Microloan Helps Kenya Small Business during COVID-19 | VisionFund

“Before COVID-19 our lives were busy and we were happy,” says Simon, a 47-year-old father of two girls and a boy, and supportive husband by the words of Penina, his wife. Their eldest daughter is currently working abroad at a hotel.

Simon is a versatile businessman wearing many hats. He is a retailer dealing with mobile money deposits and withdrawals commonly known as M-pesa and also sells gas for cooking. Together with his wife Penina, Simon runs an outdoor catering business as a trained professional and owns PA systems that he hires out during events.

He used his first loan of Ksh.100, 000 (approx. USD 918) to purchase outdoor catering equipment like chafing dishes and tents as well as to put up a retail shop, which went a long way in curbing the expenses of renting out a shop as he used to before the loan.

“We had only 5 gas cylinders left, and no customers were buying them. Business had never been this low before,” sighs Simon.

The major challenge Simon experienced with the COVID-19 pandemic was the decline of sales in all his businesses. This was the saddest season for his family due to difficulties providing food for the family, something they hardly anticipated. With gas sales declining, reduction of stock, no outdoor catering, and no float to carry out M-pesa transactions, Simon could hardly feed his family. To add to that, his cash flow had drastically declined, making it more difficult to repay his outstanding loan balance of Ksh. 35,175.

“We wished our two children were at school because then we were assured that they wouldn’t miss a meal. This was the worst it could get,” said Penina.

“But our lives have taken a different turn now,” Simon interjects optimistically as he helps Penina record the morning sales in their sales book.

In 2020, in addition to the moratorium offered to clients, Simon received a VisionFund loan that enables clients to recover their livelihoods from the adverse effects of COVID-19. With this product, clients affected by COVID were given the opportunity to refinance the outstanding loan balance and get additional funds, to recover their business. The maximum term for this product is 12 months.

With a recovery loan of Ksh.100, 000, which was his second loan with VisionFund Kenya, Simon managed to purchase 18 new refilled gas cylinders as well as increase the M-pesa business float.

“This loan saved our family, not just the business,” says Simon as he picks up a gas cylinder and puts it on top of others, finalizing the set up for sales. 

Simon explained that the gas sales had picked up faster than before the COVID-19 pandemic. Together with his wife, they have ensured that their customers have a variety of cylinders to choose from, something they did not have before.

“My wife and I are a team,” says Simon, “I owe her for being my business partner.” The couple find joy in working together and they attest that teamwork as well as the recovery-lending loan they received were the two key drivers that helped them rise from the grip that the pandemic had had on their business.

“We wish to thank VisionFund Kenya for the recovery lending loan. Initially we wondered how we would feed our children, repay our loan, and restock our businesses. However, with this loan, we can see real transformation in our lives and businesses. Our sales have picked up and we don’t struggle to repay our loan,” says Simon as he smiled for the camera outside his retail shop.