Heed Restuta on how to use social media to mint money

Like any other Tanzanian, Restuta Bura-Kweka had always believed that acquiring tertiary education is a sure-fire path to landing a plum job.

That was precisely why the 32-year old mother of three children did her best at school.

But, in 2012, that dream died a natural death – so to speak – when she found herself moving from one office to another in search of a job, as her Diploma in Insurance and Risk Management did not help her.

“I then decided to focus all my time and energies at chickens keeping,” she tells The Citizen.

Within two years, she had saved at least $3,000 (about Sh6.9 million at the prevailing exchange rate). This was enough for her to travel to China to buy clothes, shoes and accessories for sale in Dar es Salaam.

Meanwhile, the number of chickens she was rearing had also risen from 500 in 2012 when she started to 2,000 in 2014. That was also the year when she decided to leave the chicken-keeping business to her mother.

With no brick-and-mortar shop in town, she decided to use social media as her shop.

That was how Facebook became her business partner.

She used to carry the products and sell them to friends and relatives. But, the business did not survive long – largely because she was selling her wares on credit, and some buyers could not pay on time or in full.

That was how she found herself doing another business.

She opened an insurance company, Elementary Insurance Agency, dealing with vehicles, domestic and medical services where she employed one person at the beginning.

“It was hard to rent an office with a capital of Sh5 million. I had a ‘movable office’ until I got the office and employed two more people,” she said.

Being popular on social networks, Restuta opened a Resty Fish Barbecue along Victoria Street where she delivered barbecued fish to her customers who ordered same through the social networks, including Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook.

With a capital of Sh1.5 million, she was able to earn up to Sh1 million per day from the sales, as well as providing jobs to three chefs and five motorcyclists to deliver the food.

She then moved her business from Victoria Street to Mbezi Beach where she built a palm treehouse in which to run the business.

At the fish barbecue sales point, she started selling pork dishes, which generated enough income with which to build a bar and employ more than 15 people.

“Pork meat was a get-rich-quick game to me. Within three months, I had saved enough money with to construct the Resty Park at which we sell soft and alcoholic drinks, as well as fish and pork dishes,” she said. Restuta married Mr InvocavithKweka, a lawyer, in 2017.

Mr Kweka describes his wife as an assertive woman who stands for her dreams; a hard-working person who does not give up...

“She is a risk-taker. Whenever an opportunity arises, she grabs it regardless of the risks which may be involved. She tries everything, and if fails at it, she just takes it in stride,” he said – adding that “she is a good wife,” and the mother of their three children. Restuta is the major reason for her husband to quit his profession job as a lawyer, and become a businessman.

“She strongly convinced me with vivid evidence – and I quit my legal-eagle job,” he says.

Thereafter, Mr Kweka has been running a fumigation company, and also doubles as the general manager of his wife’s businesses.

Restuta says she is just a salesperson who is popular in social media platforms – and her husband is responsible for managing all the businesses.

“It was in 2018 when I was pregnant that I wanted him to pull out of my businesses and start his own. I wanted him to become the boss of his own business,” she says.

During her maternity leave, she felt at peace and secure since her husband was doing a good job of running their businesses.

“It was during this time that I thought of getting into selling cosmetics. I started by posting the products on my social media platforms – and prospective customers’ reactions were most encouraging,” she recalls.

After her ‘maternity leave,’ she opened a small cosmetics shop along Victoria Street.

But, in November 2020, she moved the business an area next to the Makumbusho Bus Stand in Kinondoni District.

She has employed three girls as sellers at the cosmetics shop, and five ‘Bodaboda’ motorcyclists to deliver goods to her online customers.

Future plans

Apart from the daily earnings from her Resty Park, insurance and cosmetics businesses, Restuta has also introduced her own beauty brand organic product in name of ‘La Vista.’

She created a formula of the product in France, and it is being produced in China using natural ingredients.

“My purpose is to make women beautiful by using organic products instead of chemical beauty products,” she said.

To-date, her Instagram web site has 500k followers!

Her next plans are to open branches in Dar es Salaam and upcountry regions to sell the La Vista product.

Profile

Born in Karatu District, Arusha Region in 1989, Restuta is the second out of five children. She completed her primary education at Kawe Primary School in Dar es Salaam in 2002 and Secondary Education at Zanaki Secondary School in Dar es Salaam in 2006.

She completed her Diploma Programme in Insurance and Risk Management at the Dar es Salaam Institute of Finance Management (IFM) in 2010. She is married with three children.

She likes doing exercises, going on picnics with her family after church on Sundays, and travelling.

Message

“I would like to tell my fellow women and youths to prudently use social media platforms to make money instead of posting useless things on them. More than 80 percent of my businesses are based on social media platforms – and trust me: I make lots of money by prudently using them,” she says.