MITUMBA CAMERA BUSINESS

Imagine getting into a business venture with just Ksh.500 early in the morning, buying 10 second-hand clothing at Ksh.50 each and flipping it into Ksh.1,500 at the end of the day.

Sounds too good to be true, but if done the right way, there’s a lot of money to be made in the mitumba business.

The 200% profit (Ksh.1,000) realized from the example above is not something that can be achieved in most comparable businesses. If you then double your daily capital input to Ksh.1,000 and still sell each item at Ksh.150, this then turns into Ksh.3,000 gross from 20 items.

This can then be scaled even further to a point where you are actually importing your own consignments from China, Australia, Canada, or the UK - as opposed to buying from a middleman in Kenya.

Second-hand clothes are popular in Kenya - with at least two million Kenyans working directly and indirectly in the sector. One of the unique characteristics of the mitumba business is that there are low-entrance barriers - at least for the small traders who sell these products after they have been shipped to Kenya.

There is a unique market of middle-class Kenyans who prefer second-hand clothes because they can afford high-quality - and sometimes luxury brands - for a bargain.

However, these consumers are unwilling to make the early morning tour to Gikomba and search for these high-quality clothing products that traders scramble for every morning when the bales are brought to the market - mostly between 4.00am and 6.30am in the morning.

The business model is rather simple. You only need to wake up early and have an eye for the high-end mitumba clothes - nicknamed camera clothes.

With Ksh.8,000 - you can get a sizeable stock of baby clothes, lady clothes, T-shirts, and shirts. Men's clothes, with the exception of shirts, tend to be expensive and could leave you with limited stock if you have Ksh.10,000 as your starting capital.

However, dresses go for as little as Ksh.100, lady tops and unisex t-shirts go for as little as Ksh.50, baby clothes go for about Ksh.200 - while men's shirts go for between Ksh.100 – Ksh.300.

Once you have bought your stock, all you need is a smartphone with a decent camera, have the clothes washed and ironed - then take quality photos of your fortune. You can use family and friends as models to demonstrate the beauty of your gems.

You then set up a page on social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Twitter, and TikTok, and start selling your merchandise.

Quality men's shirts go for about Ksh.700 in the camera business, t-shirts go for about Ksh.350, lady tops at Ksh.200, and baby clothes at Ksh.500.

Nearly all the products have a 100% markup, which means if you sell well - the first stock of Ksh.8,000 should bring in a minimum of Ksh.16,000 making you Ksh.6,000 profit.

To speed up your sales, consider using Ksh.2,000 of your initial capital on online marketing on e-commerce websites like jiji.co.ke and on Facebook and Instagram, which charge as low as Ksh.200 per day for adverts.

You can also consider using micro-influencers depending on the flexibility of your budget.

Most people shy to venture into mitumba business. They think that it’s saturated but there are a lot of profits in it.

Isn’t it better to start this business than just sitting at home waiting for someone to notice your application letter on their desk?

Remember, nothing good comes on a silver platter.

Don’t just sit there, start small and dream big.