In 2013, a group of five men, having had a hard time looking for jobs, came up with a plan to start a business.
Geoffrey Ekapten, Boniface Ouma, Boniface Odhiambo, David Ekesa and Joseph Ouma saw a growing market for doughnuts, popularly known as KDF. The Kenyan doughnut is known to keep one full for a long time.
The doughnut goes for Ksh10. “It was a trial and error. We saw that there was a market and a rising population and this is a snack that everyone loves to eat. It is sweet and one can get full from just consuming one ‘KDF’,” says Geoffrey.
The group came up with a budget of Sh150, 000 which they all equally contributed to. This was enough to set the group up with necessary equipment which included the jikos, dough making machines, bicycles for supplying and a small room for their operations.
“It was not easy. We started in a small room at first. We faced the challenges head on. However, patience pays and it did indeed,” he says.
The group supplies the doughnuts within Kibera and Kawangware where they sell to retail shops at a wholesale price of Ksh50 per packet, which consists of six doughnuts. The buyer gets a profit of Ksh10 per packet.
On a good day, they sell 400 packets making a whooping Ksh20,000 and on a bad day, they sell about 150 packets. It is a profitable venture. They say meeting the rising demand of doughnuts, inability to access certain areas, licensing and safety requirements are some of the challenges they face.
According to Geoffrey, with patience, hard work and determination anything is possible. The group of five has been growing their business steadily and they want to expand their operations by finding a bigger place to operate from.
