This archive report was first published on 7 July 2021.
Caroline K. Gikunda, a director at Alpha Charlie, a construction business that supplies building materials in the Coastal and Mount Kenya regions, has found success through table banking groups.
She credits these groups for helping her identify like-minded individuals and pool resources together, allowing her to access loans quickly and conveniently through digital platforms.
"I will always vouch for Chamas," she says. "These are the table banking groups. I have initiated several such groups and they have built up the members. This is where you identify the birds of your feather and pool resources together."
Caroline emphasizes the importance of trust and integrity in these groups, stating that members must come together with people they can trust, who have earned their trust over time.
She also shares her experience of learning when to stop and cut losses, citing a particularly difficult situation where she lost Sh. 1,080,000 due to a client's failure to pay.
Caroline's journey to financial freedom has not been without its challenges, but she has learned valuable lessons along the way, including the importance of trust and integrity in business.
"I value integrity because it has made my journey easier," she says. "Pay your debts. In business, you will always find yourself with cash flow problems. To be rich is not to always have all the money that you need lying in your account. To be rich is the ability to access money whenever you need it."
Caroline's efforts to bring sanity and order to the heavy transport sector in her region have also been notable, with the establishment of a Sacco known as Transmasa.
This feature was first published in the Saturday Magazine on July 7, 2021.
