I lost Sh300,000 to fraud, but kept my dream alive

Turning your passion into money

Sheila Mwaiki, 44 – a mother of five children, three of whom are adopted – is a resilient businesswoman.

She’s an event organiser and consultant, and says she discovered her passion for putting functions together soon after she left Maseno University, where she studied education.

“Straight after university, I got married to a banker. Despite having developed an interest in the business of organising events, I ended up getting a job as a bank teller, and worked for six years before taking a career break for a year.”

During this break, Sheila decided to rekindle her interest in events, and founded Baraka Catering and Event Managing Services in Mombasa. She started out with Sh800,000, which she had saved while employed.

“When I started, however, I was introduced to a tent-maker in Mombasa. We met and agreed that he would make me 300-seater tents. I paid Sh300,000. He disappeared with it,” she says. Later, however, Sheila found out that he’d swindled another entrepreneur and was arrested.

Mental health

After this setback, and spending another Sh300,000 on tents and seats, Sheila began aggressively marketing her services. One of her first contracts was operating the Star of the Sea School’s canteen. She then got corporate branding and wedding decor jobs, with one of her proudest moments being branding a function attended by former President Mwai Kibaki in Mombasa.

“I had found my footing and passion. Business is what I wanted to do. Actually, I’d wanted to study commerce at university, but was admitted to study education. Still, this didn’t stop me from pursuing my interest in entrepreneurship.”

In addition to being a mother and entrepreneur, Sheila also lives with bipolar, a mental health condition that causes periods of depression and periods of emotional highs.

Instead of the disorder putting her down, she says it has helped bring out the best in her.

“I do about three weddings in a year and ensure they are perfect so that the clients can act as my advertising agents,” she says.

Having been in the business for more than 10 years, Sheila has now exited active event organisation and turned to consultancy. One of the reasons she’s slowed down is that her bipolar condition has lately taken a turn for the worse.

Nevertheless, she still does a few events and has also invested in real estate and is setting up a farming business in her rural home in Shimba Hills. She has employed 10 people to oversee her investments.