‘Kadogo economy’ finds a home in the building industry
Packing of ballast at Ms Muigai (right) premises in Ruai, Nairobi. She says this “innovation” gives buyers right quantities. PHOTO | CORRESPONDENT
What you need to know:
Rose Muigai turns her supply woe into business opportunity.
Last July Rose Muigai was doing some urgent repairs to her house and needed a wheelbarrow or two of ballast, commonly referred to as kokoto in Kiwahili.
Unfortunately, it was raining that day and the supplier had to defer the long trip to her frustration.
This incident gave Ms Muigai, a solicitor in the United Kingdom (UK) and an advocate of the High Court of Kenya, a business idea: packing ballast in small bags for convenience.
Soon thereafter, she set up B&CD Aggregates Enterprise, a company that packs and sells ballast in 50 kilogramme bags, a capacity the entrepreneur says allows customers to get the they require depending on need.
For a long time, I wondered how those who wished to buy ballast in small quantities managed to transport the same,” she told Enterprise.
“That day I was making repairs, I was required to pay for the wheelbarrow, the person delivering it and the ballast itself. I found this to be very complicated and an expensive way of doing things and decided to do something about it.”
Ms Muigai, who is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrator in London, says she started out with Sh140,000, an amount she used to pay for first set of bags, buy the ballast, weighing and sewing machines as well as labour costs.
Located in Ruai, Nairobi, B&CD sells a 50kg (equivalent to the content of a wheelbarrow) bag of ballast for Sh150. “I calculated and saw that the Sh140,000 was enough to test the waters,” says Ms Muigai, 40.
A wheelbarrow of the material retails at between Sh300 and Sh450.
The business manually packs about more than 900 bags in company colours every week, showing a businesswoman who is keen on standing out should competitors pick on the idea.
She says the revenues have exceeded Sh100,000 from the material sourced from Katani quarries in Syokimau.
Other than ballast, the company also sells Mchele (smaller-sized ballast) and Vumbi, (which are finer) packed in 50 kilogramme and 60kg respectively; they go for Sh100 a bag.
“You can pack the bags in the boot of your car or even order a motorbike to deliver a bag or two,” she said.
Ms Muigai, who lived in the UK for 18 years before returning home in December 2013, says her innovation also address environmental and cost concerns, over and above convenience.
Right quantity
Buyers of smaller quantities of ballast — in wheelbarrows or pick-up trucks — have been short-changed for years since they do not normally know the exact weight of what they buy and its market price, she said.
She is targeting a unit where the stones are crushed to the right sizes to meet her clients’ demand and taste.
Perhaps Ms Muigai will come to the aid of people who find verifying the right quantity of sand and ballast supplied in trucks and lorries a nightmare.
Many — except for a few people who insist of getting the calculations right armed with weight of sand or ballast and sizes of vehicles — rely on honesty and integrity of the suppliers.
