The Young Kenyan Millionaire

Douglas Kanja:Millionaire Dairy Farmer.

Yeah its true,and if you didn't think this happens in Kenya then am here to prove you wrong.U might have seen him in the local television shows during The Brookside Breeders Show week,on Capital Talk during the coverage of the same,but if you didn't,then there is no reason for alarm,am here to bring you the whole story.He decided to forego a car(an Audi A4,by the way) and settled to buying cows and just 3 years later(only) as Jeff Koinange would say it,'the young man is smiling all the way to the bank.'
At only 26 years,Douglas Kanja is already a successful dairy farmer by any account and attributes his Success to the knowledge gained by attending a past Brookside Livestock Breeders show and sale.
Kanja works an information Technology Specialist in Nairobi,but has his farm in Kimende along the Nairobi -Naivasha highway.He started off in 2008 with three cows and grew the herd to eight a year later.
Today his herd has grown to 57 animals(they are kept in 1/4 of an acre,believe it or not),30 of which he is currently milking.He makes a gross average of Kshs.400,000 monthly and supplies his milk to Brookside Dairy.His dream? "I want to earn more than Sh3 million a month from my milk" he says with a smile.
Kanja's vision is to increase his herd in the next 3 years to around 100 cows and he continues to attend training courses organized by Brookside Dairy and other stakeholders in the sector to expand his knowledge of modern dairy farming.''I want to export my cows across east Africa," he says with a smile adding that he is working with a ten-year vision. "In the next three years I intend to increase my cows to 100 up from the current 50," he told Financial Journal.
His vision is to improve his breed and to be able to sell it across the region.He has plans of quitting his job as an IT specialist to focus fully on dairy farming as he believes it has a huge potential if practiced as required.
Among the challenges he faced at the beginning was managing proper feeding for his animals but says through interaction with Brookside field experts he was able to learn how to maintain optimum feeding to bring out the best from his herd.
Kanja also says he's benefitting from being contracted to Brookside Dairy as this frees him from the headache  of having to look for a market for his produce.'' I can now concentrate in production with a guaranteed market and regular payment by partnering with Brookside"he says.
He particularly encourages the youth to change their perception of dairy farming as a pre-occupation for the elderly,and to carefully analyze the potential of dairy farming as a business...
Go to Nakumatt Karen and you will loads and loads of farm equipment on sale with several 'wazungus' buying gumboots in the evening,we all know the social status of those who stay in Karen,its true. millionaires do farming.There goes the challenge,Douglas started at 23,you have a chance to even start earlier.....
part of this story was carried in the Brookside Livestock Breeders Show Pamphlet.