 This is the way to do it. This is the way to do it. This is the way to do it. Kama kwa youth in action. In today's program, we have Lynette Nyambura Mushiri a psychology student at Maseno University. Making gold out of plastics and cardboard. Join me to hear more about her artwork. Lynette, this is a unique business. How did you start? I'm very passionate about art. From a young age, back in primary school, I was interested in breeding. After high school, I was doing bugs. I was making bugs using the beads. When I joined campers, I needed an opportunity to do an act that would generate income for me at the same time. How did you acquire the skill to have this artwork? I got the skills from a friend who was doing an act. I was interested and she took me through the steps of making the art. You are a full-time student. So how do you balance making your artwork and schoolwork? I use my free time because I'm not talented in the field. Most of the time I'm indoors, so I use that time to make the day cause. So what is your motivation for this work? For me, my motivation is I like making art. Okay, that keeps me going. It's therapeutic because it's something you have to concentrate. And at the same time, I get to meet people who are doing different acts. So I get other skills and at the same time, I'm able to generate an income. Where do you meet these people? Okay, most of the time when I'm doing marketing or through a word of mouth for maybe a friend, that tells me somebody does this act and that will take a step to get to know the person, to get to know how they do their thing. Considering the fact that your work is recycled, how does it compare with the industrial work? Okay, first of all, the product I use to make the art, I'm recycling the cartons, the plastics. So okay, the materials may not be very doable compared to that from the industry because you see like once this carton is exposed to, maybe it gets rained on or something gets in amagi kia una kutua, it's no longer the same because it's a carton, it's going to absorb. And fear like una kutua, maybe we can clear because it's plastic, it's going to deform. Another thing is a new product, so marketing is a bit difficult because it's different from the ones that are being made in the industry, from the materials, from the design. So marketing is a bit tricky because you see like trying to convince somebody and it's totally different from the one they are used to. But the product is affordable to anyone. What are the challenges you encounter and how do you overcome them? The first problem and the concept one is like marketing, it's a new thing. So like I have to market it myself, maybe now my target here in Kampas is the students and some of my friends who are working also support me. So like the issue is really marketing because now it's a product that not many people are aware of it, so like I have to do like maybe door to door and then the stereotype that comes like in kituya dem you see like I have to still convince them it is not like it doesn't have to do anything with sexuality. My thing is the praising, the praising is a bit tricky because like before I was able to come with the standard praise that it took me a long time. This is a startup business for you. So what does one need to take into account for this, for starting a business? For me, I think being persistent in what you are doing and being consistent like pushing yourself and practicing it because you know like as you are practicing at that of the day you become better in what you are doing and being committed. What about your family and friends, how do they take your work? Okay, for my mum, my parents are very supportive for the capital sometimes like when they don't have the capital I can call my mum home and my friends are very supportive they buy my art like when they get the raw materials they keep them for me to pick them so I would say they are very supportive. Many young people out here may not have the know-how on starting a business even if they have an idea. What can you tell them? Okay, for me, I think most of the people are scared of how it's going to turn out. You know everybody is afraid of failing but at that of the day everybody like at one point when you start in something you're scared. So I think for me like as scared as you are start like start whatever like you have in mind you don't know how it's going to be and you can't know unless you give it a chill. What about your future plans? What things do you expect to do in the future? Okay, for me I have an interest in interior design I'm hoping I will be able to come up with something that's going to be universally accepted like I can have my own interior design shop something like it's going to be universally accepted. When you talk of product price how much are you selling a piece of your work? Okay, for the I have like three different sizes we have the small one, the medium one and the bigger one so for the small one it goes for 300 shillings the medium one goes for 450 and the bigger one 600. So even to said maybe for example I have maybe a client in Nairobi I'm selling this parcel they want the small one for 300 the parcel cost me 300 to send so like at the end of the day you see like you're not getting a profit so it becomes hard to operate like out send kisumu. What do you need to start making fash? To make this lampshub you'll first need a board show but it has to be like smooth like the upper part this board shu is not necessarily used because you see it's very rough so to start you need like a board shu which is soft like this upper area and then you need to cut it using your scissors you need to cut the soft area using your scissors then you divide the soft area into different into small small portions like this was initially a board shu then I had to cut it into small pieces and then I shaped them I would love them So take us through the whole process how do you do it? Okay so for beginners I have this cup board it's just a cut one which I shape into circles I use most of the time a plate cut like to get the circle and then I use a smaller plate to cut the inner parts then I cut it with maybe a knife or a scissor once I get the shape I use the cell shape to join these are two parts so that it can be stable I join the two parts of the cut front then I use tape to make it stick together after that I use this thread I use this thread it's the smallest one I use the AUZ people make sweaters from them so I wrap the thread on the carton so after wrapping the thread I get a product which looks like this What do you use in wrapping the thread? I wrap the carton with the thread to get I just roll it patiently first of all I have to fix the thread on the carton by tying a knot after that I cut the extra part of the knot with my scissors then I have to put the AUZ that I've already cut into the middle part and then I start rolling my AUZ without leaving any spaces in between so I continue doing that until I've covered the whole area of the carton so I just roll it this way until the whole part is covered it may take an hour or less compared to the skills you have or how long you have done it so just roll it so what's next after you have rolled it? after rolled it it has three parts so the next part is this one I have to roll the AUZ on the carton so I can get this you see initially I had this one but I have to make it look this way so I have to roll the AUZ on the plastic so I do the same I first of all tie a knot on the plastic once I have secured the knot I cut the extra part of it since the AUZ is too big to penetrate here so I just roll it to a suitable amount of AUZ that's going to be able to roll on the plastic then I just roll the AUZ on the plastic so because of these parts like these the one I've cut I always push it to the midrug to make it neat and then I just roll the AUZ round it until it's all complete so at the end of the day I'm going to get a product that looks like this after rolling the thread it takes approximately maybe 45 minutes or less depending on how much you practiced you talked about it having three parts can you show us the three parts? so the three parts can I show you one that is complete? it's okay this one is the smallest size when I talk about three parts we have this area this one the one I used to suspend on maybe a bulk holder then I have this one this is the cupboard area that helps me with balancing this area helps with balancing and then we have these ones they love them today cause yeah how long would you take to make something like that? for this small size maybe 4 hours but it depends on when I'm doing it because most of the time I do them in parts so as you can see here I have these ones they have things pieces they are a lot so I make them with the parts I can make these ones many then I do the upper part but close to me to take maybe 4 hours so in a day I can do 2 or 3 what about the colour thing? do you choose it for your client or the client chooses the colour thing? it depends on the circumstances because I do door to door marketing so if I have some samples I am already calling the client may want to take the sample but others will request me I want this colour and this colour so I would say it depends on the preference like what do they prefer considering the man hour you put in making your artwork do you think the prices are really I don't really think the prices are fair but since my target audience is like the customers my target is the students I have to make the prices fair for them because a lampshed is like a luxury it's not part of the basic needs so I have to make it affordable to make the product to sell and where do you source your raw material? mostly I get them from the dump site where they are bottles plastic bottles sometimes I get them from my friends sometimes I just get them from all over sometimes I get them from stalls from bookshops, the cartons what about the cardboards are they just the normal cardboards or at different time? for me there is one that I prefer there is one type of a cup that I really prefer because it's hard and it is not easily damaged so where is psychology and your artwork mixing what plans do you have for your psychology course? psychology is a course that helps you interact with people learn a lot about how people think their behaviour and so with the knowledge I have in psychology I am to set up an enterprise in a better position to interact with people easily with the knowledge I have in psychology I am in a better position to start an enterprise I am going to be able to manage my workers which strategies are marketing that are going to maximize my sales I think it's going to help me a lot to start out in the market because I have the knowledge of how people respond to things and what it can do to improve things and their response so with climate change at its peak how do you think your work will help produce the effects of climate change because of pollution? I'm doing recycling I'm recycling the butt shoes and my role material is most shared from waste products so I'm reducing the pollution of the air most of these plastic butt shoes because they cannot decompose most of the time they aid up being burnt which interferes a lot with the air and the fact that when these butt shoes when they are not being used you feed them like virtually everywhere so with the recycling I'm able to make the environment cleaner and more heard there that is such a brilliant idea I love it one person's trash is someone else's treasure think out of the box and create yourself an outstanding enterprise this has been Youth in Action I am Nyongwesong Krenis