less depending on how you take care of them,” Njeru says.

After clearing the land, you make holes of barely one foot inwards. The hole should be able to accommodate 2kg of manure.

Add fully decomposed manure and mix it with soil. Then wait for a day so that the manure can be compatible with the soil then plant your seeds. It will have started germinating in the next three days.

The two young men say they get inspiration from an agribusiness farmer, Monica Kabuga who is their mentor.

“We have visit her farm regularly and have learnt a lot from her. By implementing her advice, we have seen our produce increasing steadily,” Maingi says.

Advice to young people?

“Opportunities are there, you just need to do something with the little resources you have. Don’t just sit there, make a change!” Kavinda adds.