From family kiosk to cross-border retail outlet

By ROBERT WANYONYIThe story of Tesia Supermarket reads like a fairy tale. Tucked away in a corner in the border town of Busia, the retail outlet has grown from a miniscule and derelict family kiosk to a magnificent multi-million shilling outfit.Tapping into the booming cross-border trade, Tesia Supermarket has grown to become Busia County’s first ultra-modern retail outlet — serving an estimated population of one million.Today, the supermarket serves other major towns in Busia County including Malaba, Amagoro, Amukura, Nambale, Funyula, Bumala, Butula, Sio Port and Port Victoria. Shoppers from the Ugandan side of the border also stream in for shopping. The residents of Busia County have found the supermarket not just a shopping site, but also a place to while away on window-shopping. To the proprietors, however, the story of the supermarket has long been coming. "The first block of this supermarket was cast 14 years ago when we opened doors to our customers as a small kiosk," Mr and Ms John Kariuki say in unison."At the time, we only sold a limited range of small items including foodstuffs, a handful of cosmetics and household items," Ms Kariuki, who is also the manager of the supermarket says."With a steady stream of customers, we transformed the family kiosk into a mini self-selection shop two years later with three employees."And even as Kariuki celebrates the achievements, she remains nostalgic about the years between 2000 and 2007."I remember at that time that the soaring number of customers and the growing merchandise choked up every little space," she says."This necessitated the demolition of what used to be our stores to pave way for the construction of a high-rise building that would later accommodate assorted products and afford our customers room to move about as they made their pick." "Our phenomenal growth is largely attributed to personal customer relationship and first class service delivery on the part of our disciplined staff," she says.Expansion planThe supermarket has since established two branches and employs 93 people, a majority of who are members of the local community. She is priming to set up more branches in Busia municipality and its environs and in all the seven districts of Busia County. "In the near future, we hope to open more branches in areas outside Busia municipality to reach as many clients as possible," says Ms Kariuki.After all the expenses are paid including salaries and wages, one supermarket branch rakes in over Sh150,000 a month. For all her efforts and success, Kariuki says she draws her energies from constant prayer and her husband-cum business partner Mr Kariuki.From offering just a handful of products, the retail outlet is now home to all manner of merchandise, including household products, foodstuff, electronic goods, a range of quality furniture and clothing and hardware material.Despite the success so far, it has not been all rosy for Ms Kariuki. She says constant power cuts in the town have adversely affected the business community for years."To ensure we stay in business and guard against some of our perishable goods from going bad, we have had to resort to diesel generators," she says, adding that this added to the costs of doing business.She also says the ever-increasing commodity prices, weakening shilling and inflation hurt have conspired to hurt businesses as people’s disposable income thins out and reduces the buying power of our customers"As a result of the high prices, more people are cutting back on monthly shopping as they budget for strictly essential household commodities," she says."A slight hike in prices of essential commodities has always left us in awkward situations, which consequently eats into our profit margins."She also says high costs of transport and poor roads make commodities unnecessarily expenses as businessmen seen to recoup their investments.For her success, Ms Kariuki is thankful to the local community. In return, Tesia Supermarket is engaged in Corporate Social Responsibilities (CRS) by sponsoring various activities and programmes including the signing of a deal that will see it sponsor the annual Busia County Half Marathon Race.

From family kiosk to cross-border retail outlet

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