The Juice Box is a juice parlor located in the heart of Nakuru, Kenya at Prime Plaza on the 2nd floor, room 302. The Juice Box has seven years of well crafted, skillful experience of producing organic fresh fruit juice. The Juice Box also sells ice cream, coffee, corndogs and hotdogs. Annette, the owner and operator, is looking to expand the Juice Boxes reach in providing healthy refreshments in the community, family homes and gatherings in a more fun, healthy and convenient way. Annette shares, “our goal is to empower both the older and younger generations of the benefits of healthy choices that we provide with our products.”

Menu items Annette wants to add:

• Fruit salads
• Fruju (Fruit salad with ~preferred fruit ~ juice syrup)
• Fruyu (fruit salad with yoghurt)
• Dawa (ginger, turmeric, rosemary and lemon)
• Smoothies (fruit juice made with yoghurt/milk/ice cream

Annette states, “ever since I opened my business, the major challenge has been cash flow and this has affected my business in these areas: 

• Ability to expand
• Due to changes in seasons, lack of financing has kept my business from providing seasonal beverages to help keep my business going and growing.
• Branding and Marketing: the business has the potential to grow and expand with the right finances allocated to branding and marketing since the growth seen so far is majorly through word of mouth and good customer relation.
• Employee training has been a major challenge since we require finances to hires trainers and to do bench markings”

Annette has developed a multi-phase plan that will allow her to achieve her goals and expand her business. The first step in Annette’s plan is finding a mentor that can teach her about record keeping, business planning, financing, and human resources. The Juice Box is also in need of monetary support to help cover costs for things such as supplies for seasonal beverages, marketing expenses, employee training, and more.

Annette says, “as a first born and female business entrepreneur, having a successful business will enable me to:

• Empower young people in my community with both jobs and skills that I have successfully gained through my experiences. 
• Be financial stability since it is my main source of income
• Fulfill my purpose of providing health Value to my community.
• Have an opportunity to pursue the passion I have on mental health awareness in conjunction with the mental health benefit provided by fruits hence creating more demand/need for my products.”