A recent survey done by Nielsen Kenya has findings that Kenyans could well be sitting on billions of unused inventory that they could easily turn to cash. Nielsen reports that some Kshs 158 billion worth of unused goods in a survey carried out across the country in 2014.
Nairobi, the capital naturally leads with some unused goods worth 69 billion Kenya shillings followed by Eastern with 26 billion and Central with 22 billion. The value of the unused art collections per capita (per person) is the highest at Ksh. 144,073 followed by furniture at Ksh. 27,765 and Computers/Laptops Ksh. 25,057.
This is easily about 5% of Kenya’s GDP we are sitting on should people choose to sell it.
Priscilla Muhiu, Head of Marketing OLX in Kenya, says that when people have a financial need, they would rather ask for a loan from a friend or even a bank. Selling the items they don’t need or don’t use anymore is not top of mind. People need to realize that the items the keep in their homes could be valuable as a source of cash.
Liquidating these personal long-term assets (converting them into cash) could improve their purchasing power while also optimizing these items ‘ value before they are fully depreciated or disposed as waste.
“If one was to sell every unused good in a full house, they could make enough money to meet their financial needs. In fact, you might even have money to start a business or explore other economic ventures,” she says. “.
The AC Nielsen research shows that if we had a good turn-over of a fraction of the used items that people are keeping in their homes, 4 things will happen ;
1) More money will flow back into our economy , spurring demand for goods and services
2) People who are selling will be able to lower their cost of living by being able to offset the cost of upgrading into a new item with the revenue they will earn by selling the older item
3) Overall, other people looking for acquiring goods at lower price points, for example a student who has just gotten her/his first job will be able to afford high quality items at lower prices if they buy them used .
4) Where people don’t have to borrow money at a high-interest, they will make their lives even more cheaper ”
40% of the 855 respondents surveyed did not sell because they didn’t think they had anything to sell. Considering that furniture, clothing and books lead the unsold inventory, we have quite a huge potential of making money out of things we percieve useless while at the same time would prove to be useful to others.
