It will be a random Friday, just another Friday to you, and life as you know it will change. Just like many things in life, you won’t know it till later, but in hindsight, you will remember that day.

Damaris is in her favourite café, in her favourite corner. This is where she goes after signing a major business deal, and she’s made it a ritual to have a meal there after any milestone in her entrepreneurship journey. As she sits there counting her blessings and reflecting on her journey, her mind goes back to six years ago.

Fridays were slow at Damaris’ workplace. The weekend fever made the office unproductive, as employees waited with bated breath for the evening to clock out, like kids in boarding school waiting for closing day.

The normal routine was abruptly disrupted by breaking news. The then minister for health in the country made the renowned speech, “If you treat this disease normally, it will treat you abnormally.” COVID-19 was at our doorstep. There was uncertainty, but despair hadn’t set in yet.

After a couple of weeks into the pandemic, rumors started circulating in Damaris’ office about pay cuts. They mumbled, but they could see that the lockdown had affected their company. The only saving grace was that she could work from home, so she didn’t need to spend money on transportation. Like many other Kenyans at the time, she had to find a way to make up for the partial loss of income.

Her late twenties had come with the urge to eat better, so she had started farming. It wasn’t anything major at the time. Her parents’ home was in Kiambu, and she’d been allocated a portion of the land where she could grow a few crops. For Damaris, it was more of a hobby and a way to cut food expenses while making sure she had food from a trusted source. This was especially true for vegetables.

When backed into a corner, suddenly one gets creative with solutions. That was how she started selling the surplus. Her estate was her first market. It wasn’t millions, but that ignited the idea of venturing into agribusiness. As demand grew, she got into brokering once her surplus produce ran out.

By now, what had seemed like a few weeks of lockdown had turned into months. The whispers at her place of work had changed tune.

“Umeskia watu wanafutwa?” They told each other.

“Aki, my hubby just got a pay cut too. I can’t lose this job,” some cried.

“Nobody’s hiring with the pandemic,” others stated.

Damaris and her colleagues prayed and hoped that the axe wouldn’t fall on them. As much as their employer tried, there was no way of retaining most of them. Unfortunately, Damaris was among those let go.

Unemployment strips away any form of security you thought you had. She had savings, but it wasn’t like she had previously been making high six figures to save enough to reassure her that she would be fine. There was a pandemic, nobody knew when things would return to normal, and a hiring freeze in most industries. Her rent, groceries and utility bills paid no mind to her unemployment status. There was also the worry of getting sick, since she had lost her health cover. Hopefully, her ‘Mother’s prayers’ were sufficient as a cover before she found her footing.

She needed to use her savings wisely and grow them as she waited for normalcy in the job market to return and get another job. Damaris got into research mode. While she was still hopeful of finding another job, she was determined not to rely on a single income source ever again. This wasn’t just going to be a temporary solution. She hoped it could turn into a long-term business.

She kept circling back to agribusiness. The algorithm was also set on convincing her that that was the right path to take. Each new post, reel or video was about farming. There were many ‘successful’ chicken, avocados, watermelon, onions, pepino, and dragon fruit farmers. Remembering how people had ventured into quail farming as it was marketed as the next gold rush, Damaris had the task of picking wheat from the chuff.

Armed with some knowledge, optimism and intermittent bouts of fear, she decided to try her hand at mushroom farming. When the story of her life is written, this plunge will have its place as the greatest risk she’s ever taken. There was one bullet in the chamber, and she had to make it count.

The period made sense since people were more health-conscious and were looking for immune-boosting foods. People had also taken up cooking and experimenting in the kitchen. It was a logical choice for Damaris, since the mushroom variety she had chosen to start with had a short growth period. It meant using up a good chunk of her savings, but the returns looked promising.

God was on her side, and her first harvest turned out even better than she had imagined. The second one worked out too. This gave her confidence. She decided to increase her production and also diversify the varieties she was farming.

That was when Murphy’s Law pitched a tent in her backyard. She was going to learn that everything that could go wrong can, in fact, go wrong. The sales from the previous harvests had gotten her excited. You know the excitement that comes with getting a good amount of money after a low-income season? So, she thought, “Now imagine what I would have made had I planted twice or three times more than I did?” The figures on her calculator put a grin on her face. “This can be the figure in my bank account,” she told herself and sprang into action.

The variety she had started with was the first to mature. The produce was more, but that came with many challenges. She struggled with storage, which meant that a sizeable amount of her produce went bad. Finding the market quickly proved difficult as well. Meanwhile, the other variety she was trying to diversify into was proving to be a headache. She had grossly underestimated the different growth needs.

The loss was heartbreaking. The fridge full of mushrooms annoyed her even more. Every meal had mushrooms, and each recipe tasted of a bitter herb when she imagined she could have sold them. She gave out some when she was unable to sell them even at throwaway prices. On the other end, she still hadn’t heard of a job opening. At that point, she was discouraged enough to abandon ships but since there were no job prospects, she had to put on her big girl pants and strategize.

Her inexperience in business was showing, and she also needed more capital. She spoke to people in business generally, and a few women kept mentioning Fanikisha.

“What’s this Fanikisha? I’ve heard a couple of people mention it?” Damaris asked one of the women.

“It’s a financial solution for women. Ebu, check it out, and it’s not just loans, I’ve learnt a lot about business from them,” the woman advised her.

Damaris looked up Fanikisha online and then decided to walk into an Equity Bank branch for further inquiry. This was her Hail Mary. At first, the loan facility was the quickest sell for her, but she tried out the capacity-building programs. Her mindset on business shifted completely. The dreams she had for her farming venture grew, and she could now make strategic moves as she immersed herself in the Fanikisha ecosystem.

Equity FanikishaThe risks in her farming journey were not eliminated, but she was better empowered to make bold, better choices. By the time the job market opened up again for her, she had just signed a contract to supply mushrooms to a supermarket. Sticking to business felt like the right move.

Within Fanikisha, she was also able to get health cover. Damaris also cut down on transaction costs when receiving payments from money wallets. As she sat there, thinking about her journey, she smiled when she fully processed that she had just gotten into exporting farm produce. Sometimes, a leap of faith and the right financial partner can propel you beyond your imagination.

If you’re a woman in business or looking to venture into entrepreneurship, Fanikisha is a holistic, tiered, end-to-end financial solution for women at different stages. It’s tailored to today’s needs and reality. Women have access to financial solutions, capacity-building, network-building, comprehensive insurance, and digital convenience. To begin, you can visit: https://equitygroupholdings.com/ke/fanikisha to complete the online form or send the word FANIKISHA, your FINANCIAL NEED and your BRANCH to 24990.

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