When Hellen Nderi was a young girl, her family frequently visited the village. Her grandmother would carry her to the farm and allow her to play with young plants. This experience inspired her to become a farmer as she grew up because she believed farmers were good people—which they are.
“I wanted to be a good person,” Hellen says. While in lower primary, she began planting seeds in any available space within their compound. One day, while in class seven, she sat at the dining table with her family when her mother asked her what she wanted to become when she grew up. Confidently, she replied, “I want to become a farmer.” Astonished, her mother asked her, “Do you know who a farmer is?” Innocently and politely, she answered that a farmer is a good person who grows food and feeds people.
Even as she entered high school, her love for farming was still evident. However, Hellen was shocked to learn that her school did not offer agriculture as a subject and that she had to take commerce instead. At the tertiary level, both at Egerton University and later at the Rift Valley Institute of Science and Technology, she pursued a Business Management course. “After high school, my parents pushed me to study Nutrition and Dietetics. They asked, ‘who studies agriculture as a course?’ They also pushed me to study pharmacy, but I still refused. This back-and-forth delayed my commencement of tertiary education for about three years,” she says.
Hellen, now 34 years old, shared that everyone in her family has a white-collar job except her. “I am from a family of four children. Everyone else is in a white-collar job except me.” Before venturing into her own business, Chinaza Sprout Limited, a herbs processing and selling venture, she worked at her family’s pharmacy in Nakuru for five years. “I needed to take a new direction, so I quit the job, moved to Nairobi, and started selling ladies’ clothes online until 2023.” On average she could make Ksh18,000 per month. This was when she dived into the herbs business, and obtained technical skills training facilitated by KCB Foundation’s 2Jiajiri programme acquiring a certificate, which she describes as an exhilarating voyage of her love for flavours and culinary excellence.
Hellen says her business is not just about selling herbs but about crafting a brand that resonates with her clients. According to her, her venture is not just for selling but for understanding that her clients are also seeking an experience. “They want to explore new flavours, possibly as part of a healthier lifestyle or a desire to cook more exotic dishes at home,” she points out. She adds that that’s why she must offer not just quality products but also educate her clients on the products she is selling. She specialises in enhancing the value of herbs obtained from her former employer, including rosemary, basil, mint, sage, tarragon, oregano, and thyme. KCB Foundation’s has helped her market her products through various exhibitions they have been organising and farmer’s market days.
The venture which she operates as a sole proprietor is only five months old, and through it Hellen is generating an income of between Ksh25,000 and Ksh28,000 per month. She is currently strategizing on how to expand the business while seeking approvals from the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) for her products.