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With Kenya's cost of living climbing and job opportunities tightening, more and more Kenyans are turning to side hustles to stay afloat or thrive. The beauty? Most of these don’t require a lot of capital to start.

In this article, we break down 7 of the most realistic and profitable side hustles you can start in Kenya today, even with little to no cash.

1. Freelance Writing

If you can write well and meet deadlines freelance writing is a goldmine. Many Kenyans are earning decent income writing articles, blog posts, and product descriptions for local and international clients.

Platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, and TranscribeMe offer a gateway into the world of remote work. To get clients from this platform, you need to have proof of work, and the most preferred one is having reviews from previous clients or people you have offered your services to.

If you haven't worked with anyone yet, it's going to be hard to gain trust from the clients so what you need to do is offer your services at a very low and affordable rate or work with people for free in return to get reviews from them.

In this game, strategy is important.

Some of the ways you can get started is tro use AI tools like Grammarly or Hemingway for grammar, editing and paraphrasing.

Start with a niche: tech, health, crypto, or travel just make sure you really know what you are doing. Pitch to local companies with poor websites/blog content or wherever your target market is and show how you can be a solution to them.

2. Selling Thrift Clothes (Mitumba)

Mitumba is a fashion culture in Kenya why? It is affordable, unique, and stylish.

Gikomba Market Nairobi, Toi Market, and even online platforms like Instagram and TikTok are goldmines for this side hustle.

Some sellers flip clothes for 3–5x their buying price. It's like flipping cars or houses only in the fashion world. The best thing about these thrifted items is that they are loved due to their high quality and uniqueness. They are popular among the Genz's who are fashion obsessed or as they say it: "kupiga luku."

This has actually made some people millionaires right here in Kenya and even in other countries that have taken it up.

For your business to be successful, make sure you take nice photos, and you can even create a theme for your page which you use to advertise these products. Whatever you do don't give up!

Some of the tips I will give for this one is build a TikTok or Insta brand, focus on niche styles: Y2K, official, oversized and lastly offer delivery via boda for convenience or pickup mtaani.

Have you ever considered a career in the bank? This is how much a bank teller is paid in different banks.

3. MPesa Agency

While mobile money is a daily need, many neighborhoods lack enough agents. Starting an MPesa business may require some licensing and float (starting capital), but the daily commission-based revenue can be consistent.

To start, you might need to have a business permit, float or capital of at least Ksh 50,000–100,000

You will also be required to have a KRA pin, ID copy, and passport photos. To avoid any losses and risk, consider opening it in a safe and high traffic location.

4. Affiliate Marketing

Promote products and earn commissions per sale.

With more Kenyan e-commerce platforms like Jumia, Sino Soft, Kilimall, and travel platforms offering affiliate programs, it's a high-potential hustle especially if you’re active on social media.

For this to work, join affiliate programs like Jumia, Sino Soft, Amazon, Host Pinnacle and any other offering the opportunities. You can look for them online and sign up. To check if your links are getting clicked, you can use bitly to track link clicks. You can also use AI tools to write reviews and product guides.

5. Jua kali Artisan Work

From metalwork, woodwork, furniture, welding Kenya’s Juakali sector is a beast. People want unique stools, custom shelves, and metal grills.

You don't need to be the artisan you can be the marketer and reseller. If you are really good in sales and marketing especially online, this one is for you.

To get started, visit local artisans take product photos and list the products on Jiji, WhatsApp and Instagram. You can build a brand around the whole thing may be under the idea made in Kenya by Kenya.

6. Online Tutoring

Kenyans are searching for knowledge from coding to cooking to language learning. If you can teach, you can earn. Offer virtual classes on WhatsApp, Telegram, or Google Meet.

People nowadays are eager to learn new skills. You can teach what you know best may be how to make soft chapati's in a fun interactive way like chef Dennis Ombachi.

Just own whatever you are going to teach.

7. Urban Farming

Rooftop gardens and backyard mushroom farms are booming, especially in cities. Demand for organic produce is rising, and people love supporting local, green businesses.

You can start making agriculture content and show people how to farm and tricks that people didn't know about the particular product you are farming or showcasing. You can start with Sukuma wiki in sacks, Rabbit or Kienyeji chicken farming.

This can really make you money especially if you choose to commercialize it by selling the byproducts and the content. To make this even bigger you can learn some editing skills to make your content top notch and different from others.

Which is the Best Side Hustle for Me?

To know what will work best for you, ask yourself these few questions:

• What skill do I already have?
• How much time can I commit weekly?
• What can I be consistent with?
• How much capital can I start with?
• Do I need to Internet if so, do I have access to it?

Once you have answered this questions you are in the perfect place to start and scale your side hustle.

Payment Methods for your side Hustle.

Once you get your business running of course you need somewhere to run through your new income. These are the most affordable and readily available payment methods:

• Use M-Pesa Paybill or Till numbers for smoother payments.
• Create a free Linktree for all your service links
• Leverage WhatsApp Business for customer tracking, catalogs and automated messages to new and existing clients.

I hope this really helps. Incase you wanna scale up and get a website or register your business and domain, we can help with that. For a more conclusive details on how you can start a business, refer to this article.

Which one of the above are you going to try? Have you ever tried any of these side hustles? Was it lucrative? Did you buy your mama a house? Just curious.

Comment down below which one you are going to try out and which one you have ever tried out. Have a great day! In case of any questions, reach out.