She may be a Daystar University Mass-Communication student, but that does not stop fourth-year Carine Basimaki from waking up at the crack of dawn each morning to make Kaimatis. This is not going to be another one of those obesity stories featured weekly in all our local gazettes but it will leave you wondering whether you have been fully maximising on your personal potential.What started as a quest for a bit more pocket money to assist during the dry spells that students all face at one point in our academic lives, ended up as a money making scheme as Carine became one of the leading student entrepreneurs in the institution. She devoted one day a week to go to Garissa Lodge malls to find fashionable but cheap footwear that she would buy. She would then sell them to her friends and colleagues in the institution. This was a good project as the shoes were sold at a profit of between KES 300 to 600 per pair.
The downfall of this project was actually a very funny story. Apparently Carine would buy shoes that were to her liking but as was the case the shoes were in her taste alone and so she ended up with many pairs of shoes. She called it quits on this project when the number of shoes she owned was more than the number of shoes she had sold.
This however was not the end of Carine’s financial projects as she decided to continue being the lovely sales lady that all Daystar students’ knew her to be, but this time however she would be selling clothes and no longer shoes. At first the idea of selling clothes appeared bleak to Carine as she questioned whether she could keep up with the rapidly evolving fashion sense of Daystar University students enough to even make them cast a second glance at the clothes she would be selling. Being the highly spiritual being that she is, she turned to her Maker and she believes God came through for her as when she started selling the clothes she got an even greater reception than she had with the shoes.
Just like she did when buying the shoes, she would go buy the clothes at Garissa Lodge and sometimes at Gikomba which is where one goes to get good second hand clothing. Somehow her busy student schedule caught up with her and she had to choose between education and selling clothes. The choice was obvious. She stopped going to buy clothes in Nairobi and as was bound to happen, her client numbers began to dwindle. Though her studies required most of her time, she also needed the money! So one more time her creativity was put to the test as she had to come up with a project that kept her in school but also earned her a bit of pocket money on the side.
This is when the idea of selling Kaimatis began. She would wake up early in the morning to make them and place them in a plastic kitchen container that she would then carry around with her throughout the day as she sold the Kaimatis to her fellow students. She would sell the Kaimatis for KES 5 per piece. It may not seem like a lot of money but she says when the weekend reached and she put all the money gained that week together it became quite an amount. Her secret was to wait for the end of the first class and sell the Kaimatis then and the students who had another class in the afternoon would buy them rather than walk all the way to Joshu’s for a quick snack.
Carine Basimaki, who is originally from the French speaking country of Congo, was born in Bunia which is in the eastern side of Congo on the 23rd of August in the year 1985. Her family relocated to Kenya a short while after and she was put through both primary and secondary school in Uganda by her parents. After completing her form six, she applied to Daystar University and was accepted to pursue a degree in Mass Communication concentrating in Electronic Media.
Not only is she a good business woman but in her spare time Carine loves to travel as she was just recently in Mombasa for a short scholastic break. She also is a Sunday school teacher at Nairobi Pentecostal Church in Valley Road where she carries out her teaching classes every Sunday morning. At school, Carine is not an ordinary student as she works for Shine Fm which is an institutionally owned radio station. She is a presenter and also a producer for the radio station. She is also a member of the International Students Association of Daystar University (ISADU), where she enjoys the role of event organiser. She also enjoys cooking and chatting with friends just like any other normal human being.
Her businesses actually ended up helping Carine positively. Many students gained trust in her as they trusted her with their money and it was indeed in safe hands and never were there any cases of students being conned. This led her to becoming more popular and she gained many friends from her transactions. Her search for items to sell gave her a firsthand knowledge of how the market truly is and it also made her more fashionable as she got the first pick of whatever she bought.
Rebecca Berre and Elayne Shani are two of Carine’s regular customers for Kaimatis. They share many classes hence the reason for their purchases. Both believe and testify that the Kaimatis are finger licking good.
At 5.30 am, other students are in their fifth dream but Carine is wide awake making her money-making Kaimatis. I told you you’d be motivated!
Glossary:-
Kaimatis- A spicy deep fried version of a mandazi that is roundly shaped
Garissa Lodge -Shopping mall located in Eastleigh, Nairobi
Joshu’s -The student canteen found in Daystar University, Athi River Campus
SOURCES:
Elayne Shani Wangalwa +254724662197
Rebecca Nyanychama Berre +254737244439
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