by Morris Kiema Kilunda

Created on: June 12, 2008   Last Updated: March 03, 2012

Successful business is like a growing tree. It has phases of growth and development. A successful business is a story of challenges that the business had to overcome to maintain its identity. A successful business is a product of alignment strategies to satisfy the needs of a customer, to re-strategize to changing market forces, lifestyle changes, changing customer preferences and ability to conform to sustainable quality standards. Successful businesses have ideas positioned to evolve to meet the vision, missions and objectives of a business as the Kirinyaga Flour Millers shows.

Kirinyaga Flour Millers is a family owned business that had no professional background.

Nancy Kinyua had no formal education and couldn't have approached any bank to get a loan. Initially, she didn't hope to go far in the business but aimed to be financially independent.

"I wanted to be my own boss. I wasn't educated enough to qualify as a potential employee." Nancy says.

How did you manage?

"I laid down a plan and a target, that after eight years, I should be independent."

Where did you get the required capital?

"I began selling cakes. I began with just two kilograms of wheat flour."

Who were your customers?

"My immediate customers were passers-by. I displayed my cakes on a table. After three months, I approached retail shops and sought orders from reputable firms and by fifth month I was preparing 48 kilograms of wheat floor. By the end of the first year, I had opened a small bakery."

What inspired you to open a miller instead of a bakery?

"Many children were suffering from nutritional deficiency diseases. Many patients were taking long to recover from illnesses. "

Did you seek consultancy services?

"No. I joined a nutritional class and learned about nutritional management of diseases. I began to buy ready made flour from milling industries and mixed them to produce a natural balanced menu. I couldn't afford to hire a consultant in nutrition and I had to be one. I believe, if you go anywhere and find no proper system of operation in place, immediately introduce one. I could predict a formula for nutritive porridge flour for a disease, prepare a sample of porridge and then determine its viscosity. I had learnt flours that thicken or dilute porridge. For instance, millet flour makes porridge dilute. We have many formulas in our database."

Did you support suppliers?

"I educated my grain suppliers on farming practices, use of organic manure and need to produce food that has utmost all required nutrients. I encouraged them to try immune boosting crops like amaranth."

Did you finally get a loan?

"No. I ploughed back my profits to buy my first machine."

What is the future of the firm?

"I have established a link with local university departments of nutrition to carry out any research I would need. I am subscribed to nutritional newsletters for updates on nutritional deficiency diseases."

What is your strategy in business?

"I value relevant nutritional research. I value development of new recipes to meet different nutritional requirements. We offer nutritional counseling. We also have a monthly workshop. The workshop is named reversing the trends, fighting back diseases nutritionally'. Many mothers attend. The workshops take place on Saturday."

Is there any other driving force to your success?

"Yes. Personal nutritional status is like health. There is emotional, physical, spiritual, psychological nourishment as well as social and moral nourishment. Lack of balance of any affects all other nourishment factors. People fall victims of stress, ulcers and other ailments because there is no balance in nourishment. We bring this element practically."

Learn more about this author, Morris Kiema Kilunda.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.