For a long time the small stocks (sheep and goats) market was hugely ignored. There had been no deliberate effort by the main meat processing companies in Kenya to meet the huge local demand for mutton (sheep meat) and chevron (goat meat). The firms thus never invested heavily on small stock processing facilities.

In 1973 a group of small scale businessmen began slaughtering small stock at their doorsteps to meet the demand for goat and sheep meat locally. Their efforts though unconventional and done under extremely low hygienic condition saw the rise of the KIAMAIKO slaughter houses; these were a group of individually owned slaughter houses built in the sprawling Kiamaiko area.