How OKash Saved me After Three Years of Unsuccessful Job Search

For more than three years, Esther Akinyi, a Business Administration graduate, has been trying to secure a job in her field of specialization or any other that could keep her going to no success. 

But with all hopes of ever finding a job almost dashed, Akinyi until recently, was ready to settle for anything else other than a job which could get her stagnated life back on motion again. That wish seems to have become a reality now.

Living with her single-mother cousin in a squeezed rented cubicle in Kawangware, Akinyi says that she has for long felt more than a burden to her cousin who relies on her meagre earnings from fishmonger business to feed them and foot the usual monthly bills.

"I had reached a point that I wanted to go back to my rural home in Siaya because I had become tired of bothering my cousin whom I relied on entirely everything including my personal needs," Akinyi says.

She adds: "I could see that she was struggling but I had no means to lend a helping hand apart from with the house chores as she went about with her small business that was our lifeline."

And as an old saying goes, 'it does not rain, but it pours'. In March 2020 the government announced that the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic had finally struck Kenya and consequently issued array of drastic measures aimed at curbing the spread of the deadly virus.

Akinyi notes that this was the last straw that broke the camel's back. Her cousin's business began to take a nosedive such that at the end of June they could not afford to pay for rent.

"We were glaring at eviction any time when I called one of my college classmates in an attempt to see how he could assist me help ourselves. He had no money with him but he asked me if I could try the OKash app because it was the only app then which was issuing loans. All the others had suspended lending money to anyone," Akinyi states.

The graduate adds that she gave her cousin the idea which she was more than eager to embrace with no option left.

"I could not borrow myself because I had no means of repaying. It is my cousin who did it and could not believe it when within 3 minutes of applying, she got a loan of Sh2,000," Akinyi says with some evident excitement blended in her voice.

"OKash is the best thing that happened to us when a dark cloud was hanging on us with no help and hope in sight. My cousin has since then made it a habit of borrowing and repaying ahead of time which has made her loan limit grow to Sh8,500. Two weeks ago she borrowed Sh7,000 and has expanded her fishmonger business to include a vegetable kiosk which I am helping her with," Akinyi states.

Following a discussion she recently had with her supportive cousin, Akinyi says she is optimistic that they will be able to expand the business further soon to enable her become independent, thanks to OKash loans.

"OKash has revived my diminished hopes. I have began to see life differently, and as for me going forward, not even the sky can be the limit. I am now thinking in a business-sense. Thank you OKash. My cousin and I owe it all to you," Akinyi concludes.

You can too be part of the ever-growing #OKashTeamSuccess story by downloading the App here.