By Betsy Ramser Jaime
As a child, Anthony Ludeki says that he grew up with “a bigger vision, a bigger mind, a dream to become a medical surgeon…” He was able to continue his education and graduated from high school, and while he didn’t go on to become a surgeon…he’s still been able to infuse his dreams and vision into a new direction, entrepreneurship.
As a new entrepreneur, Anthony dove into the world of business by selling eggs and rearing chickens. In entrepreneurship, mindset is a key piece of the puzzle. Knowing that at least half of businesses fail is often enough to keep many dreamers from ever starting a business at all. Luckily for Anthony, he has the mindset that it takes to be successful. He even used his vision to grow his chicken rearing business from one chicken to 3000 hens.
Then, after seeing success with his first business, he has now entered into the entertainment business where he sells movies, cassettes, DVD’s, and CD’s. This primarily consists of Gospel and Secular songs, as well as TV series.
And if that wasn’t enough, he shares, ‘I also run a video show where I show movies apart from selling them. Currently the generation that surrounds the environment where I stay is youthful. I mean 70% of my neighborhood consists of the youth who like watching such things, therefore it’s very worthwhile to sell them at affordable prices.’
Anthony first started working with Zidisha in 2015 and was able to go big with an initial loan of $252. While he’d already done well in his previous ventures, he found himself ready to diversify. At the time, he was selling DVD’s but imagined opening up a video show but lacked the capital to purchase the necessary television screen and DVD reader to make it happen.
As a new borrower, in July 2015, Anthony was already witnessing the power of the lender-borrower relationship with Zidisha as he shared, ‘Dear lenders I once again take this opportunity to thank you uplifting my business, indeed I am doing well, and I urge you to continue with that spirit of supporting us young entrepreneurs. God bless you. I am so grateful for your good work. My business has really expanded and I speak to you now I have managed to employ two youth to assist me with the job and am able to pay them 200 shillings per day. Thanks a lot and God bless you.’
Over the next few years, Anthony found his egg selling business doing well, and made the decision to add a variety of other food stuffs to his inventory by opening a small retail shop. When people buy eggs, they often purchase other common ingredients such as, flour, sugar, rice, etc. and Anthony saw this as the perfect opportunity to grow. With his second Zidisha funded loan, he raised $389 from lenders and stocked up on key items including, sugar, rice, wheat flour, and other shop goods.
As an entrepreneur dealing with suppliers, transportation can take a large chunk of profits. For Anthony, he found himself spending more than he would like transporting his stock from his suppliers to his retail shop. He shares, ‘I have been facing difficulties in terms of transportation of my stocks which has become very costly. For instance, on eggs I place two orders a week and since I purchase directly from the poultry farm the cost of transportation is on my side, so I always part away with 4 US dollars for every trip, so in a week I have to make two trips which translate to 8 US dollars every week. Same applies to cereals since I purchase them directly from farmers, I have to incur the cost of transportation. I can purchase for instance ten 90 KG bags of maize to ferry them to my store it will cost me 10 US dollars which is costly. This transportation cost has really affected my profits negatively.’
Fortunately, Anthony wasn’t going to let this small hurdle derail his business and future. Knowing that his Zidisha lenders had come through for him twice before, he called upon them a third time to find a solution to his problem. He realized that the best case scenario would be to acquire his own transportation source, and that’s exactly what he did. With the help of a $675 Zidisha funded loan, he purchased a motorbike of his own.
Even better, a motorbike has enabled him to start supplying eggs to small businesses in remote areas, something that he never would have been able to do without his own transportation.
While a motorbike might seem like a small change, it’s transformed Anthony’s business as he says, ‘The loan I used to buy a motorbike which has helped me positively in running my business. I use the motorbike to go and purchase my eggs I also use it to supply eggs to my customers. This has increased my daily sales thus increasing my profits.The number of eggs trays I was selling in a week before I had the motorbike, today I sell them in a day, that’s how that motorbike has changed the way I run my business. Thank you for the loan, my God bless you all as you continue supporting me financially.’
Would you like to provide a loan that could completely change an entrepreneurs business? Make sure to head on over to our Browse Projects page to read other inspiring stories just like Anthony’s.
