Profile: Aggrey Taifa

Throughout the summer I am going to be meeting with many entrepreneurs as part of my work in facilitating the longevity study. Most of the businesses that I have seen so far seem to be plodding along, nothing too amazing but nothing too bad either, and a few clearly have not worked out very well. A few entrepreneurs, however, have really impressed me. I mentioned last week that I had met the proud owner of "Alfa and Omega Furniture" named Aggrey Taifa (pictured above and below at work with one of his employees). I saw him again today, and this time I had my camera with me so I was able to take some photos of him at work. Here’s a little bit about him…

The first thing that I noticed about Aggrey was his tremendous enthusiasm – I think joie de vivre is a good term to describe him. I visited his business last week and then again today, and both times he greeted me as if he was reuniting with a long-lost friend. In addition to his personality, his work and carpentry skills are quite impressive. He had been working in the trade for a while before he received the VEF grant in late 2007. After getting the grant, he was able to significantly expand his business, buy new tools, and he also diversified by deciding to go into selling firewood. His English skills are very good, and he described to me not only the difference that the grant money had made, but also the new business skills that he learned from VEF’s training. He was very proud of his new record-keeping skills, and he said that learning how to record expenses and revenue had dramatically changed the way he thought about his business. Now, he said that he carefully considers each purchase that he makes and faithfully records it in the ledger, and he has also been able to plan better for anticipated future expenses.

In an example of his work ethic and ambition, Aggrey still claims that there is much room for improvement. Because he works out of his home, which is far off the main road, most of his business comes to him through word-of-mouth. One of his long-term goals is to move his workspace closer to the main road, or to save up money to buy a small shop on the main road to be able to expand his customer base. He also had plans for buying better tools and building a better workspace with a solid roof that would enable him to work even during the torrential downpours that I have been a witness to over the past few days. I asked him if he had considered taking a loan, but he said that he was hesitant to go down that path right now because he was worried about high interest rates and strict payback periods. I recommended that he talk with Juvenalis, the business mentor in Aggrey’s area, about the different options for expanding the business.

Meeting Aggrey has definitely been one of the highlights of my stay in Kenya so far. His love for his trade, outgoing personality, and clear desire to keep working to improve his business made it impossible for me not to leave both meetings I have had with him feeling invigorated and optimistic. He is a prime example of the magic that can happen when capital and training are made available to people with determination and ambition who otherwise not have access to them. Aggrey’s business has lots of potential to grow even more than it already has, and I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see it fulfill that potential and more in the future.