Rags to Riches

Elizabeth Wambui Njeri, 23, has had a hard knock life but through it all, she held her head high and persevered. She gives her real life story of struggle and triumph to SHIRLEY GENGA

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Gikambura Village, in Kiambu County. My mother was a single mother with three kids and we all stayed with my grandmother. I am the eldest girl followed by my sister and my younger brother. My mum worked in Nairobi as a secretary and she would commute to and fro daily. She was not well-paid, but we survived because in ushago, you get food from the shamba, you do not pay rent and electricity is cheap. While I was a Form two student at Loreto Kiambu High School, my mother moved us to Nairobi.

How did your life change?

Everything changed; life became a struggle. After my mum paid rent, electricity and food, there was nothing left from her salary. We had to grow up very fast. We lived in a small house in South C and it became the norm for me to be sent home for school fees .

In fact, when the headmistress would call out the names of students being sent home, I automatically knew I was among them. I remember I would get so depressed. I would be sent home then come back and try and catch up. The following term, the cycle would repeat itself.

What happened next?

Life continued got worse. Once when my other siblings had gone up-country for holidays, auctioneers came to our house and left us with nothing but a bed. Soon after, I was also sent up-country and I remember not having the strength to tell my siblings that they had nothing waiting for them when they returned to Nairobi.

What did you do after you completed high school?

In 2006, I joined Regional Centre to pursue a cabin crew, PR and Japanese course but due to lack of school fees, I was unable to complete them. I stayed for a year and was in and out because of school fees. I was finally forced to leave. I felt as if my life was not changing, as I was still going through the same high school cycle.

What did you do after leaving college?

I immediately started looking for a job. At the time, my younger sister was in high school and watching her go through what I went through was difficult. She was the student always being sent home for school fees, who did not have shopping, it was so hard. I got temporary jobs as a sales promoter. I think I did all the sales promotions in the world.

I would promote different products outside supermarkets and get paid Sh1,000. At around that time, my mum lost her job so we had to move to a small two-bedroomed house in Umoja. We only had one bed and because my mum refused to sleep on it, my small sister would sleep on it and my brother and I would sleep on the floor while my mum would sleep on the sofa.

That is how we lived for the three years. I would never bring anyone to our house because I was embarrassed. From then on, we lived in debt because my mother never got another stable job. If I can remember, even drinking milk was a luxury for us.

Did any of your friends know about your situation?

The greatest lesson my mother taught us through it all was that just because life was hard, it did not have to show n you. I would go to Mtindwa and Gikomba market and buy nice cheap clothes. Looking at me, you would never know where I was from. Only those closest to me knew of my struggle. Just because you do not have, does not mean everyone has to know. Just do the best with what you have and hold your head high up.

What were you hoping to achieve at that time?

Other people have dreams to be doctors or lawyers, but I knew that I was limited by my education thus the next best thing for me was to be a flight attendant. The house in Umoja had a balcony and from it, you could see aeroplanes passing by and I would cry out to God and beg him to give me a chance. I borrowed a directory and wrote down all the airline information I could find on the yellow pages. I sent my CV to all the airlines. One of my privileged friends tried to discourage me; he told me that airlines only took light skinned girls or girls with nice legs and not skinny ones like mine. It hurt so much but I did not really despair. I had a dream and somehow I knew God would come through for me.

My mum never got another secretarial job; she had so much on her back because my siblings were still in school. She lost so much weight as a result. She would sometimes get manual jobs at industrial area and would walk there everyday. Everything she got she gave us, a lot of times forgetting herself. I remember once while I was doing a promotion job in Westlands, she walked from Umoja to Donholm, got on a matatu for Sh20, then walked from Muthurua to Westlands just to give me Sh100 for transport back home in the evening.

She had gotten some money after I had left for work and she did not want me to struggle going back home in the evening. When I saw her, I just broke down and cried. I did not transport to go back home but God always provided. I remember promising myself that the day God would bless me with a good job, my mother would live like a princess.

A lot of young women look for �sugar daddies� to help them along the way why did you not choose that path?

My mother taught me to love myself and I promised myself a long time ago that I would never go that direction. I got a lot of offers and the men I refused would laugh at me and tell me that I was not as special as I thought and that I would be back.

Did life change in 2008?

No, it got worse. I would meet with some of my former schoolmates or friends who were in college or university and I would feel like dying. Here I was, struggling to help my family but they had the luxury to go to school (laughs). Their only duty was to pass their exams. I began to attend church at JCC Buruburu, gave my life to God and even became an usher. The year 2008 turned out to be one of the worst years of my life. I had continued applying for a cabin crew position everywhere but nothing seemed to be coming up. My life felt like it was falling apart. We were still going through the same struggles; my mum had still not gotten a job, my sister had just completed high school and watching her cry because there was no money for university was unbearable. I think she was even becoming a little depressed; she would lock herself up in the room and cry.

Elizabeth Wambui Njeri

By the end of 2009, I was in a very dark place in my life. I felt hopeless. I had been waiting for something, anything to change but nothing had happened. That December, I travelled up-country to reflect. I remember in the evening, I would go out and sit alone and cry about my life. Once when I was sitting outside, I remember praying to God and asking for a sign that I would get my dream job and as I sat there crying, a plane passed and I knew that everything would be okay.

A few days later on December 26, I got a call asking me to report to my dream job at an international airline. After some training, I began working as cabin crew on January 2010 in Dubai. The airline paid for everything from my relocation to my flight there. I now live in Dubai and the only thing I spend my money on is food.

How did this change your life?

The first thing I did was pay my mother�s debts. After I was done, I moved her from Umoja to a big house in South C. I have made sure her room is huge and luxurious, I never want her to suffer again. My two siblings also have their own rooms and I am paying school fees for my sister, who is doing a degree in psychology at Nairobi University and for my brother who is in Shan Tao College. The other day, they all came to Dubai during the holidays and it feels so good to be able to do these things for my family.

What was the first thing you bought for yourself?

After the auctioneers came to our house, we never ever owned a good television or radio, the first thing I did was buy myself a 42-inch flat screen TV. I have always loved clothes and fashion and to live in a country like Dubai where you can get the latest styles, is like being in heaven. I never had nice things growing up so being able to buy myself stuff is truly a blessing from God.

How do you keep yourself grounded?

I have a personal relationship with God and he keeps me grounded. A lot of girls come to Dubai and get lost in all the raha here and by the time the job is over, they come home with nothing. I know how far I have come so I work hard and keep out of trouble. I have recently been promoted from economy class to business in a span of one and a half years, while most people take three years. Apart from hard work, I try to use my money wisely and invest and I even bought some land in Kitengela.

What are the perks of your job?

I have been to the whole of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and many other places. The other day, I got the chance to visit Disneyland in Tokyo and it felt wonderful to fulfil one of my childhood fantasies.

Are you dating?

Yes I have been dating the same guy for six years now. I remember he would buy me bread with his pocket money back in the day when bread in our house was like manna from heaven (laughs). He is a wonderful man.

Advice to other young girls?

Do not take the short cut, just work hard and give God your dreams and he will do more than you could have ever imagined.

Source:  www.standardmedia.co.ke

A real rags to riches tale!

Ramesh Babu started up as a barber giving haircuts for Rs 5 in 1993, today he is the owner of a 154 imported cars including a Rolls Royce. What is the magic? Driving around town in an iconic luxury car is the stuff dreams are made of, but Ramesh Babu always believed in the power of dreams.  His journey is so unusual, it almost seems unreal; from earning Rs 5 per hair cut in his father’s humble barber’s shop in Bangalore to a booming travel and tour business. It all started in 1993, when Ramesh’s life took a U-turn. He bought a Maruti Omni Van for personal use which he later started renting out. Sensing the potential car rental business had, Ramesh decided to focus on the travel business. Today, he has a fleet of a 154 luxury cars that includes brands like Mercedes, BMW, Volkswagen and even a Rolls Royce. Ramesh Babu, MD, Ramesh Tours & Travels says, “My father passed away in an early age. My mother started working and brought us to this stage. My father had left us a saloon in Brigade Road, which my father had started. When my father passed away, it was given to someone to run the show and he used to pay only Rs 5 a day. After my college, I took over the saloon thinking to get into businesses of saloon. So, I started saloon business between 1989 and 1990. In 1993, I bought a car, Maruti Omni Van for my personal use. Later on I realised that if I keep it for myself, it doesn’t work. And then I started renting it out to a company called Intel, that was my first customer. That is how I started growing in car rental business.”  Ramesh has already grossed revenues of Rs 10 crore and has clients like Hero Honda, Biocon, Tata Elexi, Maruti, ICICI Bank and Jet Airways. But instead of chasing volumes, he has always focused on targeting margins. Babu says, “When I first picked up the van it was Rs 12.50 a litre, now it is Rs 70, almost six times the rate. But still the price for the Maruti Van per km is only Rs 5. That is the reason I thought getting into small cars. Then I thought let me concentrate on high-end cars. In 2004, when we picked the first Mercedes E Class, it was the first of its kind in South where the Mercedes brand was not available for commercial purpose.” While margins, higher rising costs are certainly hurting growth, but the show must go on.  Babu says, “We are planning to open branches at least in four more cities like Bombay, Delhi and Hyderabad and Chennai. Chennai, we have few cars already running. But we don’t have an office there. We will start office there by this year-end. In another five years, I should have atleast 200-300 luxury cars all over India.”

Source:moneycontrol.com

One Multimillion-Dollar Success Story

By providing small businesses with incubators, Israeli industrialist Stef Wertheimer hopes to give Israelis and Arabs economic opportunities that will lead to peace

About five years ago, Stef Wertheimer came across Gamila Hiar, a Druze woman with no formal education who had learned the ancient art of making soap from wild herbs and olive oil as a child. At the time, Hiar was supplementing her family's income, producing about 500 soap bars a week, from a corner in a room underneath her house in Pqi'in, a village in the Galilee region of northern Israel.

When Wertheimer met Hiar, her soaps had a devoted local following and were referred to as "the magic soaps of Gamila" for their restorative properties. Wertheimer was impressed. "We found that she was an entrepreneur," says Wertheimer. "She just needed more space to dry her soaps. I asked her if she wanted to come to one of my industrial parks."

Developing Exports

Hiar, now 68, ended up at Tefen Industrial Park, a bold philanthropic enterprise located about eight miles from the Lebanese border. Wertheimer , the founder of Iscar Metalworking, established Tefen in 1985 in order to encourage entrepreneurship in one of Israel's most undeveloped and low-income regions, with a population split largely between Arabs and Jews. According to Wertheimer, 81, "there are no unemployed, only people who are unlucky to find a job."

The Tefen model is based on a business and social incubator concept. In a country with few natural resources and a tiny domestic market, its purpose is to help develop businesses that manufacture for export. Startups are given space to rent and a number of business and administrative services (usually at reduced fees or for free) such as help in business planning, marketing, and entrepreneurship, and access to postal and banking facilities. Although many of the companies are small, the park's structure allows each firm to operate and export on a much larger scale than it could were it operating independently. After a company has established itself, it is expected to leave and become independent. On average, the companies stay between 5 and 10 years. That allows new businesses to take their place.

Currently, Tefen houses 21 companies employing 500 people—many of them Arab and Druze. They include a research and development arm of SanDisk , a flash memory device company with worldwide sales of $3.9 billion, a glassmaker, and Kolsint, a maker of lenses for imaging cameras for nuclear medicine that reportedly supplies 50% of the world market. Tefen is also home to Iscar's headquarters and its bright yellow high-tech plant where whistling robots travel the factory floors. In May, 2006, Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffet acquired an 80% stake in Iscar for $4 billion .

Gamila Secret occupies a 12,916-square-foot facility within Tefen's 30-acre campus and produces some 15,000 bars of soap a day. The company employs about 20 workers, all of whom come from Gamila's home village of Pqi'in.

The company, managed by Gamila's two sons, Fuad and Imad, generates roughly $8.4 million in sales in 20 countries including Japan, Germany, and Britain. Fuad expects sales to triple by 2009 and is looking to begin distribution in the U.S. He credits Tefen for the little company's widespread success. "Stef saw that this was a unique and special product," he says. "The location at Tefen gave us huge worldwide exposure. Our big problem now is to double our production each day."

Job Creation and Education

Since Tefen, Wertheimer has established four additional industrial parks in Israel following the same model. To date, they have nurtured 175 companies, employ 5,000 people, and in 2007 produced collective sales of $750 million, 80% from exports. In 2003, Wertheimer established his sixth park, in Gebze, outside of Istanbul, Turkey. Today, Gebze has 70 companies employing 300 people.

In 1994, after eight years in the Israeli Air Force, Guy Cohen joined a group of about 20 former officers at Tefen. Wertheimer offered the group education, provided equipment, a workshop, and a basic salary. Cohen worked there for about two years preparing dies and molds for the plastic injection industry. "We had lectures and daily meetings with Wertheimer," says Cohen. "We were working like a private company that had to make a living. We had to make a product, find customers, and make a profit."

After about three years, Cohen decided to start his own company, Metalicone, a manufacturer of industrial metal precision parts, at the Lavon Industrial Park just south of Tefen. Last year, Cohen says, the 100-employee company, which exports to Germany and Switzerland, had $15 million in sales. "The two most important things I learned from Stef was to take pride in your work," he says. "You don't have to invent yourself. Try to make what is out there but do it even better."

According to Wertheimer, job creation works when it is combined with ongoing educational opportunities. Thus, education makes up a large part of the offerings at his industrial parks. In 1964 he established an industrial school providing technical education for young people (many of whom were dropouts and many of whom today are managers at Iscar and other companies). Wertheimer also initiated an educational system for the entire Galilee region offering computer courses, mentoring, and vocational training.

In 2000, Wertheimer, in conjunction with Tel Aviv University, launched the Arab-Jewish Entrepreneurship Course for fledgling entrepreneurs from across the country. Since its inception, some 230 students have attended the program. The course spawned several successful ventures including a chain of diet workshops launched by a female Arab entrepreneur who plans to expand into Jordan, and a joint Israeli-Palestinian company that makes premium olive oil.

The "Capitalist Kibbutz"

Wertheimer's parks look nothing like industrial zones. They are filled with clipped lawns and open-air sculpture gardens. Tefen includes a handful of art museums, and numerous concerts and festivals take place on the grounds. Several of the parks are located near manicured residential areas that Wertheimer established. It was Wertheimer's intention to showcase the beauty of industry and break the stereotype of manufacturing as something dirty and low-rent. For instance, at Tefen's dining room, waiters serve workers free lunch on cloth-covered tables. "I call this a capitalist kibbutz," says Wertheimer.

In Werteheimer's grand scheme, a host of similar industrial parks would stretch across the Levant, the non-oil producing nations along the spine of the former Ottoman Empire, through Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, Palestine, and Israel. "There are 90 million to 100 million people quarreling about who's right," he explains. "Israel is more successful than the Arabs, and I believe peace will come if we have similar income levels. This we can have, but we have to change from an agricultural society to an industrial one. It can be done. We've done it here in the Galilee, which is 20% of Israel. It is made up of Arabs and Jews, and unemployment is 4% here compared to 7.5% in Israel."

Wertheimer's vision hasn't always lined up with events on the ground. In 2000, one week before a groundbreaking ceremony was to take place at a joint Israeli-Palestinian industrial park outside of the Gaza Strip, the Intifada erupted, scuttling plans for the park that eight years later have yet to be revived. Similarly, plans to launch a park in Jordan have been shelved.

Still, he hasn't given up. "I'd like to see more neighbors put up more Tefens," he says. In the near future, Wertheimer has plans to create 10 additional parks in both Israel and the Palestinian Territories.
As he takes in the sweeping views of the Galilee and the hills of Lebanon (which were recently the scene of a ferocious war between Israel and Hezbollah), he says that the European Union or the U.S. needs to take an active role in pushing his vision forward. In 2002 he presented his ideas before the U.S. House of Representatives advocating a kind of Middle East Marshall Plan that he says would ultimately replace poverty and terrorism with a better quality of life and jobs. In March he met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. "I want everyone to have a job and to be busy. There will be no terrorism. I want an anti-oil story where we become rich through industry." After all, he says, "entrepreneurship comes down to opportunity."

Source: Businessweek.com