Hellen K Shukrani: Woman contractor who also sell children’s clothes
Hellen K Shukrani is among the 24 outstanding entrepreneurs shortlisted for the 4th Citi Micro-entrepreneurship Awards(CMA) in Tanzania.
Business: Contractor and selling children clothes
Financier: Caritas Dar es Salaam
Location: Tarime
The business of selling children’s clothes came about as a need to solve the scarcity of shops selling children’s clothes in Tarime. As a contractor, she works with her husband to construct roads. Her success is due to being daring and offering various children products and delivering timely service in the construction industry. After her university, she decided not to be formally employed and engaged in entrepreneurship. The loan from Caritas enabled her to stock her shop and opened a second shop. Currently, she gets up to 30 million for the construction works. Good customer relations and offering quality service are her main success factors.
Vision; Opening another shop, Buying Machinery.
Challenge: Sometimes, buying products online can be very challenging as you end up getting poor quality. She also complains that taxes are on the higher side, which forces her to hike up selling prices. On the construction venture, she says it’s costly to hire machinery.
Impact: Ability to care for her family, offer employment and improve road infrastructure.
Opinion: Hellen is resourceful, as she gets products from different places to diversify , leading to a more extensive clientele base.
