Bad hair days in salons as customers keep off

Ladies who do weaving at various salons at Kenyatta Market wait for customers. They say the pandemic has hurt their business as clients avoid salons. [Wilberforce Okwiri]  

Latifay Wayua sits outside her once thriving salon business. At a glance Wayua appears  to be basking in the sun but a closer look shows a woman deep in thought. Wayua is worried because she does not have fare back home and she doesn’t know what her children will eat tonight.
For Wayua, the tough times began with the announcement of the first confirmed Covid-19 case in Kenya on March 13.

“Despite us doing our part like setting up a place to wash hands at the entrance of Kenyatta Market, as well as availing hand sanitizer and wearing masks, clients still avoid this place,” says Wayua.

Before Covid, Wayua used to take home Sh12,000 profit per month, but now she has hardly made Sh2,000 in the last three months.
“I have borrowed left and right to keep my business afloat and put food on the table. If things do not turn around this month, I will have to close my salon doors,” she says.

Before the onset of the pandemic and its devastating effects, business was booming at the famous spot. It was competition for customers are they each would engage all tactics to attract the huge traffic of customers that visited the premises. But now things are different.

“We are living by the grace of God. We don’t know where our rent and food will come from tomorrow. I am hoping the situation changes soon,” says Magdalene Nthambi, a salonist at the market.

Trying their best

High end salons, are also feeling the heat.
“Times have been very hard. After covid restrictions, we had to close down for some time, and began working on appointment basis only. This affected business,” said Tony Airo, owner of Airo’s Salon.
Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics indicates that more than 300,000 Kenyans have lost their jobs due to effects of the pandemic.
According to the KNBS Quarterly Labour Force Report, the number of employed Kenyans dropped to 17.8 million between January and March, a decline from 18.1 million people who were in employment by end of December 2019.

Reality on the ground shows that the actual number of people who are out of jobs due to the virus could be higher. “The economy has been badly hit, with thousands of people who in sustainable jobs being out of work,” says Dr Samuel Nyandemo, an Economics lecturer at The University of Nairobi.

To cushion the small businesses from further loss, Dr Nyandemo says the State must prepare a comprehensive stimulus package.
“The Government should empower small scale businesses by providing mitigating interventions like giving them money to sustain their workers. Commercial banks should also offer loans on friendly terms,” says Dr Nyandemo.