By Betsy Ramser Jaime
Samuel Omboga is proud to wear many roles, including, husband, father, and Zidisha Entrepreneur. Growing up in Nyamokenye village in Kenya, Samuel completed his primary level education before moving on to a private course where he received training to become a mechanic. After finishing his training, he dove straight into the world of entrepreneurship opening a business selling motorbike spare parts and also performing repairs.
In describing his business, Samuel proudly shares, ‘I sell all types of motorbike spares and they have a lot of demand due to high number of motorbike business in the area. My customers prefer my services since I have a lot of experiences to the motorbike maintenance, repair and spares.’
As with any business, there are always risks and concerns to consider. Right now, Samuel finds that a personal risk for the business is the number of counterfeit spare parts and lubricants that are available, which can make customers cautious about car related services being offered to them.
As a member of the Zidisha community since 2013, Samuel has raised an impressive 13 Zidisha funded loans, ranging in amount from $100 to over $3,000.
With his first loan in August 2013 for $100 he shared, ‘The Loan will be used to add my motor bike spares in my stock. This is because so many people are purchasing motorbikes for transport business in my area Kisii county and I want to add more stock so that my business can keep growing and with time I would like to request more loans to get a good stock for my business. I want to take this opportunity to thank the Zidisha Community for giving me this chance to be a member.’
Over the next few years, Samuel continued to use Zidisha as a positive way to expand his stock and continually grow his business.
By September 2014, Samuel was ready to request a $495 and was proud to share the changes that he was seeing in his business as he wrote, ‘I am very much thankful for the Zidisha community and the lenders at large for enabling me to borrow loans which for sure enabled me to move ahead in terms of business as I did not expect to move, but through Zidisha my business has improved in terms of capital, services to customers and also as a whole.’
With this loan and the following, Samuel purchased, Engine Oil, Tappet set, Pushrods, Cylinder Head Kit, Piston Kit, Gasket Kit, Chest Gear Drive Kit, batteries, brakes, clutch, bearings, lighting, morrows, and transmissions.’
With each additional loan, Samuel has been able to increase his stock more and more to accommodate his growing base of customers. For him, his Zidisha funded loans are especially important around the end of the year, as this is the time of year when many people are looking to purchase motorbikes.
As a long-time member of the Zidisha community, Samuel is always excited to keep his lenders up to date on his projects and business. Most recently, on March 17, 2020, he took to his discussion page and shared, ‘I would like to thank all lenders that have supported my business this far, I currently have relocated to my new house and it is indeed through your support to my business and hope that you will continue to support me so that I can archive in my dreams through the business.’
Would you like to impact the life of a Zidisha entrepreneur like Samuel? Make sure to head on over to our Browse Projects page to read about our inspiring business owners around the globe.
