Value addition is key in keeping that hustle afloat

As the middle class and below feel the pinch of a sliding economy, planning for the little money that is going around has become paramount. Those in business are also trying their best to 'capture' the shilling before it lands in another person's pocket.

How do you increase your income when everyone is complaining there is no money? Here are a few tips to attract more in these difficult times;

· If you are a vegetable vendor, think value addition. Under current circumstances, they sell raw vegetables and sometimes chop them for some customers while potatoes are peeled for free. Customers, who are being hit by the hard economy, want to spend the least on food preparation. Once they buy your vegetables it means frying them with onions, tomatoes, cooking fat, gas and then using soap and water to clean the utensils. What if you come up with an ingenious way to help this customer to avoid the chore of cooking? Cook the vegetables. Invest in plastic package which costs about Sh5 a piece. If you package sukuma wiki for Sh10 and have additives (tomatoes, onions, etc) that will also cost about Sh15, you can then sell your cooked vegetables for Sh60 or thereabouts, making a profit of about Sh30 per pack. This is more handsome an income than selling raw vegetables. Target young people coming from work who will be ensured of a ready-made meal on their way home. They will just make ugali, warm the vegetables and they are done with supper in minutes. With time you can also sell accompaniments such as ugali and chapati. Packaging will give you a head-start.

· For those selling handbags, you can 'Africanise' them by, for example, beading them or adding some fancy African material to the side or belt to make them look unique. Many women do not like what everyone else will get in the market. Once your shop is known to give uniquely designed bags, you will find customers trooping in by the minute. Of course, your value addition will fetch you more than if you sold the bag the same way you got it from Uganda, or is it Turkey? Once you make your bags 'exotic', you can export them to other countries including Europe and sell them at a tidy amount. What you will need apart from your creativity is networking to know exactly which market to sell your products.

· Dress makers: I was introduced to a tailor in down-town   Nairobi who, despite being among many others, had unique designs and as a result a long line of customers who wanted him to make their dresses. He was also receiving orders on his Whatsapp account complete with pictures of the design his customer desired. I noticed that he personally designed the clothes before giving his fundis to do the stitching. He advised customers on the designs they came up with and was not afraid to try some radical design which he insisted suited the customer's complexion and shape better. I got hooked to this tailor because of the way he handled customers. The complete designs on the wall showed a serious man who knows how to squeeze a reluctant shilling out of customers. Why, you can be like him. Just think out of the box and come up with unique designs. Find your way into the fashion shows in town and have your clothes featured. With that stamp of authority, you will get more clients and of course, you will charge more for that special touch on their designs.

· Shopkeeper: Make sure you have everything your customers need. They should come and complete their shopping there without going to the next shop to pick some items they missed. If you sell milk direct from the farmers at your shop, do not package it like everyone else does in a plastic transparent paper, come up with an innovative way of making your customers proud to carry home what they have bought – and you will get slightly more profit than the others.

In adding value to products you are selling, the bottom line is being creative.