“I
would pray with my wife every morning: ‘God, today I want to be fired.’”
If he quit his job Karuga would have had to forfeit KSh. 1.3m
(US$14,800) in benefits, so he held on until when his employer retrenched him
alongside dozens of his colleagues. Looking back, Karuga says this was a
blessing in disguise.
The
founder and managing director of Wendy Farms tells How we made it in Africa that as a child he hated farming. Like
most kids in his rural village, he was used as free labour in the family’s
agricultural ventures.
“I grew up being forced to go to the coffee plantation. I hated having
to water the cabbages after school. I would see my uncles playing tricks on
their father and faking illnesses so they wouldn’t work at the farm. As a young
boy I viewed farming as a form of punishment. I don’t blame any young person
who hates farming because I did too.”
It was
while on assignment nearly four years ago that Karuga interviewed a
professional mole catcher and felt motivated to go into agribusiness. Farmers would hire the mole catcher to trap
moles, which destroy crops, at a fee. Karuga notes that by his calculation the
mole catcher probably took home at least KSh. 90,000 ($1,000) per month, some
thousands more than he was making as a TV reporter.
Karuga
leased a one acre piece of land in central Kenya and
started Wendy Farms. Today he runs three farms where he keeps thousands of
indigenous chicken, quails, guinea fowls and dairy goats and grows butternut,
strawberry, sweet potatoes and sunflowers.
Every
Saturday, groups of 30-40 people visit Wendy Farms for training on poultry
farming. Karuga charges KSh. 1,000 ($11) per person for one session.
Many mistakes
Karuga
says he started offering training sessions to help other entrepreneurs avoid
making the mistakes he made. He notes that while his success story is inspiring
for other youth, few know about the challenges he encountered along the way.
When Karuga first ventured into farming he acquired 200 pigs because
pigs were the ‘it’ thing at the time. With no proper research, the venture
failed.
He made another attempt, buying two hens and one cock.
“When the two hens started laying eggs I decided to buy more hens from
neighbouring farms. That was my biggest mistake because some of the hens were
not vaccinated. In a span of about a month and a half I had lost about 200
hens. I learned that you should never buy birds that you are not sure whether
or not they have been vaccinated.”
Not one to give up easily, Karuga purchased 500 day-old chicks from the
Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, but once again made loses as his
employees sold the chickens in his absence.
“Theft by employees was the major challenge we have faced. I bought the
chicks at KSh. 100 ($1.14) each and after a month of feeding them my employees
were selling them off for KSh. 50 ($0.57) each. When they matured I would be
told the hens had ‘died’ of diseases.”
Karuga soldiered on and bought another 1,500 chicks, but because he used
cheaper feed, egg production was poor. Eventually Karuga realised he would make
three times more selling day-old chicks than what he was making selling eggs.
“I learned that in indigenous chicken farming the money is in day-old
chicks, not eggs. It was like a light bulb moment for me. That is when I knew for
sure I did not want to be employed anymore. I realised I had been sitting on a
gold mine. I knew I needed to get fired and get it right with the business.”
Farming not for everyone
Despite his initial losses, Karuga says he has learnt a lot along the way.
“I believe in going through the learning curve. When a venture fails I
don’t take it personally. It is the business that has failed, not me. I might
have made a mistake but I choose to keep on the ball. I don’t make permanent
decisions based on temporary situations.”
While it is encouraging to see more young people going into
agribusiness, Karuga says the industry should not be romanticised.
“What we are seeing is people going into farming because they read a
story in a newspaper. They don’t do thorough research and they have no passion
for farming, but because it seems sexy they decide to take a loan and bury the
money. Don’t make farming sexy because it is not.”
He warns that anyone looking to get into agribusiness needs to first
have a passion for it.
“If your only motivation is to make money then you are getting into the
wrong business.”
6 comments:
I've followed Caleb since he was a journalist, Truly he has a heart in farming.Very motivating story !
This guy motivates me alot. You are indeed perfect representation of what destiny hold.
Yes, Caleb my mentor. He really inspired me. I still learn from him.
I learn alot today
He has motivated many youth to join agribusiness.
Indeed. He continues to do so even today
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