-by Meet the participant: Mercyline Nangila, Yaya’s Poultry Farm Kakamega, Kenya. Mercyline Nangila is the founder of Yaya’s Poultry Farm, whose main purpose is to produce organic foods. It also focuses on empowering the women and youth of Kakamega.
The farm majors on kienyeji (free range) chicken and eggs. Initially, Mercyline kept these for her use since she’s very keen on maintaining a healthy diet plus she didn’t like the idea of generic chicken. With time, her stock grew and that’s how her business was born, one and a half years ago. “This course began at a time when my sales had gone down,” says Mercyline. “I’m learning so much that I’m even thinking of starting something new since I have gotten so many ideas on how to run a business. It has opened up my mind.”
In August Mercyline sold around 800 chickens. She usually grills, cuts into pieces, and packages it well, thus being able to deliver her products anywhere within Kenya. Yaya’s Poultry Farm majors in selling spring ones (These are the young chicken; about 4 months old). This way they can provide tender chicken as per the client’s needs and at the same time, at an affordable price.
In addition to Yaya’s Poultry Farm, Mercyline is a children’s officer on contract in the County Government. Her background in social work and community development, combined with lots of volunteer work contributed a lot to her being part of this project.
Digitizing her business processes will help her manage her time and be able to delegate some tasks to her employees as she delivers her services at the county government which are in line with what her business focuses on: empowering the women and youth of Kakamega.
