Business ideas can come from unexpected moments and habits. It could be from wanting to get busy, or wanting to generate wealth. Sometimes the ideas could come from passion or talents. Other times, these ideas come from circumstances! Like when you want to support yourself after losing a parent.
I sat down with the CEO of Ogfra_knits, Keren Osapir, a 28 year old Kenyan lady who started her business out of hobby. In her instagram profile, Ogfra_knits is a knitting company that offers various crotchet design and wears.
To Keren, starting the business was one of the best things that happened to her. She shares her story into the entrepreneurship world, how it all began and how being self-employed is opening more doors for her.
Where did it all start?
Back in primary school, I would knit for fun. I would do it to pass time and make myself feel better because those were the things we would do on our free time.
When I got to high school, I found myself loving the aspect of just knitting and crocheting so I still continued with the art. I would do scarfs, bags, beanies, and gift them to friends and family.
When did you discover that Crocheting Can Earn You Money?
I joined campus in 2015, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture & Technology to study my Undergraduate Degree in Architecture. Shortly after joining campus, I lost my dad.
The financial burden being so high on my mother was something that drove me into trying crocheting as a business.
With my big brother being in parallel education, self-sponsored, his university fees was a lot. I felt the urge that maybe I should find something to try and supplement my pocket money and ease the burden from my mom.
Somehow this story makes me think, had my father still be alive, maybe I would not be in this journey. I would be the baby girl that I had been.
I would maybe be employed in an architectural firm right now and not self-employed. But here we are, I’m being interviewed for my business journey. What a blessing!
What was the Investment and who were your first Customers?
After deciding to make the hobby a business, I invested Kshs. 60 ($0.46), which I used to buy yarn and made a beanie. I then posted it on my WhatsApp status and true to it, it got a customer and I sold it at Kshs. 300 ($2.29). This to me was a huge profit back then.
I thought about how many more beanies could I sell? At the same price? Get more profit? Earn? I was determined to try and make this work.
What made me more motivated was the fact that since my first customer was a classmate, other classmates started asking me for the exact piece. They were ready to pay for it. This also made other people ask where they could get the pieces which made me start the online pages.
Creating my social media page, ogfra_knits, was to make it easier to access all my pieces at once. It was not only a marketing strategy but also a networking strategy. That’s how ogfra_knits came about. I have a page on instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube, where I offer tutorials.
Why did you call it Ogfra_Knits?
Actually, the name ogfra comes from my father, his initials. My father was called Ogolla Francis. He was a business man and his business was called Ogfra promotions. So, with Ogfra, it’s a way of honoring him.
Are You Doing Your Business as a Full Time or Part Time Job?
Currently the business is full time. I had mentioned I’m an Architect by profession so I’m trying to balance designing and doing my business. This way, I call myself an arch-preneur.
How Much do you Earn Averagely Just From Your Business?
Since starting my business the highest I have earned in a month is Kshs. 50,000 ($380) and the lowest I can say is around Kshs. 10,000 ($76). To think that I started with only Kshs. 60 makes me believe that it’s all worth it. It also makes me very hopeful about the business and the future.
What are some of the Challenges that you have faced along the Journey?
I have to admit I had no business background while starting this business. So, I suffered through hands of undercharging since I didn’t know my worth.
In the beginning, I would immediately start a piece whenever a customer made inquiries without demanding deposit to show accountability. There were days when I went through losses because of this since some customers would change their minds along the way. Just like that, they would not be interested in the pieces which meant trying to find new customers.
Additionally, crocheted pieces were not that big of a deal in Kenya back in 2015. People would wonder how they were going to survive with these pieces whenever it rained and all those doubts. Therefore, the demands were limited to scarfs, beanies, and sometimes sweaters.
For almost two years, this limit was a challenge since the demand was low. Luckily, the mindset has changed and so many people are embracing the crocheted pieces.
What are some of the Milestones with the business?
I got recognition through consistent posting on my social media pages. There’s a woman who bumped into my page, she lives in Europe, and was intrigued by my skills. She was so much fascinated that she shared my stories on her instagram page.
Her sharing my story got me more clients and even made me get gifts in terms of yarns and crocheting tools. So, yeah, social media has made it better for me.
I also started offering crocheting lessons. There were some of my friends who wanted to learn how to crochet. This was an eye-opening moment that made me realize I can monetize teaching lessons too.
I offer the classes, both online and offline ranging between Kshs. 1500-4000 ($11-$30) per class. The classes last an hour and ranges from beginner to pro sessions. In the classes, I often encourage people to register not less than 4 classes to make it better for skills enhancement. Therefore, before starting any lessons, one must pay up to at least 4 classes upfront.
My biggest milestone however, is creating another program called Pic & Knit. This is where I organize a picnic where people come to crotchet. We sit down, crotchet, and just have fun. In the event, I encourage people to come wearing what they’ve made which makes it more fun. The creativity level in the country is high and I’m glad I’m sharing some of them.
I organized the first Pic & Knit in July 29th 2023 and the turn up were only 10 people. The second one was in November 4th 2023 and the turn up was 24 people. The third event was in May 4th 2024 and we pulled around 50 people to the event! What a Milestone!
What are the Future Plans?
I am planning to come up with a knitting studio. Where people can come and learn how to knit, display projects and interact with other knitters.
I also plan to start a knitting factory and design my own yarn. One thing, Kenya has only 3 yarn factories and they manufacture mainly acrylic yarn. Most of the time, we import quality yarns and they are the ones being sold in many shops. I am hoping to start a factory and manufacture these quality yarns and hopefully export too.
I also want to manufacture the quality yarn since people have different skin types. In the factory I plan to manufacture the yarns that can accommodate different types of skins. Make the seal yarn, butterfly, robin yarn and any possible yarn that can be made.
I think the world should watch out for me because I am coming for it all.
What would you tell anyone wanting to start their business?
Don’t wait until you have enough money to open that business. You will never have enough money. Start with what you have and who knows? The money will come along the way. Start and not look so far ahead. Just start, the rest will fall into play.
