Lilian opened Wanj Perfumes in 2020 with the dream of being able to become financially stable. The perfumes are imported from France and have a refillable design. Depending on the quantity a customer desires; the perfume is transferred from the display bottle using a syringe to the refillable bottles for 2ml, 3ml, 4ml,6ml, 8ml, 10ml, 12ml, 15ml, 18ml, and 20 ml bottles.

While venturing to open her first shop, Lillian was faced with the challenge of financing. Starting up a business requires proper financial planning and with the rapid increase of items, the budget kept changing and needed to be adjusted with time. Consequently, Lilian ended up entrusting a ‘fundi’ to purchase the materials for her business, and instead, he took the money and disappeared. Lilian says, “proper planning would have ensured I had time to accompany him or purchase the materials myself, and no money would have been lost.”

Lilian says her future goals for Wanji Perfumes is to “broaden product and service offerings. In the future, I would like to run an M-PESA business that is highly profitable. It requires high start-up capital and with that, I will be hardworking to ensure I have the capital needed. Improve profit and start-up perfume shops in different areas other than Naivasha.

Running a successful business will bring financial stability and business growth which in return will help with the business expansion. Financial stability will give me peace of mind since I will be in a position to pay my bills comfortably, afford to invest, and save for the future’s sake. Business expansion will bring more income.”