15 Best Side Hustles in Kenya for Teachers [Popular in 2024]

This is our comprehensive guide to the best side hustles in Kenya for teachers. If you are a teacher and looking for ways to make some extra cash on the side, this post is for you.

We will be looking at some great ideas you can use to make money while you are out of class.

Before that, let’s answer an important question;

Why Do Teachers Need Side Hustles?

While you probably make decent money as a teacher, you might be looking for ways to boost your income and improve your standard of living.

There are several reasons why starting a side hustle as a teacher is a great idea. These include:  

• You are looking to earn more than your present salary: Maybe you have a family to take care of and you know there is more money out there than what the government is paying you.
• You want to save for your retirement: For those who are thinking about their future, this might be a good way to start saving for retirement.
• You have debts to pay: If you have loans, credit card dues, or any other form of debt that you want to clear, starting a side hustle is a good idea.
• You are looking for ways to make money online: In today’s digital world, you have the possibility of making money online. As a teacher, this is definitely an option that you can explore.
• You are looking for ways to grow your wealth: Growing your wealth is certainly everyone’s goal. Starting a side hustle as a teacher could be one way of achieving financial freedom.

• You are looking for ways to have fun: Many people are generally unhappy at their jobs. However, if you find a way of making money while having fun, then this is definitely something that will improve your happiness levels.
• You are tired of being broke all the time: If you are always short on cash, what better way to solve the problem than starting a side hustle while you are still gainfully employed?
• You want to start doing something that is beneficial to society: This is an option that many people take, especially those who feel they can contribute more to society.

Okay, now that we got some of these out of the way, let’s get into some of the best side hustles in Kenya for teachers.

List of Best Side Hustles in Kenya for Teachers

1. Become a Part-Time Freelance Tutor and Earn Extra Cash

If you are someone who is an expert in your field, then you can probably become a freelance teacher as a side hustle.

What do we mean by being a freelance teacher? This simply means that you can take up private tutoring while you are still employed as a teacher.

If you are an expert in your field, then chances are that there will be many people who will want to learn from the best.

There are several benefits of being a freelance tutor including:

• You get paid well for teaching students in your spare time: This is one of the best things about being a freelance tutor or coach. You get paid well for what you love to do anyway, meaning that it’s a win-win situation for all parties involved.
• You are in control of how much you earn per hour: One of the most important factors in determining how much you earn per hour is the number of hours that you put into the job.  The more hours you put into tutoring, the more money you will make.
• You have your schedule under control: One good thing about being a freelance tutor is that you are in full control of your schedule. You can decide when to work and when to take a break.
• You control your working hours: When you are a freelancer, nobody can tell you what time to start or finish work. You decide this for yourself and that is one of the best things about being a freelance tutor.

As we said before, teaching students has other benefits apart from just making good money fast. If you are already employed, then this is definitely an option that you can explore.

2. Blogging Business as a Side Hustle

As a teacher, you are probably very good at some topics, such as finance or health. If you teach anything, then it also means that you have knowledge about the topic.

This is an area where you can start a blog and monetize your content. For example, if you are a business teacher, you probably know a lot about personal finance.

If this is the case, you can start a blog around this topic and teach people how to make money, save money, start investing, pay off debts, and money management in general.

With good content and some SEO, you should be able to get a good following and start monetizing your blog. Once you are up and running, you can make money from your blog by;

• Using Adsense: This is one of the most popular ways to monetize a blog.
• Offering advertising space on your blog: You can offer to give advertising space for businesses or other bloggers.
• Sell your own products or services: You can create products like eBooks and online courses to sell on your blog
• Affiliate marketing: You can also promote other people’s products to earn commissions on sales.

3. Freelance Writing

Did you know that you can make good money from freelance writing?

The best part about freelance writing is that you can write pretty much anything as long as it helps people. For example, if you are a computer teacher, you can write about the latest gadget and how it works, or if you are a biology teacher, you can create an eBook on how to grow certain types of flowers.

There is so much work available for freelancers and writing may well be one of your best options as a side hustle.

There are several reasons why you might want to write on the side without leaving your main job:

• Freelance writing can earn you some money fast so you don’t have to wait until the end of the month to settle your bills
• It is very flexible and you can do it after school hours or during the weekend
• You don’t necessarily need to be an expert in a topic to write about it. For instance, you might be an English teacher but can comfortably manage tech topics after doing some research.

4. Do Poultry Farming

Poultry farming is a good side hustle because it can make you a lot of money in a little time. It requires very little capital and once you have the right equipment, it’s easy to do.

Some of the common types of poultry that people keep in Kenya are:

• Chicken: One egg takes about 30 minutes to produce. The hen can lay an egg every day, which means you get a new egg every 30 minutes. When raised in the right conditions, chickens can be profitable within 3 months. 
• Turkeys: One turkey egg takes about 3 days to hatch. A male and female turkey take turns incubating the eggs until they are ready to hatch. Turkeys are known for their good-tasting meat, which can sell well in local supermarkets.

The extra eggs and poultry can be sold to neighbors or you can take the poultry products to the market where they are very popular with locals because of their high protein. You can easily make up to 100k per month from just one poultry.

5. Start a YouTube Channel

YouTube has become the second-largest search engine and is one of the best places to promote your side hustle. It is also an easy way to make extra money online.

If you love doing tutorials or giving advice, then starting a YouTube channel might be for you. You can start by teaching people how to do something or answer their questions. For example, you could create video tutorials on how to solve math problems or give career advice to young students.

The key to monetizing your YouTube channel is having high-quality videos that bring in viewers for advertisements.

You can make money from your YouTube channel in several ways:

• Sign up for the YouTube Partner Program
• Promote your own products or services
• Get paid to endorse other people’s products

6. Build Rental Houses

In Kenya, there is a huge demand for affordable housing in urban areas. You can advantage of this opportunity and build rental houses for low-income earners.

Most people cannot afford to buy their own house because banks are not willing to lend them money; instead, they opt for renting. This makes it very easy to rent out your property and make huge profits in a short time.

You can invest as little as Ksh 100 ($1) if you are looking to make money fast. You may also want to consider buying land where there is a growing population so that when the demand for housing increases, it will be easier to find customers for your rental houses.

Since you are a teacher and probably don’t have a lot of money to spare, you can start small with say four rooms then add more with time.

7. Sell Mitumba Clothes on Weekends

Since you will be free on weekends, you can decide to sell some mitumba clothes and make money.

People are always looking for cheap clothes, especially during special sales like the SALE, which is known to offer customers good discounts.

You can also start your own clothing business by ordering wholesale mitumba from suppliers directly and then selling at a higher price since it’s not easy to find them in the market.

Some tips to succeed with a mitumba business;

• Sell in a strategic location with a lot of people
• Hawk door-to-door if you are just starting out to increase your customer base
• Take pictures of the clothes and advertise on WhatsApp and social media like Facebook and Instagram
• Come up with creative discounts for your loyal customers.

8. Become a Part-time Babysitter

As a teacher, you are probably very good with kids. This is especially true for ECDE teachers or those who teach lower primary ( that is from grades one to three).

You can offer your services as a babysitter and take care of children from busy parents during the evenings or on weekends. Start by letting them know that you have available time slots on weekends then build from there.

You can also talk with fellow teachers and let them know that you are available for babysitting in case they need your services.

For example, teachers who stay in school until late evening but children in ECDE or lower primary might need someone to take care of them in the evenings.

The best time to babysit and get paid if you are a teacher is:

• During the evening
• On weekends
• During your day-offs or leave
• During the holiday

9. Create and Sell Lesson Plans to Other Teachers

Creating lesson plans is a hectic process that most teachers don’t have the time to invest in. You can use your creative juices to create various types of lesson plans and offer them for a fee.

You can make a book with all different types of lesson plans at a fair price, which will be beneficial, especially for new teachers or those who want some ideas on how to make their own.

You can also consider putting together various types of lesson plans like those for primary school, secondary school, or even college students so that you can attract more customers.

When you become good at this, you can get plenty of customers. First from your own school then you might also start getting referrals from other schools.

10. Teach at Private Schools on Weekends or at Night

This is one of the most common methods used by teachers to earn extra income. You can teach at a private school on the weekend while regular schools are closed.

You might also want to consider teaching during your holidays since some schools offer extra classes, which means that you will be paid for holiday lessons during the days that other teachers aren’t usually in school. You can even choose to create a schedule where you teach certain courses during the day and then others during weekends or holidays.

Besides private schools, if you know that certain universities offer extra training for their students right after exams, why don’t you get in touch with them so that you can offer your services?

11. Create and Sell Revision Papers to Schools

You can also create revision papers for different courses and sell them to the schools. This will be helpful especially when no one in school knows how to make these kinds of papers.

You can even write your own course materials by putting together all types of notes or creating flashcards if you are a language teacher, which is particularly beneficial for secondary school students.

12. Rent Out Your Car

If you have a car or any other four-wheel vehicle, you can even use it to get an income by renting it out during the day when you are not using it.

This can be a great way to increase your income while you are still teaching.

You see when you are in school, your car will just be idle. Why not use it to make some extra money?

Advertise it in your school and let other teachers or the people in your vicinity know that you have a car for rent at a fair price.

You can charge from Kshs 500 to Kshsh 5000 depending on when you will be using it and how long. To ensure safety, you should only rent out your car to people you know and can trust.

13. Write and Sell Revision Books

Good revision books are in very high demand in Kenyan schools. However, the problem is not many people are willing to invest the time and write them. So, you find that this task is left to people who are not even teachers but just looking to make quick money.

You are a teacher, why not take advantage of this massive money-making opportunity? You can create your own revision books for various courses and sell them to schools.

This might take some time since you have to do research, but once you are done, you will have a book that will be sold over and over again.

You can even target private schools that are willing to pay more than ordinary schools by putting together a very impressive revision book.

Even though you might not know how to write a full course material or revision book, why don’t you use your notes from school and create a PDF file with the most important topics within the course?

For example, if you are a science teacher, why not put together all the concepts that students should be able to memorize before doing an exam?

14. Become A Motivational Speaker for Students

If you have a way with words and can easily motivate students, why not capitalize on your talents by becoming a motivational speaker for schools?

You will be paid to give encouraging speeches during school assemblies or when there is a need for motivation in the class.

What makes it easy for you is that you don’t have to prepare much. Just walk in, give an impressive speech, and get paid.

15. Become an Uber Driver at Night and on Weekends

If you live in Nairobi or any other big city, why not become an Uber driver at night and on weekends since it is during these hours that most people need to get around?

You can even do this every other day or whenever you feel like making some extra income.

However, please be careful when driving late at night because Nairobi has a high rate of crime, so if you are not careful, you might be robbed by the criminals that are lurking around at night.

Conclusion

If you are a teacher who needs to make money, then these are some of the best side hustles that you can consider. However, note that these will not be enough for your monthly income especially because you have other bills to pay like rent and school tuition fees.

You should therefore put emphasis on improving your skills so that you can earn a full-time income from the other side hustles.

Best of luck as you pursue your dreams!