The following is inspired by a thread by @nimechoka
https://www.kenyatalk.com/index.php?threads/which-kind-of-business-venture-have-you-tried-and-were-beaten-hands-down.39374/
Knowing that unemployment rate hii Kenya si mchezo, I decided to put my meagre savings from campus into good use. I got into agribusiness…Enter fish farming!
There was a fish pond lying idle nikaamua kutake advantage nayo. Nikachukuwa 20,000 kama capital. There was a guy selling fingerlings and had a flourishing business (alikuwa anaexport hadi Malawi) nikaenda kwake kubuy both fingerlings and fish feed. Hio place kulikuwa na farm manager/shamba boy who attended to wateja kama mimi akaniambia lazima nipeane down payment tushow commitment that I was going to buy the fingerlings since the fish were still spawning, mara sijui sex reversal takes time nini nini, nikapeana pesa hadi nikapewa receipt. Here is the thing, I had planned to stock the pond with 500 fingerlings zikae for 8 months till they attain a table size ndo niziuze by December time demand iko high. I had placed the fingerlings order on March. When I called the guy wa fingerlings akaanze kunipeleka in circles mara bado fingerlings ni wadogo, mara wacha wapewe hormones to reverse their sex (male fingerlings mature faster). I had to go back to that place nizue fujo luckily I found the owner and explained my case hadi nikatoa receipt to prove. This farm manager/caretaker was a conniving Ninja!Turns out kuna watu walikuwa wanakuja na wanapewa fingerlings yet they had made late orders. I had to wait for 6 weeks ndo nipate the next batch of fingerlings and by that time season ya mvua ilikuwa imeanza. Kulinyesha hadi frogs wakainvade pond wakakita kambi. By the time nilikuwa na stock pond vyura vilikuwa vimezaana utadhani tadpoles ni samaki. (Lesson 1- if your biz involves procuring stock ensure you get a reliable supplier who delivers goods on time)
I had doubts with the fingerlings survival since the pond had been invaded with frogs but things turned out okay. Within a month of feeding fingerlings zilikuwa size ya omena and the frogs were gone. Things were looking up, hata you could see a school of fish wakiogelea….walikuwa swimming classes. From my calculations, I knew if things kept going my way I would make a profit and even dig another pond ni stock fingerlings wengine the following year. I would sale the fish at 150 a piece, bei ya wholesale, niwe na 75k gross income from one pond. Ukitoa 20k as costs ningebaki na 55k for the 8 months that’s roughly 7k per month and the only thing you do is feed them in the morning and afternoon na basi. Hakuna kitu kama chai ya saa kumi ama nataka maji ama oooh huyu amekula chakula changu…every fish for himself! And I had enough time for other engagements. If I managed to set up another pond in year 2 ningemake 150k gross income niongeze pesa zingine then ni negotiate na mzae anipe ka an eighth plot kwa shake yake flani kijana aweke greenhouse apande tomato na vitu kadhalika. Kuna shamba boy huko kwa hivyo singekuwa na gharama ya kulipa mfanyikazi .I envisioned having 2 fish ponds and a greenhouse by year 3 then divest into other sectors.
From the look of things mortality rate ya hizo fingerlings ilikuwa low, I could estimate about 500 fingerlings plus the owner aliniongezea for the inconvenience his farm caretaker had caused me. Sasa mimi kupiga hesabu nikaona hawa samaki hawawezi fika size poa by December. Yours truly decided to put them in a fattening program nikawa nazilisha twice the recommended feed to compensate for the 6 weeks lost. Blunder!!! The fingerlings couldn’t consume all of it and the feed contained proteins. What happened is that the excess feed would sink to the bottom and being proteins, it broke down to ammonia and such like nitrogenous product while consuming oxygen in the process . It’s called eutrophication. (Hio time nilifanya research you would think I had a Bsc degree in Aquatic Science). Mambo yakaanza kuenda mrama. You wake up one morning unapata 10 fish zinafloat kwa pond zimekufa, the following morning mara zingine 20. It went on for about a week. Apparently the fish were suffocating due to lack of oxygen because of eutrophication. (Lesson 2- don’t be overzealous in your endeavor). Place nilikuwa hustle nilitoka nikapata greener pastures in a faraway place while a massacre was taking place at the fish pond. Ikawa najulia hali ya mifugo wangu via a phone call. Ukipiga simu unapewa report mara water level iko chini hakuna oxygen ya kutosha, mara birds are preying on the fish, mara burukenge iliingia kwa maji ikakula samaki. To cut the story short, nothing was salvaged. Nilibaki 20k poorer and a bit wiser. (Lesson 3 which was the greatest lesson- assess the risk involved in running a biz and ensure you preempt or mitigate them before incurring further losses)
Halafu kuna siku nimeenda base flani inaitwa car wash pale kasa/mwiki road nikauziwa samaki kwa bei ya mia tatu bila ugali. Nilikiwa nataka kupiga hiyo samaki ngumi nikikumbuka ile loss nilipata.
Mkiniona nararua samaki hadi natafuna dorsal fin si eti nina njaa ama mimi ni mlafi, its just a payback to what the fish did to me. Some say payback is a b*#ch, NO! Payback is a fish.