You are likely to find Francis Kaleli working in his busy workshop along Wote Road in Machakos County.

His workshop is buzzing with machines, tools scrapping, power tools drilling away and saw dust covering almost every inch of the floor.

At the entrance of the shop there are dining chairs on display, waiting for potential buyers. There are two white shoe racks, a bed frame yet to be painted, and a brown wooden podium.

Francis, who has 26 years’ experience as a carpenter, is deaf.

He wasn’t born deaf. Most of the details of how he became deaf are fuzzy to him now but he remembers when he was about seven years old, he fell ill with malaria and lost his hearing.

While he may not be able to hear the buzz from the tools he uses, he can feel their vibration as they cut through wood to make a bed or a cupboard or whatever else his customers need.

He loves what he does and his work clearly speaks for itself.

Francis Kaleli began training as a carpenter in 1995 at Kerugoya Vocational Training.

However, all was not easy. It took him years of training, failure amidst hope while struggling to find a job because of the disability tag that seemed to hold him back.

But he gradually put aside enough capital including from his work in the laundry department in a Nairobi hospital, to being a caretaker to start his own business, before Franliza – the name of his business – grew to what it is today.

“I trained in carpentry in 1995 at Kerugoya Vocational Training.  After I finished the course, I searched for a job but it was hard to get one. I stayed for five years without a job,” Francis, a father of two, says through a sign language interpreter.

With job opportunities not forthcoming, he decided to start his own workshop. His parents, who have always supported his ambitions, gave him a parcel of land where his workshop sits today. And to get capital to start the business, he took up a job as a caretaker for rental houses belonging to his brother used “and that’s how I got savings to start my business.”

But building a business was not as easy as he thought.

His skills were not up to par, so the business was a non-starter.

Still, he wanted to learn and get better at his trade but going back to school wasn’t an option because he wanted on-the-job experience where he could absorb and acquire knowledge firsthand from professionals.

This is what led him to Ngara in Nairobi, at a workshop where he apprenticed for one year before he returned to Machakos to try and revive his business armed with improved skills.

Back home, Francis tried to revive the business, but it was just not growing.

Finishing touches: Francis paints a bed frame outside the workshop.

“It doesn’t matter how many times you fail at something, what matters is that you try and try again,” he signs.

He went back to Nairobi again, this time to look for a job that could pay him enough to save and enable him to grow his business.

“In Nairobi, I worked at a hospital in Lang’ata as a laundry attendant for 16 years. When I was there, I joined a chama (investment group) which was another source of money and I got loans as well. With the loans I bought my own equipment for the workshop,” he says.

Meanwhile, back at the workshop, he had one employee who was not trained in carpentry. But he kept him. For the 16 years, Francis juggled between his work as a laundry attendant and a carpenter, refining his skills.

“It wasn’t easy because a lot of clients couldn’t believe I was doing this job (carpentry) and my other abilities as well. So, I resigned in Nairobi and came to the village and employed three other people that I work with today,” says Francis.

The three other employees are deaf as well. To help with communication and delivering furniture to customers, he hired an employee who is not deaf.

Communication with customers involves him showing them his portfolio which is usually photos of work he has done before.

“I also have a book with me always so customers can write down what they want. Some will even draw the designs they want. Others communicate through the phone via text message or WhatsApp,” he says.

Most of his customers research their own designs for the kind of furniture they want made, but for those who don’t, he will search on Google or Facebook for some design inspiration.

To help with communication, Francis has hired an employee who can hear and speak to the customers.

The carpenter also uses social media as his marketing tool, especially Facebook and the Status feature on WhatsApp. And when the customers are satisfied with what he has made, they make payments through his M-PESA Pay Bill number.

While communication with his customers may be a little tricky, it’s a lot easier with his wife who is also deaf and their two children aged 13 and 8 years who know sign language and can speak and hear.

Francis’ entrepreneurial acumen has earned him the respect and admiration of his customers and even secured him government tenders.

“I won a tender from the government in Machakos County, I applied and was lucky to be selected, I now have a Local Purchase Order (LPO) and I make tables for government schools. Sometimes it takes a long time before I get the money. But it’s not just me, so I’m patient,” he says while smiling.

Francis has also learnt the value of having multiple streams of income, especially since they feed into his main business. He is a farmer and grows tomatoes and Haas avocadoes.