High tech ‘mama mboga’

Susan Kimanzi quit employment to make it easier for people to buy fruits and vegetables from the comfort of their office desks. 

By WAYUA MULI
Posted  Friday, April 26   2013 at  05:31

IN SUMMARY

• When I was younger and experimenting with new styles of cooking, she was my greatest supporter, buying ingredients and praising the outcome of my efforts. My cookery training, if I can call it that, comes from books such as the Kenya Cookery Book, which was compiled by the PCEA St Andrews Women’s Guild.

Fresh & More Kenya is an online mama mboga. We deliver fresh fruit and vegetables right to our customers’ doorstep.

We do not have a brick and mortar business; ours is purely online. Our clients shop for their fruit and vegetable requirements through our website www.freshandmore.co.ke or send us an email with their order.

“I am a foodie. I love experimenting with food and sourcing it and I have always loved cooking and been extremely curious about sourcing quality ingredients and speciality foods.

My passion for food comes from my mother, Elizabeth, who is a fantastic cook. She introduced me to great food and to exploring in the kitchen.

When I was younger and experimenting with new styles of cooking, she was my greatest supporter, buying ingredients and praising the outcome of my efforts. My cookery training, if I can call it that, comes from books such as the Kenya Cookery Book, which was compiled by the PCEA St Andrews Women’s Guild.

It was my first cookery book and I still have it. My formal education is a Bachelor of Commerce double major degree in business administration, accounting, and finance from Daystar University.

“The idea for Fresh & More came about after I spent one Saturday shopping with a friend who had recently relocated from Germany.

At the end of our shopping expedition, although she had managed to source all the food items she needed, she felt that it was time consuming and said she would definitely pay to have produce delivered to her doorstep.

I was employed full-time and facing similar challenges when it came to handling household shopping, so I went home and though about her proposal. So, Fresh & More Kenya was born.

“At the time I was working as the general manager at a risk management firm. Although I enjoyed my work immensely and had been in the position for close to a year, I needed the challenge of doing something that was truly mine.

Growing business

“Fresh & More Kenya was operational from November 2011. I was still employed at the time, but with the kind of interest I was receiving from my clients, I realised that I needed to focus on one thing. I left employment in January 2012 (to run it) and I have not looked back since.

“We currently run a small operation with three employees and we are able to serve all our customers.

Since inception in November 2011, our business has grown from the original one customer to slightly over 200.

Fresh & More Kenya is a home-based business; we have converted space to office and for storage of perishable items.

Ultimately as we grow and as we add new products to our offering, we will require more space. However, we will run as an online business (unless) things change and we have to revise our stand.

Because it is home-based, I am quite flexible and available when it comes to handling family and home issues. At the same time, because of this, I seem to be at work more often than not.

“My initial challenge was balancing running the business and my employment. After I went full-time into Fresh & More, the challenge became sourcing quality goods to meet my clients’ requirements. To bridge this gap we now have a growing and supply arrangement with certain farmers who grow produce for us.

“When in employment you are guaranteed a salary at the end of every month come what may. When Fresh & More was still growing I missed that, especially as I was eating into my savings. But my previous employment taught me and gave me wonderful experience in understanding loss prevention within business and for that I am eternally grateful. In the past one-and-a-half years, I have learnt that a business model does not have to be complex; it simply needs to work well. I have learnt that I have more patience than I ever imagined.

“The best part about running Fresh & More is that I can predict how my efforts in marketing translate into return business. I enjoy the positive feedback that I constantly get from my clients, the repeat business and word of mouth referrals. We strive to make sure that their experience and interaction with us always meet and exceed expectations. Now I am experiencing the joy of working hard for myself and enjoying 100 per cent the fruits of my labour. It is a wonderful feeling.

“In hindsight, I would not change a thing about (the way I started) Fresh & More Kenya, except perhaps that I would take the leap into self-employment earlier than I did.
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