Eldoret Journalist whose second love is beadwork
On a normal day, George Misati, is a reporter with Mitume Radio, as well as an entertainment YouTuber.
He says he learned the skill from his friend in college who was already monetizing the same. He reports for the station from Eldoret, Uasin Gishu County, but due to the effects of COVID 19, where most of the journalists were renderred jobless, he decided to venture into bead work and embroidery, which according to him is paying better.
“I started my business two ago where I got the capital from my savings. I make things like bracelets, necklace, earrings, rings anklets, key holders and chain which can comfortably cater for my daily needs,” said the Mitume radio reporter. “I’ve been selling beads way before the pandemic but in the upsurge of COVID 19 I became more serious with monetization of my skill.”
He noted that for one to start the business, he or she needs as little as Sh5,000 to Sh. 10,000 capital which will help in buying strands, beads and pliers.
“On a good day, I earn a profit of up to Sh 1500. This is a good venture which has not been exploited seriously and I urge jobless youths to try it and they won’t regret,” he added.
He said his main customers are university and college students, door-to-door customers and colleagues who encourage him to continue with what he is doing.
He said he advertises his work on Facebook, Whatsup, Youtube, Twitter Instagram among others.
He called on youths to think outside the box saying there are a lot of things they can do outside their scope of profession challenging those who are jobless to come up with an idea and work on it to become a business.
“I call on the youths not to just wait for white-collar jobs which are not there since there is untapped potential on the blue-collar jobs. You should look at an extra thing which you will do apart from what you went to college,” he advised.
He, however, said despite the success, his main challenge is that his business is ‘portable’ – he does not have a permanent beads shop. He is forced to move around with his products.
Misati said his future plan is to have a big wholesale shop where he will sale beads and also train youths on how to make them.
He called on the government to help youth have a conducive environment to do their business by helping them to get soft loans with little or no interests to help them start a business.
In the meantime, he says he will continue doing this. “I love what I do and even if I’m formally employed I will continue doing it as part-time since I know what it has brought me from. “
Post Author
