Business: Owner, Corner Shop (Fruits and Vegetable shop)
Established: In 1920
Citizen: Kenyan
Sometime in the 1920s, Sandeep Wadhwa’s grandfather set forth from Rawalpindi and landed in Mombasa with his wife to start his business here. His first investment was a cart that would lug all the vegetables and fruits to be eventually sold to the European settlers here. That is the story of how Corner Shop in Nairobi traces its humble origin. Growing form a small business that involved all the members of the family in sorting, labeling and packing the vegetables to a brand that has 12 outlets under its flagship, today it stands for quality and variety. Catering to customers from African, Asian and European continents, it takes pride in being one of its kind.
“We have always got the corner spot, hence the name,” says Sandeep laughingly. “Any vegetable or fruit that one can’t trace in the whole of Nairobi, this shop will have it for sure,” is the belief of the large clientele that this shop has earned today. True to its name, anyone looking for a specific vegie in this part of the world, all one has to realize is, its just around the “corner.”
Research has proved that there is hardly an agricultural product that cannot be grown in Africa and its arable land for food security is reported to be the largest in the world.
“Corner shop at Diamond Plaza caters to 100 per cent Indian community. My father has been instrumental in introducing Indian vegetables to the farmers here,” says Sandeep with a smile.
Though poor refrigeration and transport facilities still pose as a big hurdle in keeping the vegetables fresh and consumers happy, they manage to deliver the goods. And how do they do that? “Look at my grey hair,” he says with a hearty laugh. Running a fruit and vegetable shop is no easy task. A full time job that’s exhausting, he remains unflappable and says that “perseverance counts.” But it is extremely satisfying. You see farmers grow as you grow. You see them buy their first cart, their first truck and the joy on their face is priceless,” he says with a deep sigh. Paying the staff well, setting up a fund for educating their children are some ways by which the Wadhwas have managed to run this show, this long. Though the feeling of disdain was there 30 years ago, “today Indians are respected,” he says especially for the employment that they have generated and their fair business practices. Being a Westgate survivor himself, Sandeep has complete faith in this land where initiatives have hit rock bottom yet have manage to reach new heights in no time. Having travelled the length and breadth of India studying the markets there he feels “Africa has so much to learn from India,” while it sadly tries to go after the European countries.
