Before I was enrolled in the program, I already had my hotel business, but it was not doing good enough because the structure was very small and could only host a few customers at a time. With the transfers, I was able to enlarge the hotel and employ more people, and I am glad that no customer has to turn away for lack of space or delayed service. I am now able to make more savings and confident of starting up other projects because I am confident that the hotel business can fund or service any loan I take. I am also happy that I have increased the number of employees in my hotel by three more, which is also a way of giving back to the poor community that I come from.

I was so happy that the transfers enabled me to build back my business that had collapsed after being demolished by the Government claiming that the structure had been constructed on illegal land. This business has been my source of income for a long time and my goal is to ensure that it grows to employ more jobless youth to give them an opportunity to be independent.

Just before I received the third transfer, the Government had brought down my hotel claiming that it had been constructed on an illegal piece of land. This was such a big setback because I did not just lose the hotel structure but all the equipment that was used in the business as the demolition was done at night. With most of the money I received, I decided to reconstruct the hotel and to buy the equipment so that the business could be up and running again. I gave the rest of the money I had left after the reconstruction of the hotel to my mother to assist her with the payment of school fees for one of my siblings who is in high school.

My life is currently different in that, I now run my own business that is picking up well, and I also have my own place as I was able to move out of the house that I shared with my friend.

My new goal is to open up a boutique where I can sell shoes and clothes. I hawked clothes for a period of two years in Mathare before opening up my restaurant. I plan to venture in to selling clothes again in future by opening up a boutique where I can stock these items.

I spent my most recent transfer to open up a restaurant in Ngara Estate at Starehe constituency in Nairobi County. I had owned a restaurant in the same area for a few weeks, which I had opened up with my first transfers. Unfortunately, when I was a few weeks into running the restaurant, we received news that the Government had purchased the land where my restaurant was located and that all our stalls had to be demolished. Sadly, our shops and stalls were demolished and I was back to counting my losses again. Fortunately for me, I was waiting for my second transfers. I invested these second transfers into securing yet another spot in Ngara, where I opened up another restaurant. I hope in my heart that I now moved to a safer area. My business is picking up well and doing well so far.

I currently sell my products online and hawk some of them in the estate because I do have a stall. Hawking really limits my sales because I cannot carry all my items. For this reason, I am planning to construct a stall with my next transfers so that I can have a permanent place where my customers can always find me and even pick up their online orders. I will also expand the business by adding more stock of my current products and new items that I am currently not able to carry around.

I am happier now that my mother is back on her feet because seeing her going through hardship but not being able to help her really broke my heart. The money has also helped me to boost my business and the money I make now is almost twice what I made before. This is good news because I can comfortably take care of my needs, support my family and make lots of savings that I will use to invest more in my business.

I used part of the money I received to construct a new hotel for my mother who is in hotel business. Her previous business premise was recently demolished by the government because it was on a public land which was being cleared for road expansion. This rendered her jobless for some time as she looked for a new location, that is why it was important for me to support her as soon as she found a spot. I also boosted my cloth and shoe business by adding more stock in anticipation for better sales during the fast approaching festive season.

I literally jumped and shouted 'YES' when I saw the text message, someone would even think I had won the lottery. I was this happy because I knew the money would help sort out my mother's business/financial situation and help me boost my own busness which has laways been the same since I started it two years ago.