When Denis Musungu 26, quit his job as a hotel manager at one of the leading firms in Nairobi and started selling chicken, his mother was apprehensive. She even invited a renowned sorcerer from the village to dispel dark forces misleading her only literate son. It only took Musungu’s supply of 100 chickens to a city restaurant for the mother to have a change of heart and support him. From a meager capital of Sh160,000 Musungu currently earns Sh640,000.
The business management diploma holder from Kenya Institute of Management conducted a simple research on chicken supply in major cities and towns in the country and discovered that there was excessive supply of broilers that cost less than free range chicken. Having been brought up in the village where only indigenous chicken were kept, he decided to venture in the chicken out sourcing business to offer a remedy to low market supply. ” I bid many tenders before Flamingo restaurant located along Tom Mboya Street gave me a chance to supply 100 chickens twice a week,” explained the budding entrepreneur who currently supply chicken to four eateries in the city and to a branch of a local supermarket.
Musungu who trots market places and villages in his native Vihiga County in search of supply explained that he buys a chicken for between Sh300-400 and sell it to his clients at Sh600-700. ”From a simple capital of Sh60,000, I currently distribute at least 400 chicken weekly worth Sh160,000,”he said.
To transport the chicken to Nairobi where he has set up a chicken slaughter house, Musungu relies mostly on public transport system which is more affordable hence cutting on transportation costs. ” I have established a good relationship with drivers and conductors of various buses plying Western Kenya route whom I pay up to Sh1200 transport 400 chicken to Nairobi,” he explained. His clients prefer already slaughtered chicken with certification from health officials and the County government. A part from slaughtering my own chickens, I also rent the facility to other suppliers in the city to get enough funds to maintain it and pay my six employees.