What started as a side hustle has now become a lucrative full time job for a 34 year old banker turned entrepreneur who at the height of the Covid -19 pandemic quit his job to concentrate on poultry.
Paul Wacira Muraguri from Kaigwa Gaturi, Kiharu constituency in Murang’a is an example of resilience, passion, determination and consistency.
“Growing up, I watched my parents rear poultry and that is where my interest in poultry blossomed” he reminisces.
“After my undergraduate studies in 2012, I bought 50 broilers which I later sold, the demand for the birds was overwhelming” he adds.
In 2013, Wacira secured a job with one of the country’s leading microfinances. He adds “I worked in various towns across the country for eight years while still rearing chicken at my rural home.”
As the demand for chicken continued to increase, the Kenyatta University Environmental Science Bachelor’s degree holder decided to change tact and try his hand in hatchery.
“In 2015, I purchased a 266 egg capacity incubator at a cost of Sh35,000 and started selling day old to a month old chicks,” notes Wacira.
He adds he was not consistent at the time because he was juggling his banking job and the venture yet the demand for the chicks continued to grow.
Eventually, at the height of the Covid- 19 pandemic in 2020, Wacira tendered his resignation and immersed himself fully in the hatchery business.
“With the movement restrictions and curfews imposed, and most businesses closed, many people got into poultry business and the demand for the chicks was so high that my 266 egg capacity could not sustain the demand,” he says.
He would therefore had to hatch the eggs elsewhere and then sell to his now bloated customer base.
Eyes on the ball, the father of two purchased a bigger incubator with a 1046 eggs capacity at Sh. 85,000 and rented a small outlet within Murang’a town.
Weekly, Wacira hatches over 30 chicks which he sells at a day old to a month old at Sh. 90 to Sh. 200. Moreover, hatches eggs for clients at sh. 15 per egg and on average makes a profit of Sh. 30,000 per month.
The hatching process, he says, takes 21 days and starts with recording the eggs received and candling to check for cracks and see the quality of the shell so as to acquire high efficiency.
Then he puts them in the automated incubator for 19 days after which he transfers them to the hatchery compartment within the incubator for hatching after which he broods them for seven to 14 days.
With the demand for chicks ever increasing, Wacira who spends most of his free time reading agricultural production publications hopes to pursue a course in animal husbandry so that he will be able to offer his customers the after sale assistance they require so as to get maximum profits from their poultry.
While his customers are mostly through referrals, he also uses the digital space to market his hatchery business.
As with every profitable venture this does not come without challenges.
“I often have to outsource eggs to meet the demand and getting high quality eggs is an uphill task currently,” he says.
His future plans include incorporating ornamental birds in the hatchery and venturing into poultry feeds production.
Wacira encourages the youth to take advantage of the demand for agricultural products due to the country’s huge urbanized population and earn a livelihood from it.
“Choose something that is not capital intensive and be passionate regardless of your line of specialization,” he says.
“Start small in your youthful industrious years and be consistent, resilient, patient, and focused without seeking to get rich overnight as every venture takes time to bear fruits”
By Florence Kinyua
