 Good morning, welcome to Y in the morning and if it is Tuesday, it is all matters pertaining in entrepreneurship Tuesday. My name is Michelle Ashira. You can find me across all my social media handles that is at Michelle Ashira. You can also follow us across all our socials that is at Y254 channel. In this session, we dive into an interview, an interesting interview that looks at a small space farming. In the studio I'm joined with Masi Monena, she is the founder and CEO of Shamba Connect. So she'll be taking us through what it entails when it comes to, you know, what is the word? Vegetable gardening and also commercial rabid farming. So it's an incorporation of a little bit of everything. Good morning Masi. Good morning. How are you doing? I'm fine, thank you. How is your morning starting off? How you feel like? It's a beautiful morning. What are your energy levels looking like? I'm excited. I'm happy to be here. I'm excited about the things that are happening in the business and also in the country at the moment. You're a country. Would you mind to share? I think for me, I look at every day as something new that comes, something special, something for us. So for me, it's something new. So you're intentional like that in your life? Yes, yes. I am intentional because every day is a gift. Every single morning is a gift. Yeah. All right. That's beautiful. That's positivity all the way. We need that energy as you are. We need that especially as entrepreneurs. Yes. Yes. Yes. Starting us off, tell us who Masi, Amunene, who is she? Where did the love or the passion breathe from when it comes to a professional vegetable gardener? Thank you for the name. Okay guys, behind the scenes before we started this conversation, Masi was like, that's actually a new title. You can add someone in the series. Yes. Where did that love or passion breathe from? For me, it started at a young age. I used to have issues with my stomach, especially when it comes to vegetables and being able to digest vegetables and all these things. So I struggled a lot because my blood levels were low and at the same time I could not handle vegetables. So I tried to figure out what could have been the issue, what was making me not be able to digest vegetables or to handle them. And along the way I found that the reason was the pesticides and the chemicals that we use in making of these vegetables and growing them because you can tell the difference in taste between the ones that have been grown with chemicals and pesticides and all these things versus the ones that have been grown organically. So for me it started a movement. I want everyone to start growing their own vegetables because eventually the solution to the food crisis that we are having now and will continue to have is us being able to utilize the resources that we have to create vegetable and gardens. So it breathe from you having acidity issues. Yes. Okay. And you know some of us out here, even if you're going through that situation, will not be in a position to be like, what is the real problem? Let me now find out and actually just create a solution, come up with a solution to bridge that gap. What pushed you to do that? I had been in hospitals, in and out of hospitals. So this month I'm okay because I'm on medication. Next month I'm down again. My blood levels are low, I'm not able and all the time the doctors would tell me you have to keep taking vegetables to increase your blood levels. So it was like back and forth, back and forth. Yeah. One step forward, two steps back. So I decided to find out what could be the issue, what is happening behind all this, what could be the reason. And for me I found out that if I'm able to consume these vegetables, they're actually going to give me a solution to my problem. Okay. Yeah. All right. So what is the difference between when it comes to vegetables that are grown from the chemicals that you're mentioning, pesticides and just organically? How different are you, as Shamba Connect, how different are you doing it? For us, we ensure that when we're installing a garden for you, we take you through the process, we train you on how to ensure that your gardens remain organic. From how we, the kind of manure that we use to the kind of fertilizers, I mean to the kind of pesticides that you're going to use, which are not chemicals. Okay. All right. So when was Shamba Connect? When did it all began? Take us to that particular journey. Yeah. I used to be an employee somewhere. Just to be a side hustle. It's just one of those things that as I started, as I realized that if I could create a solution for myself, I could be able to do it for many other people. I started doing that for myself and now for friends and family. And I realized that this could actually be something that could sustain me. And along the way, I was happy to realize that it was not only sustaining me, but a few other people here and there. Because I could not do it all by myself. Okay. It's very manual. It's intense. Take me through your mental space whereby you made that decision that actually this can be something that I can be into full time. Because when it all started, it was a side hustle. Yes. So take me through the first project, the first project that you did and the mental space that shifted everything. And you saw this as something you can do full time. I always believe the first customer should be me. Okay. And I did that and it worked for me. And I could see my budget in terms of my expenditures in the garden and versus now what I used to spend in the market. And I could see that I'm actually saving a lot by using my own vegetables. Instead of buying your vegetables. I didn't have to buy any land anywhere. It was just within my space. I realized this could be a solution to so many other people looking to save money and looking for other avenues to raise money. So for me that was an exciting journey. When I did my first project, it was exciting. You know when you get that first customer, the excitement of I have to show up and do everything right and show that everything is well. And deliver. Yes. And of course along the way I have been able to learn because I also failed quite a few times. You could do something and then it fails and you go back and ask yourself why did this not work out? And I mean we have been getting better and better. Okay. And before we get into the failing stories because that's what makes us do better through those particular stories. I'd like to find out how did you find your business in terms of just accessibility on finances? How did you go about it? Because it's one thing. You know just doing it for you as your first clientele and you believe in yourself and the project. But now it gets to the point where you have the picture of a business. Right? So how did you go about funding your business? How did you go about funding your business? Employment is not bad. Employment is good because it gives you the base on which you can be able to do your other things other than the stability of a salary which is really good. You find that there are many other things that you can be able to do with the same salary. What else can you do? And that is one of the things that young people need to be trained on when you're employed. Many of the people get into work with the excitement of oh, I'm looking forward to the last day of the month or the payday so that I can go out and drink and entertain yourself and do all these other things. But the truth is if we live for today and we have no reserves for tomorrow then we are shooting ourselves in the foot because the truth is we have seen the last two years. Employment is something good. However, when the economy is going down and you find that what you used to hang on so hardly, so tightly to, you find that they are also going through their own seasons. Oh, yes. And COVID-19 timeframe proved that to us. It proved that. I think employers also realize we don't need all these people to deliver the same results. We don't need to use all these offices. They also, everyone is looking for ways to reduce the expenses and increase their revenues. And so how can we do that? And that is where, for me, it has been a journey. All right. So here you are. You've started off. Take me through the first project. How was the feeling? Where were you at mentally? Excited? I want to deliver the response from the clients. I had both the raw materials and I waited. I advertised. I told people and friends, family, everyone. And we don't want to take a risk when someone is starting off. We just want to first sit on the side and see how it goes before we can buy into it. And, well, that is what happened for me also. I waited for some time. When I got my first project, I was anxious. I was anxious. I couldn't sleep that night because I was thinking, now this is something I'm doing for myself. And I have to really prove that I can be able to deliver. And so I ensured that I put everything together, ensured that everything went perfectly well. However, I mean, with all this planning, there are these things that still come up, the setbacks and all that, the things that you didn't even foresee. All right. So I'll leave it at that. Masi will be right back, guys back at home. Are we having a commercial break? So we'll be right back. And Masi will be taking us to her journey. Was she able to actually acquire more clientele? And how did she go about that? So make sure you stay tuned to so much coming your way on this particular conversation of looking at small space farming. So we're having a commercial break. We'll be right back. Welcome. Welcome back to Y in the morning on your number one news station. That is the Y254 channel. And if it's Tuesday, the hashtag to use is hashtag entrepreneurship Tuesday. So today we are looking at small space farming. And in studio, I'm joined with Masi Munene. She is the founder and CEO of Shamba Connect. So Masi, before we went for a commercial break, I would like us to, we were touching on your transition from employment to now you being self-employed in this sole proprietorship. Yes. Now let me tell you, everyone who is watching this conversation and they have the dream or they're still, you know, juggling employment and a side hustle. They have that fear, right? When you're in employment, you are sure that there's a check at the end of the month. It's true. And you're sure that you'll take care of your bills. Yes. But now COVID happened. There's a time COVID happened. That timeframe that actually proved us wrong that you can wake up the following morning and you have lost your job. Yes. So how did you take that step of faith? And where were you at your mental space just overcoming the fear of moving from certainty to an uncertain space in your life? Let me start by saying, first of all, that a side hustle and an eight to five, juggling the two is something good. However, don't blame why your side hustle is not giving you enough. If you're only giving it between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. or 10 p.m. because that is the match you have invested into it. Because with your 8 to 5, you have invested your 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and sometimes even beyond 5 p.m. So one of the things that our fear is based on is that your side hustle is not giving you enough. And if you wait until everything comes together for you to step out, it will never happen because your side hustle works between 5 p.m. when you're tired to whatever time some people work overnight. And that is the time when you're extremely exhausted. So don't expect it to give you as much returns as your 8 to 5. Yeah, that is one of the reasons why we... one of the reasons why we are afraid to step out. But also I think having the big picture in mind, having a vision of where you want to go, because the truth is we don't have forever to live. We have this one life. It's true. We live only once. But you also have to look at what else can we do with our lives. There's so much that has been invested in us when, even when you look at the Bible, we have been invested with talents, things to do with ourselves. And yet we just want to have the comfort of employment of just going to do the bare minimum and also expecting the bare minimum and just moving from month to month to month. There will come a time when that energy that you could be able to invest right now will not be there. You might have the money, but not the energy. So for me it has been a journey. Self-discovery. Self-discovery. Which is absolutely good. Masi, you'll also agree with me. And also people who have already done it, people who have already taken that step of faith and they've gone into something they love, they've studied something, but they're on the starting stage now. Did you get to a place where you were looking back? You understand? Because gardening takes patience. Any business takes patience when you're starting out. Did you get to a place where now you're looking back? Did I make the right decision? Now you're second guessing yourself. And how did you deal with that? I did. I would be lying to say that I did not. Many times I did. In fact, I would wake up in the morning and wonder, okay, what am I going to do today? Then I think about my colleague that I left who's probably earning that amount of money that I am no longer earning to be where I am. So the truth is, I looked back, I asked myself, did I really make the right decision? But now for me, the bigger picture is what I had in mind, the flexibility of time. And now I'm a family person. I have young children. I want to bring them up. I want to be there for them. And this is the age where they need me the most. And that is what I think I was struggling with in the area of employment. Because employment would take up the whole day. By the time I would get home, I would be all tired. They would also be tired. So I find that I'm really asking myself hard questions. Am I really the one raising these children? Yeah. Okay. I take me through, how did you build your client base or even because you're still building the network, how do you go about it? One thing I have learned is that personal development is the greatest development you'll ever do for your business. Because if you do not invest in yourself, you will find you have nothing to offer. You find that you're constantly struggling with your competitors because they always have something ahead of you. But you're not taking the time to invest in yourself and grow yourself because if you do not grow yourself, don't expect your business to grow. They say that your business will grow as far as you can grow. Therefore that means if you're not growing yourself, your business will never go ahead of you. So for me, I have prioritized personal development. If there is anywhere I can learn something about business, I am available. I am ready. You are there. I am willing. I am there. So personal development, you attend, I would like to assume business seminars, just to build on your development. What are the other ways that you build the capacity? The other ways are hanging out with business people like myself. When I started off, I really struggled with every single thing. First of all, because I am a mother also, you know, as you're walking along the street, you see something nice. It's a full-time job by the way. When you go along the street and you see something nice and you start thinking because you don't have the assurance of salary at the end of the month, now you have to really think hard. Do I really need this? That is what is called bootstrapping. You actually go to the basics. For people who start from where I started from, you should be comfortable living with the basics. You know some of us, especially when you're employed, you're used to a certain kind of lifestyle and when you get into business, my friend, just come down to the basics. You come down to the basics. You hang out with people who've been where you are. And I think having people guiding me, having a mentor along the way has really been helpful for me. Who's your mentor? I have a few. It would be great to first get their permission before I start. You don't have to share your blessings. I will, in fact. You don't have to share your blessings. Next time I'll be happy to bring him along. I have quite a few and I'll be very glad to bring them along because they have really worked with me. They get into the muddy places and really helped me to get out of where I am because they have also worked their path and they are willing to help me around through it. So next time you know it's a date. Finally, she has agreed. So how do you market your business? First, I use referrals. I always ensure when I do work for someone I ensure that it goes perfectly well. The funny thing about agribusiness is that it's not a one-time thing overnight. So you have to be patient. You wait for the work to be done. After that you have to wait for each to grow and see the joy that people are having in their homes. Finally, involving their children in the things that they do. Using your time to actually have your free time, distress, relieve yourself, go through your garden and all that. Now at that point someone is happy to refer you. And I can tell you referrals have been my greatest source of new clients. Other than that, I have grown through social media. It's something I just grew into that I'm still growing into. There are many aspects I've not yet reached. And it's an area of development for me. Fantastic. You've mentioned something which is very critical, which is referrals. Reparals are the best when it comes to gaining new clients. Just as you have mentioned. I'd like to understand what is your strategy when it comes to building a good customer relation experience? How I look at it is when I go to see a client, I always ensure that I know I get to understand where this customer is at. Sometimes as business people, we go with our minds. We go and say, this is what you need to have, this is what you need to have, this is what you need to do. But you don't understand where this person is coming from. And what they need. Yes, what they actually need. Because I've worked with people who are fine. They just want something to hang around with. I can tell you like in my rabbit business, there are clients who just come for pets. So if I go and tell them, I'm going to give you this big breed that is going to grow in the next four months to be something humongous. You can be the main distributor. They're thinking, how will this thing fit in here, you know? And even if you sell to them, what you think is what they need, you'll be very surprised because what they're probably looking for is something that will stay tiny and small and sweet and lovely and cuddly and fluffy and all that. I love rabbits. They have different colors. It's red, it's blue. That's always something that I've never had to grow. It's always interesting. But I don't like the smell of... That's still a struggle. Oh, the smell of the urine. Oh, when you start to see the benefits of it. Oh well, you will forget that. You will forget that. These are the things that have become... Irrelevant. Irrelevant, for sure. So what is the most effective vegetable to grow on a small space? Let's say like a backyard that I have in my... And I would like to maximize on that particular space. So what would be the most effective vegetable to grow? First of all, I get to understand what the client needs. For example, you find that there are some clients who like... I've worked with people who are like especially medics and they tell you that there's no juice like celery juice. So all I want in my garden is celery. Fill the place with celery from here to the end of the world. Therefore, once I understand what the client needs, I'm able now to tell you which works for what you have. At Shamba Connect, we design gardens based on the size of your space, your personal style, and then the budget that you have. So based on that, we are able to design a garden that is suitable for you and also that advices the crops that are best grown there. I've found that spinach is one of the vegetables that we cannot do without. Yeah, that was actually what was going behind my back of my head. I was like, spinach will actually do well. And it's one of the vegetables that are very, quite very loved. And they can go for like, you can... They're nutritious, you can go with every meal. So my mind was at spinach. So we can let's look at some of the home garden designs that you have worked on and probably can take us to those ones as well. So if my director is ready, we can get to have those particular images. Yeah, so the vegetables, God is needful sunlight. Here we go. Probably could take us through that. So we have a... I don't know which vegetable is that? Oh, that's spinach. Spinach. Yeah, spinach. How long do spinach take to actually develop to this particular... the way they look like right now? Clients keep asking that. The moment you plant, they start asking, so when? So now when? And this takes three to four weeks. I normally advise that you start harvesting at the fourth week because by then the plant will have grown enough leaves to cook. Let me just use the layman language to cook enough food for the rest of the plant so that when you harvest two or three leaves, you still have enough for the rest of the season. So even after you harvest, of course they will still grow? You have to leave some of them to continue cooking food for the rest of the plant. Okay, you're using the good layman's language now. Yes, I understand. Because to this design and the vegetable... Now that depends on someone's space that is made of wood, very attractive. Actually that has been one of the most attractive planters that we have that is popular. So there you can plant, actually you can plant either vegetables or flowers. Some people love herbs like basil, sage, oregano and all those. Can tomatoes do well as well? They do, they do very well. But they require lots of water, right? No, actually we take it through the... They don't require... It depends on the variety because they are the greenhouse ones and the open field ones. All right, probably we can have another picture, another image. All right, so tomatoes can actually do well at anyone's small backyard. At anyone's small backyard, yes. So I can have skooma. Oh, and also the traditional vegetables. Yes, managu and teriyaki are very much loved and saga. All right, take us to this. There is a young man there. That is another type that we also get. And that one has... We use something else, not the soil on the garden itself. And then we use something to cover it and it works very well on the rooftops. So there are vegetables that don't require too much sunlight? Yes, yes. Because especially like skooma, you'll find many people complaining that the more they eat, the more acid. Oh, yeah. The more bitter they become. Yeah, that's true. Sometimes it's because of the conditions that you put them in. Because again, if we expose them to very harsh conditions, be sure. And also the breed of skooma that you plant. It matters, yeah? It matters. The conditions. Yes. They're just like human beings. Exactly, that's what you... When you come from a harsh environment... What do you expect? Anko person. Yes. All right. Those ones work very well for pastures and balconies and even cemented places. Are they flowers? No, these ones are vegetables. They are Chinese cabbage, Chinese spinach. You can see there's some herbs there. Yes, that works very well. If you don't have a garden itself, so we come with the whole kids. We call ourselves a plug-and-play company. We just need to be there. Yes. So do you also do maintenance for your clients? Yes, we do. We do maintenance for our clients. All right. Yeah. Is this still... This is skooma. Yes. And I can tell you this skooma is normally very soft. It's not like the one that you find in the market. This is very soft and it's organic. It's something very beautiful about having organic, soft vegetables that you can present to anyone. They're old people, they're children and they won't have issues with them. So it takes the same timeframe of four weeks to harvest? Yeah, four weeks. All right. This is us at work. Maintaining a garden. Which vegetable is this? That must be spinach. Spinach. You have to go back and tell me what's going on. That is spinach. Let me tell you something about spinach. I can't say it's from afar like that. Tell me something about spinach. Spinach is very versatile. We use it on salads. We use it on juices. We use it on almost every meal. For children who are being wind, that is the best vegetables because of its softness and its level of iron. And what can you do not put in a vegetable garden? What can you put in a vegetable garden? Maybe potatoes. That's impossible. Okay, what if this looks like a house? It's the same. Maximizing one piece. Yes, this is a self-drift kit whereby there are people who farming is not their cup of tea. Therefore we give them this that is automated. It's not automated completely but you don't have to bend to look for water and all that. You just water the orange part and then it drips. It drips. It's like drip irrigation on a kitchen garden. Oh, I've seen that one. In fact, in an office. But it has no flowers. So it looks really, really beautiful. That's interesting. We have seen what we cannot do in a vegetable garden is potatoes. Why are you attacking us? We cannot plant and not back yet. Actually, we have a design for a rule also. There are some bugs that we use, specialized bugs that you can be able to, once they are mature, can be able to actually just go and open the bag and pick up the potatoes. But this one would not work on potatoes. Take us to what you do as a company when it comes to knowing you've met a client and you've found out what they need. So how can you get to pick the best site for a new garden? The first thing that we do after the initial call and understanding what the client needs, we do a site visit. Once we do a site visit, we are able to ascertain which is the best site to install a kitchen garden. And this would be based on the direction of the wind, the amount of sunlight the space would be able to contain, maybe access to water. Yeah, and some people also have pets that they want to ensure they don't get to the gardens because also pets are very... They're also lovers of plants, yes. Let's shift gears a little bit and look at rabbit farming and also on a commercial space. So how do you go about that? First of all, rabbit farming can also be brought down to the level of a kitchen small space farming whereby you can actually... We put together a kitchen garden and a rabbit farm on the side. So they're able to work together. And the reason I say that is that you find that even the meat that we are consuming in the city sometimes is polluted. Sometimes we don't know what kind of medications have been put on the animals. And so we are living at a different time where we also have to be careful on what we put on the table for our families and for ourselves. And so I found that with rabbit keeping and if you look at Kenya and other countries, rabbit keeping is one of the ways that you're able to get your meat, white meat in the comfort of your place. They don't make noise. The smelly bit can be managed I don't know if you mentioned that. That's what I was saying. And actually we use everything from the rabbit to maintain the garden and also get food on the table. So when you look at how much disposable income that households are having right now, you find that it has gone down because the cost of food has gone up. The cost of fuel has gone up which has affected everything else. So what I always do when I train people I also train groups of people on how to ensure that they are able to have a higher disposable income. There are two ways. You either increase your level of income or reduce your expenses and you find that in this season many people are living at the bare minimum. You really do something when you really have to do it. So when you're talking about how can we increase our levels of income and rabbit farming comes to mind. Why rabbit farming? You find that with rabbit farming they grow very fast. If you ask anyone, they'll tell you they multiply very fast. In fact, one of the things that we have to do is control the breeding to ensure that they don't over-multiply and fill the whole space and you don't have... In a timeframe of three months. You know, for rabbit farming the gestation period is 28 days. 28 days, yeah. So you find that if this rabbit in fact if it delivers today it gets access to a male at that time it's going to give birth again. They're very next month at the same time with young ones already here. So that's one of the things you have to control. So what I'm saying is that... But that is a good thing for business? Yes and no. Because when we are able to control then we are able to assure you of the quality of produce. Because what happens to anyone is if they are overused then you find that the quality goes down in terms of how much weight it has the immunity levels and all that and so you find that the mother will get tired if it's served every month and giving birth every month. But at a home level you find that if someone is able to keep two or three rabbits they are able to maintain their household expenses and it's white meat very summer friendly actually very digestible. They say that even in the hospitals when invalids are recovering that is one of the best white meats to give them when children are rich six months and they need to be wind white meats, talk about rabbit meat because it's very sort of easily digestible and absorbable into the body. Yes. I'm still at the maintenance when it comes to the urine. We use that for the kitchen gardens because it's one of the ways of ensuring that you use you do not use pests to control pest sites to control pests. So we use it to add nutrients into the soil for the plants and also to control pests into the garden. Take me through when it comes to rabbit farming you do it on a commercial level. Yes. So how do you gain your clientele? For clientele, I think same strategy applies in both areas. You find that they are interconnected somehow when you give someone access to fresh organic vegetables they'll also find is there another way then is there a way I can also be able to access fresh meat, organic and all that. So what is the strategy when it comes to building a strong ownership team? Because when you started off you mentioned that you cannot do this alone. It requires time and teamwork as well because we have seen the kind of designs that you people give your clients. It's something that requires teamwork. So I would like to know how do you come up with or rather build a strong ownership team to just have a sustainable business? The journey to get to that team the one first of all when you are alone you are the CEO, the finance, the accountant, the tigger, the secretary, the everything but now over time you realize that you need to grow and you can limit your growth if you want to just do everything but now when you want to grow you need to get the right people. It's important to get right people because I've also gone through that journey of getting the wrong people and so one of the things that I do is I ensure that someone has a passion for what they are doing. You find that many people come from the farm from the rural areas and they come and they say I do not want anything to do with soil or plants or I want a white color job. Hey, okay. It's not that color realizing that food is so important and what our grandmothers used to do. It's not so bad. So how do you identify that someone is really passionate about what they want to do or what they have been doing in terms of them joining Shamba Connect because they have to buy into the brand, right? So how do you pick that this person is actually passionate? No, we say we can work under pressure. We are passionate. I can do this. So how do you get to actually now see beyond all that and actually pick that person has already bought in on the brand? It's also a journey because on day one you may not be able to understand everything that goes in. I'm sure even when you go to an interview in a job, you just know the basics but once you get into it, you get to see oh, this is how we do this. This is how we relate to clients. This is how we handle clients. This is how we deliver. This is all that. So you find that at the point of interview I'm able to find out. As a hitter, let me tell you, in business, you become all this into one. You wear every hat. You wear all hats available. And so you are able to pick out this person is fine and they are talented and they have the passion for giving people solutions in this area. And I'm happy that I have a really good team. They also help me. They really help me because if they don't, if I do not, if they don't, I cannot shine without them helping me. All right. What does the bigger picture look like for Shamba Connect? For Shamba Connect, I'm looking at every household being able to own their own food, own organic food. And while people are complaining out here there's no food. You know, you cannot be assured of the kind of food you're getting where it's coming from. I'm looking at a place where we are able to sustain ourselves as a country. And so we are in a place where we do not need to get support all the time on everything. Some of these things you can be able to get solutions for ourselves. I'm looking at young people leaving employment and getting into solutions for other people. Because one of the things you find that really helped the economy is when you are able to open a business and employ other people. Give people a place to live. Give people a solution. And when the country is healthy every family is able to get their own food. People are employed. I think it will be a good place to be in. I'm really excited about where we are headed. All right. So looking back you decided to make that transition and standing on your own and starting Shamba Connect. Looking back, do you have any regrets? My only regret is I wish I had overcome the fear earlier. Why do we ever say that? No, it's true because Why do we ever say that? I wish I started earlier. Yeah, you know, before you leave you have all these fears of so what will happen tomorrow? So if you don't have food, so if the house is locked. The bills, everything. And sometimes you don't look at the possibilities available to you. The amount of talent that you have within your hands the amount of resources that you have that you can actually get solutions for yourself and for many other people we don't look at the possibilities. I think our minds are normally conditioned to the things that cannot happen. The bad things that would happen the things that you're going to lose out on and we don't look at what you're going to gain. So we operate on fear we operate on fear and it's not a good thing. We need to open our eyes to the possibilities that life has for us out here. Oh yes. A couple of challenges that you have faced through this journey and also something that you're also a couple of things that you're also working on. I think when it comes to agribusiness you find that it's also capital intensive. You find that you're constantly looking for funds to expand and we are always looking for is there another is there a way I can be able to quickly expand and ensure that I reach there and of course with the new technologies coming up it's a good thing. It also means that it's a good challenge that I always have to constantly be on the lookout for what is new what is in the market what can I do better at a lower cost, at better yields and all that. Also people people can be something I think being able to be at that comfortable place where you have the right people doing the right jobs is a good place to be in but I think it's everyone's every entrepreneur's challenge to be able to retain their best talent. Yeah. Alright, for someone who's watching this conversation and they would love to be part of what Shamba Connect does because you also mentioned that they are on that you also do trainings how can they get to you? You can find us on Facebook you can find us on Facebook as Shamba Connect on Instagram as Shamba Connect Yes. Are there any upcoming training that we are looking out for? Yes, we train we train people on rabbit farming because that is one of the things that every time we get new clients they want to know how do we go about it from step one to the eventual step of rabbit keeping a business and we have been able to to help people come from making it as a home project to being a business and so we have people who are always looking out for that and also looking to work with organizations that want to get into the even into the communities we have been training people in the communities on how to ensure that they always have food and one of the exciting things for us has been training women on how they can be able to use the skills and the resources that they have to transform their households from just being a stay at home mother to doing it as business so you find that people are creating employment for themselves and for other people Fantastic. So as we wind up I would like you to give advice to someone who is in a state of the ready transition of employment which is an intentional decision as they get into something they love but now they are stagnant in whatever they they are working on in terms of whatever they love it could be a business it could be another space they are into in terms of different industries that they were actually in prior so what would be your advice to someone who is in that position they took the step of faith Congratulations for taking the step of faith. Yes another into something of their own but now they feel stagnant and they are looking back One thing I would like to tell you is congratulations first for taking that bold move and secondly personal development is very important and it will help you not only to grow into the space that you are looking at but also it will give you opportunities and possibilities of what else you can be able to do then mentorship is very important in what you are doing look out for people who are already advanced in what you are already doing and you will find that people are really helpful people are willing to help people are willing to hold your hand to work with you this journey of entrepreneurship and they will give you ideas on how you can be able to accelerate, how you can be able to pivot, how you can be able to make it make sense to you. Wow perfect love that one yes just keep the faith going and ask for help and build self-development right yes yes thank you very much Mashi for creating time to be with us and taking us through a small space farming and what it entails we appreciate you and you are always welcome as Shamba Connect Thank you so much Michelle for having me Karibusana alright so that is Mashi Munenet the founder and CEO of Shamba Connect we are looking at small space farming and what it entails and how you can go about it so right make sure you keep the conversation going at Y244 channel is where you can find us across all our social media handles at Michelle Ashira is where you can find me across all my social handle so keep the conversation going we will be right back in a few.