Struggling with carrying my last born son gave me this idea

 Leah Wanjiku is married and a mother of three. Her last born son who was born with excess hernia is the reason Totowraps was born. She takes us through her journey.

Background

I studied Sociology and Linguistics at the university but I have never worked in the two fields. I'm not an 8am to 5pm person, so I never looked for a job in my line of study. Immediately after campus, I went into events planning and management where my creative mind got space to experiment and do things in a different way. To survive in this field, creativity is paramount and that God has given me. It is through the same creativity that Totowraps was born.

THE IDEA

My last born son Uddi is the reason Totowraps came to be. After discovering I was pregnant with him, I slipped into depression and things got worse after giving birth. I would never leave the house and my nights and days were spent besides Uddi who somehow cooled me down whenever the depression took a toll on me. He was born a big baby so carrying him was also a challenge to me. It came with a lot of endless back pains that sometimes drove me to the wall. Uddi was also born with excess hernia so he used to cry a lot. Any mum out there knows what dealing with an overly cranky baby is like. I shut myself out of the rest of the world and created my own with Uddi inside our living room. During one of my online jaunts, I came across a mum who was offloading some of her baby stuff that she no longer needed. One of the things on offer was a baby carrier, I reached out to her and told her I needed the carrier. I got it and the first time I tried it, I realised it was more comfortable compared to my lessos and all the other carriers I had tried. Then on, I embarked on a journey that has been rather interesting. I started browsing through markets as well as google to see if there was a similar thing on sale out there. As there was none, I decided to come up with my own but it wasn't that easy. I experimented a lot with fabrics. My neighbours back then nicknamed me 'mama wa mashuka' since every time I stepped out with my son, I had a different colour of my self-made carrier. After noticing the response out there, I realised it was an idea worth working on.

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT

Since I didn't have any capital, it was hard putting the idea to work. There's this time I was in town and a lady approached me wanting to know where I bought the carrier. I told her I make them and told her if she didn't mind I could sell to her the one I was carrying my son with. She bought it at Sh1,500 and from then on, the journey to establishing Totowraps started to take shape. I didn't even have a name then but things started falling in place. Every time I got an order, I could ask my husband for money to buy the material and for paying the fundis.

RUNNING A START UP

.

Keep Reading

• My life purpose is to work with the dead
• Bring out the queen in you
• Toxic job pushed me into the sweet tamarind business
• I wasn't burnt by acid, I have a skin colour disorder

After realising my idea had potential, I went to my husband again for money, he gave me Sh200,000 which took the idea off the ground. I received a lot of support and goodwill from other women out there and I believe this is something I would never have done alone. The same lady who gave me a carrier has been a great blessing , she has supported me through the journey. I have had a fair share of drama with fundis but I believe they were lessons worth going through. Most of them want quick money so it was really hard getting one who was patient enough to let me sell first and pay them later. One of the lessons I have learnt in this journey is that if you aren't passionate about your dream, the challenges can easily kill it. Despite being there for a while now, we haven't also been able to market the business as we would want but I believeI I will cross that bridge when that time comes.

WHERE I AM NOW

Totowraps is no longer about me and my Uddie now, I'm at a point where other people depend on me. I have a workshop where we make the wraps. I also have a shop in Kilimani, Nairobi. My aim is to make carrying a baby as stylish as possible. My focus is on the millennial mums who value comfort and style. We also ship outside Kenya. Yes, there's the money factor in it but now I have realised there are so many other good things in it. I embarked on Kangaroo mother-care outreach programme last year. It hasn't been easy but this is one of our main projects now.

MY TIP

Push till you get to where you want to be. Totowraps was my dream that took time to work on. I had the vision and as much as I got people to help me work on it, I was the one with the vision, so I had to put in all I had.

FACT BOT

LAUNCHED: September, 2013

TARGETED TURNOVER: Sh 10m in the next two years

FACEBOOK: Toto wraps

IG: Mama TotoWraps

Website: www.totowrapswoven.com

Location: Kilimani,Wood Avenue,Equitorila Business Park