While most young people buy motorbikes to get into the bodaboda business, Mr Edward Mukundi, from Chogoria town in Tharaka Nithi County, bought his to turn it into a mobile kitchen.
Mr Mukundi started hawking boiled eggs in a basket in 2011 but many customers also asked for fried eggs.
He was ready to sell these too, but he was not ready to settle down in one place because his customers were scattered all over the streets, at public rallies and even in churches.
Mr Mukundi first thought of moving around with a gas cylinder, cooker, utensils and eggs on a wheelbarrow but this would be cumbersome and would limit his mobility.
So in 2020 he thought of acquiring a motorbike and mounting on the pillion seat a metallic box fixed with a gas cylinder, cooker and even a place to store eggs, utensils and cooking oil.
He successfully fixed the kitchen and it became easier for him to serve his customers wherever he found them.
“I go to public rallies, marketplaces and even churches and I fry eggs on order, so I serve my customers fresh and hot,” said Mr Mukundi.
When he sold only boiled eggs, he could take home at most Sh600 a day in profits, but he now earns between Sh2,000 and Sh3,000. During the recent election campaigns, he made even double that amount.
He says the motorbike enables him to move to several events a day. Customers like his fried eggs and admire his mobile kitchen, asking him how he came up with the idea.
He points out that most bodaboda operators in the area earn at most Sh400 a day in profit, especially with the high cost of fuel.
“There are very few business people who earn Sh90,000 per month and that is why I believe the hustler narrative peddled by President Ruto,” he said.
Mr Mukundi, 43, says though the economy is weak, he is able to pay school fees for his children and meet other family needs and he looks forward to better days.
He adds that he is motivated by President Ruto’s ‘hustler’ narrative because it encourages people doing small businesses to believe that they can grow their businesses.
“President Ruto is a good example of a hustler because he started from the bottom and now is the Head of State and a multibillionaire businessman,” he said.
Mr Mukundi is eagerly waiting for President Ruto to roll out the “hustler fund” so that he can borrow money and expand his business, including buying more motorbikes and hiring youths to sell eggs.
But he wants President Ruto to consider giving loans from the fund even to individuals provided they can demonstrate their ability to pay back the money, arguing that most hawkers are not in groups. BY DAILY NATION