Meet two master's students who partnered in selling mandazi and potato crisps and blossomed
22nd April, 2021
What started as a passion borne out of sheer entrepreneurship has now morphed into a profitable enterprise. This is the story of two master's students who came together in their undergraduate days at Chuka University while majoring in different disciplines which they found out could complement each other in business. They, therefore, started by making mandazi only to venture into the natural juice after the ban of polythene bags. KTN’s Moige William visited the two at their shop in Kiambuthi Estate, Embu County. Shukrani Mwendia Njeru and her husband met at Chuka University where she was pursuing business studies (marketing option) while her husband John Munyi Njue was a production student. The love story of the two, though not a Romeo and Juliet one, started when they partnered in selling mandazi and potato crisps and blossomed. The mandazi and crisp business was short-lived as it turned to be unsustainable after Nema banned the use of polythene bags. After conducting some market research, the duo plunged into making and selling sugarcane juice which is so far gaining traction. With a kick to start her motorcycle Shukrani, a mother of one starts her day to look for customers within Embu town streets and adjacent estates. As she majored in marketing, it is her role to move around to sell even as people find it funny for a woman to ride around selling sugarcane juice. As his wife is busy making sales, Munyi Njue is left behind at their stall doing production but also doing his research as he is doing a master's in hotel management.
