A Kenyan man by the name Gidi has regretted the mistakes he made that made him make losses of Ksh 5 million.He vows not to employ anyone in future.Below is the man’s story:
This is an important day because I have made enough money to pay off the debt that has disturbed me for a long time and settle people I owe some money. I had Ksh, 350, 000 remaining out of the 5M loan. All the money is now made. I feel soo much relieved.
18 months ago, I started paying a debt of Ksh. 5 million, borrowed from different lenders. The question always is, “NA GIDDY ULIFANYIA NINI HII PESA?”
I cannot narrate everything because the post will be too long. But this is what I did:
1. I bought one new vehicle to supplement the one I had for transport business.
2. I used my private car to get a logbook loan to finance a new shop I was opening.
3. I got some money from National Bank to open another shop (a boutique).
4. I was also into the car selling business (I buy a car, refurbish it, drive it while advertising it, and sell it). I WAS VERY AMBITIOUS WITHOUT ANY DEBT WHEN I WAS BORROWING. I cannot narrate all the details.
All these were initially financed by my freelance gigs, but I ran shot of money. Of course, to borrow 5M, you need financial statements that also read 5M or more. My statements were very clean.
My thinking was that I would just sit in my office and make money from my freelance gigs and car selling business. The, I would entrust people to help me run my matatus and two shops to make what we call ‘PASSIVE INCOME.’
Guess what!! I WAS THE ONLY ONE MAKING MONEY. There was massive employee theft in my businesses. My financial statements were always reading negative. To add salt on the wound, my shop was broken into, and all the new stock I had bought from Eastleigh was stolen. That was clean Ksh. 700K down the drain.
With that confusion, I made another mistake. Instead of continuing to buy and sell small cars, I went for a Toyota Hiace to try make more money to compensate for my losses. PEOPLE WERE NOT BUYING IT. I started slowly sinking into debt.
What was to make me a millionaire made me a beggar. I closed down my two shops, exited the matatu business and took my vehicles to private hire, and stopped the car selling business.
Doing my math very well, I had to pay 5M.
My personal income was good. I could pay all the money by myself in 18 months. The journey began.
I have cried. I have shed tears. I have been insulted vile najifanyanga niko na pesa na sina kitu. Mtu hajui hata nikitengeneza elfu mia tano bado nimesota sina hata shilingi. I have been auctioned but eventually recovered my auctioned cars. I have worked the hardest I have ever worked in my life, only to pay debts. 18 months have looked like 10 years. In 20th April 2024, I am worn out but with all the money to clear the debts in three weeks and pay some small moneys to people I owe.
To this end, I am very weak after working day and night with nothing new achieved in two years. I don’t know which business to invest in next. I am afraid. I am only thinking of money market funds with low risk. But biashara ya kuandika watu, NEVER WILL I EVER DO IT KAMA SIKO.
Post Views: 143
