Fishmonger narrates success story, Sh3 million home

NAIROBI, KENYA: Born in a humble background and in a family of four in Siaya County’s Chula-Imbo, she had no option other than drop out of school at form two to face life in Kitengela, Kajiado County. She had been invited by a friend.

While in Katengela, she joined the band-wagon of mjengo guys for their daily earnings. It is never an easy job, especially for a woman, but she pushed on, preparing and lifting the concretes, for one year. That was in 2010.

“My family was not well-off. So we always struggled. At form two, we could not sustain it. I then dropped out to think of how to get out of that kind of poverty. I’m the first born in a family of two girls and two boys. You can now imagine of the responsibilities which surround some first borns,” Cynthia Adhiambo said.

“Without enough academic credentials, I had no option of choosing jobs. I quickly accepted an invitation from my friend to work in Nairobi even if it meant doing casual jobs at construction sites-which turned out to be true,” she narrated.

In 2011, she was referred by her mother to someone in Mombasa, for a new job. Her work was to fry and sell fish. It seems, she was ever determined to be big in life- so she saved the little cash she was being paid for one year from Sh200 she earned in a day.

“After one year in Kitengela, my mum talked to her friend in Mombasa selling fish who employed me for Sh200 a day. I worked hard while studying how things are done with a view of opening my small shop-for the same business,” she says, adding that, “I saved some coins and opened my own shop-though small in size, in 2012.”

Six years down the line, Adhiambo, the owner of Lopez Fish Shop, has unbelievably expanded the fish-selling business and she is now one of the depots for big hotels in the Coastal city. Among the huge hotels which her fish feeds in Mombasa include Masai resort and the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA).

“I’m now happy to be my own boss. I have successfully expanded the business in all fronts. So far, I have five employees and I supply fish to various hotels and clubs in the city,” she said.

The fruits of her hard work is now evident back at their rural home. In 2016, she single-handedly built a Sh3 million house for her parents.

“At one point, I was a ‘mtu wa mkono’ in construction sites but I have now built a house for my parents at home. I spent Sh3 million from my business. I am technically a millionaire,” she jested.

She also bought land where the house is erected in Busia. “I decided that we move from Chula-Imbo to Busia where I bought some land. All of these thanks to the fish business,” she asserted.