Usilalie talanta! Tharaka Nithi police officer making a killing knitting, selling modern shaggy mats

Mercy Mugo, an adminstration police constable based in Tharaka nithi county is making a killing knitting and selling modern shaggy floor mats.

26 year old Mugo earns twice as much of her salary knitting floor mats when she is not on duty.

"I work in a post which is not so busy, so I found it wise to start a time passing venture that would also earn me some little income," Ms Mugo told the Star when we visited her.

The business adminstration diploma holder from the cooperative university college revealed that she is now in love with knitting as she earns extra income while expressing her creativity through it.

Mugo wanted to stand out of most police officers who spend their free time loitering around soliciting for bribes.

"I wanted to stand out and make money from doing something. I kept thinking that I needed to do something to generate income and I had a passion in knitting” she says.

Entrepreneurship had always been her hobby. As she grew up, she would find herself helping her mother weave and sell school sweaters in Nthagaiya market in Embu east. She had no idea that one day she would make some extra cash from a similar art.

“I knit mats according to my thoughts or my customer’s taste, I can make any design, colour, and shape,” she added.

In order to perfect her skill, Ms Mugo called on a friend for training tips on how to knit the mats.

“I was excited how my friend had so many orders, she was so busy thatIi had to turn to YouTube to learn more skills as she could not dedicate all her time training me yet she had pending orders," she said.

This encouraged her to take up the idea and use it creatively to her advantage.

Six months down the line she has knitted over sixty mats and trained several of her colleagues in the service.

She trains an individual at Sh200 a day for five days.

“In five days most of my colleagues, who are interested, are good and ready to start knitting,” said Mugo

The police constable knits a variety of mats with a creative finish.

She says that her mats can be designed for use in toilets, living room door, bedroom, coffee table and wall hangings.

Her prices are determined by the materials she uses.

She reveals that a standard door mat uses 10 balls of thread with each going for Sh80 while a one metre tapestry mesh goes for Sh450.

"I also do deliveries to my customers so i sell a square metre mat for Sh3,000.

To cater for all kinds of customers Ms Mugo uses old sacks to knit cheap mats.

She further added that when a customer makes an order she draws her desired design on the tapestry or a piece of sack for the customer to choose.

"It takes me three days to complete a square metre mat," she says.

In order to get a wide market reach, Ms Mugo markets her products via social media platforms.

The business minded police officer is contented with her decision to venture into the mat knitting business, which she does within the police post.

She says that knitting acts as a stress reliever, "I never get bored when i am doing this because apart from enjoying the knitting, it keeps me busy and I find that time moves really fast," she noted.

She however notes that she faces several challenges as she has to balance between meeting customer demands and serving the people as a police officer.

"Sometimes I have overwhelming orders and I am working, I am forced to reject some orders as I cannot knit while on duty."

"It also takes time to make big mats that can cover a standard sitting room, this drives the prices high because of the labour involved and some customers do not understand this," she added.

She is calling upon other police officers to venture into small part time businesses and change the perception of the public that all officers are corrupt.