When he graduated from Masinde Muliro University in 2021, Wilson Ayua did not know he would one day venture into business.

In October 2022, Ayua decided to move from his home in Western Kenya to Nakuru, drawn by the possibility of new opportunities in Kenya’s newest city.

Coincidentally, his application to work in a company that supplied fish in Nakuru had sailed through.

When Mtaa Wangu visited the Victory Farms stall just a few meters from Free Area Wholesale Market, we met Ayua busy with his daily routine of preparing the delicious fish.

“We get the fish from Lake Victoria. Once the fish arrives in our stall, we place them in the refrigerator to preserve them,” he says.

With the assistance of his two colleagues, Ayua then proceeds to clean up the fish, by removing the scales and the intestines before deep frying them.

“This is the most critical process in preparing fish. If you mess up at this point, then the whole meal is ruined,” he says.

Ayua's assistant Ms Susan Njeri prepares fish before deep frying it.

Photo credit: PRISTONE MAMBILI| MTAA WANGU

As we proceed with the conversation, some customers step in and we have to pause the interview so that he can attend to them.

Through their conversation, we realize one of the customers identified as John Atula has been consuming fish from the stall for the last six months.

He says, “I prefer this stall as it has fresh tilapia and maintains high standards of hygiene,”.

Besides customers who come to buy deep fried fish for their families, the stall also supplies the fresh fish to wholesalers with a crate of 25Kgs going for Kshs. 6,000, while a single fish fetches between Ksh 200 to Ksh 300.

Despite facing competition from other fish traders in Nakuru, Ayua proudly says they have loyal customers who always buy from them.

pmambili@gmail.com

Meet Free area man who supplies Nakuru with fish

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Pristone Mambili