Two years after engineer Patricia Merab turned to being a mama fua due to joblessness, she is now the proud owner of a laundry business. In 2022, Merab told TUKO.co.ke that she graduated as a civil and building engineer and was hopeful of landing a job to make ends meet. When that didn’t happen, she had to think of another way out, and that’s how the idea to become a mama fua came up. As a mama fua, she tried her best and got some clients along the way. At the time, she recounted some challenges she faced, such as being given rotten fish, nyama choma, and Weetabix with maggots, as well as being accused of stealing slippers by clients. Despite the challenges, she loved the business and began thinking of scaling to commercial laundry services. She asked Kenyans to help her raise the KSh 300,000 capital she needed at the time. Merab told TUKO.co.ke that she planned to use the capital to buy vacuum cleaners, washing machines, and pressure pumps, but it did not work out as expected. Fast forward two years, she had good news—she is now the owner of a laundry service business at Rungiri Stage, Waiyaki Way.
“I’m using semi-commercial machines—12kg and 17kg—because commercial machines are very expensive, starting from KSh 1 million, while the semi-commercial ones cost from KSh 80,000,” she shared. Merab bought the machines through hire purchase, which means paying a deposit followed by monthly instalments. For her services, Merab charges KSh 120 per kg for clothes, duvets go for KSh 600, and shoes cost KSh 100 per pair. “I charge per kg because I have to pay rent, electricity, and water bills. I also have to buy detergents, unlike before when I’d wash at a client’s house and incur no costs,” she elaborated.
What are some challenges Merab faces? One of the main challenges that Merab faces in her work is clothes failing to dry during cold and wet seasons. “My 12kg wash and dry takes three hours to dry, while 8kg takes slightly less. So when I get 30+ kg on a cold day, it becomes stressful,” she said. It is not always doom and gloom for Merab, as she also smiles from time to time when a return customer or a referral customer gives her some validation that she is on the right track. “I’ve been getting customers since the first month I opened the shop. I’m doing marketing, hoping to get more clients,” she said. So would Merab like to go back to civil engineering? “Well, civil jobs are not easy to come by, and I was looking for some job security, so I turned to what I know best—laundry,” she said.
Source: TUKO.co.ke
