Mercy Mugao is not your ordinary youth. She cast aside her degree certificate to take up handcrafting of palm leaves baskets – and it is paying her big.
Six years after graduating from Karatina University, she is currently running a thriving traditional baskets weaving enterprise that has not only made a name in Kitui and Kenya but also internationally courtesy of online marketing.
Mugao is from the Tharaka ward in the Mwingi North sub-county of Kitui and is a graduate of Agricultural Economics.
“After graduating and tarmacking for time on end looking for a white collar job to no avail, I went back home and settled down to weaving palm leaves baskets, a skill I had learned from my mother and neighbours as I grew up,” she said.
The youthful entrepreneur disclosed how she has managed to set up a successful basket weaving and marketing business when she made a presentation during the recent Kitui County Investors sensitisations forum.
The two-day event at Kanyonyoo County Aggregation and Industrial Park, hosted by the Kitui County Department of trade and industry, brought together more than 3,500 businessmen and investors from within and without Kitui.
CEC for Trade and Industry, Rose Mutuku said the forum was meant to showcase the untapped but vast investment opportunities and resource endowment within the six economic investment zones in Kitui.
The forum was themed: Unlocking Kitui’s investment potential for investors.
“The objective of the Forum is to sensitize investors and MSMEs In Kitui on the investment potential in County,” Mutuku told a media briefing on the event that took place March 13 and 14.
And while presenting the case study of the Ndara Basket Weavers, Mugao who is the coordinator of the group, said she started using small leveraging skills she inherited from her mother and through her education journey.
“I have been in this weaving business for the last six years. I delved into it soon after graduating from university in 2019. I had learned the weaving skills from my mother and neighbours.”
She said although she had learned weaving since her childhood when she took it up after university she infused the academic skills for more fancy and quality products.
“Yes, I weave baskets and, as a learned person, I set off by marketing my products online as opposed to carrying my merchandise everywhere looking for clients as I moved from place to place in the hot sun,” she pointed out.
She posted photos of her initial three finished baskets on her Facebook page and although she was ignorant of customers’ taste, a customer showed interest in no time.
“The customer paid for the three baskets at a price of Sh600 a piece. I sent the baskets to him as parcels and the deal was done. Since then, I have never looked back.”
The youth said she does not own a shop where she displays her wares but markets them online. She added that her clientele base has grown and she was pleased she started reaping big from ther work of her hands.
“I work from home and parcel my products to clients within the country, East Africa and even in the European countries.”
She said as her baskets gained popularity and she was consistently swarmed with orders from clients from across the globe, she had to seek partnership with other weavers in order to meet the increased demand for baskets.
“I started getting daily orders of up to 300 baskets, which I could not meet. I approached other women weavers and we then came together under the Ndara Basket Weavers group,” she added.
The group currently has a membership of 101 women and two men who spend time at her base weaving baskets to meet the growing demand for their products.
“As the demand increased, I formed a Facebook page, Instagram and TikTok for our products. If you visit social media, you will easily interface with Ndara Basket Weavers outfit page,” said Mugao.
“At the moment we have 12,000 followers and that is how I have been marketing our products.” She encouraged Kitui residents involved in handcraft work to market their products through the online Ipsy platform to attract more clients.
“It is the era of digital marketing in business. It is time to consider marketing products online. You do not have to endure the searing sun moving about as you hawk products and seek clients.”
She said online buyers are monied
people who know what they want
and do not haggle over prices.
