Entrepreneur Flora Mutahi’s journey from being working for someone to now having her own business will have you mesmerized. In a community where having your own start-up is looked down upon and it is difficult to run your own business and not having the family’s support made it even more difficult for Mutahi.
She had no source of income as she resigned from her position as an auditor but Mutahi chose to remain steadfast. She stood strong in the face of adversity and fought to turn her dreams into a reality.
She started in the salt industry and managed to introduce the country’s first free-flowing salt with anti-caking additives under the label Melvin Marsh International.
However, due to her lack of knowledge and expertise, she did not have the best salt production tools and techniques in hand. To overcome this obstacle Mutahi decided to collaborate with a local university to guide, assist and improve the salting process.
Soon after, her idea began to grow and received the first order for 1200 packets of salt from a hotel in the vicinity. She was taken aback by the sudden request. Flora was extremely astonished when she was told that she would be paid for her services within 90 days.
Mutahi reminisced that the wait was a long and anxious one but nonetheless it felt great when she finally reaped the benefits of her hard work and rigorous efforts.
She said that the experience made her acknowledge the fact that depending on one product will hinder in discovering the company’s potential and flourish especially in a profession that has customarily always favored and preferred males over females so she made up her mind and committed herself towards tea making.
The Kenya Tea Packers had monopoly in the region before Mutahi entered the market and was faced with multiple challenges. She was told by her competitors that it not just something that you suddenly plan to do. She humbly accepted and rose to the challenge.
Over the years Melvin Marsh made remarkable progress and developed its first set of flavored tea in ginger and gradually launched other blends like lemongrass and chamomile.
Mutahi explained that our company is known for not using any flavorings or preservatives and operates on a completely organic route and designed their own website where people can get easy and quick access to quality tea.