I started by asking him, how do you feel about winning Ksh. 1.5 million for your business?

Great! We are incredibly excited and thankful. Appwiz has been a great experience for us. We are really look forward to developing our relationship with Safaricom, and using the grant to help our company scale.

Would you please tell us a bit about yourself and your company Lynk?

Lynk is striving to transform the informal sector as we believe the relationship between households and fundis is broken. We offer transparency, security and reliability for households seeking to hire fundis, but to fundis Lynk offers a way to advertise their services, develop their skills and receive feedback about their work.

I am currently the lead developer at Lynk, Before that I worked on medical applications. I really enjoy working at Lynk and would like see Lynk making a major contribution to the informal sector not only in Kenya but also in other African countries.

So, how did you start Lynk and what made you choose the informal sector?

The informal sector represents about 80% of the Kenyan GDP and about 55% of the GDP of sub saharan Africa. Yet it is a sector that we (the government and research institutes included) know very little about. This is what excites us about Lynk. We can gain insights into this sector and develop products which help both the people in it and the people requesting services from it. Lynk was started about 4 months ago. We started serving customers about 3 months ago at about the same time when we entered the Appwiz competition. We decided not to do marketing because we want to make sure that the product is perfect before. However, just telling a few friends about Lynk and Adam’s occasional pitches at events made our job requests grow to more than 350.

Interesting, what challenges did you face when starting your business?

It has been challenging to balance product development, customer acquisition/management, worker recruitment and finding time for Appwiz mentoring classes as a small team (we are 4 people) so we had very little sleep during that time. But the insights and learnings far outweighed the costs. And now we have a clear vision for the following weeks and months about where we want to be.

Any type of funding is crucial to business start-ups, so how did you find the process of searching for your business funding?

Funding is always a challenge for small companies. Thankfully we were able to cover our own expenses very early from the incoming job requests. This is mostly due to the fact that we stayed very lean and spent as little as possible. In order to fuel the growth that we are planning for the next months we will need external investments.

So how was the experience of joining the Safaricom Appwiz competition?

Appwiz was great. One of the most valuable things for us was access to experienced mentors to bounce ideas off of. When starting a company there are lots of areas in which none of the team members has experience in and it was great to be able to pick the minds of smart people in order to answer some of these questions. Especially the cooperation between the teams was exciting. We are still holding brainstorming sessions with some of the other teams after the competition.

What were the main challenges you faced in your business? And how will the funding from the competition impact your business?

Lynk targets a traditionally very off-line and real world business, the informal sector. This brings a lot of operational challenges. How to make sure the fundis know where to go, are on time and all communications are clear to both parties involved. Additionally, signing up informal workers is a challenge in and of itself. We highly value quality and want every single customer to have a good experience when hiring fundis. As a result we have to be very careful when we interview workers and sign them up to our system. Funding will allow us to really scale our business by bringing on more key team members, developing new products, and forging key partnerships.

What was the key to your success in winning the Safaricom Appwiz Competition?

While we obviously don’t know how exactly the judges took their decision, during the competition we tried to communicate as much as possible and as openly as possible. For example we hosted a discussion about the technologies used by the different teams. Our idea of a successful start-up ecosystem is is one of collaboration where essentially everybody is able to stand on the shoulders of giants. This idea can also be found in the open source movement of which we are firm supporters.

What advice do you have for other start-ups who are still looking for business funding?

Competitions such as Appwiz are very useful. Even if you don’t win, it helps to sharpen the business model, it gives exposure to interesting and insightful people. This is not only valuable in terms of exposure but the goal of the judges and mentors is to constantly question the choices taken by the participating start-ups and to find mistakes. This means that if you survive a good business competition such as Appwiz you can consider your business as validated.

We believe that funding is less important than having a great product. If you have a great product, funding will find you. Finding funding is more time consuming than many people think and it is easier with a finished product in the pocket. So instead of thinking about funding first, people should concentrate on being close to their first adopters and iron out even the smallest of kinks in their value proposition.

Ok, final question from me: What are the future plans for Lynk?

As Lynk we want to transform the informal sector. We’ll do this is by offering good service and transparency to the customers and allowing fundis to improve over time. The goal is to create a meritocratic system in the informal sector or in other words it is to make good fundis rich.

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Hello Entrepreneurs,

I was able to talk to a good friend of mine, Martin Gicheru on how he started his amazing journey in blogging and has been able to make a living from it. He is the managing editor at Techweez.com, where he covers mainly consumer technology and electronics, internet business, Social Media and web trends. Sometimes he tries to maintain sanity in the newsroom.

I started the interview by asking him, could you please tell us a bit about yourself and what kind of a person are you?

Thank you Enock. My name is Martin Gicheru; I am the managing editor at Techweez.com. Techweez is a tech blog located in Nairobi. It has very good authority in the mobile industry both in Kenya and East Africa. We were ranked by Technocratic among the top 100 technology blog globally.

So, when Techweez started out, what specific idea, purpose or vision was the key driving force?

I would say that initially it started as a passion. When I was growing up, I thought I was going to become a journalist but then somewhere along my life, I got influenced to do Information Technology (IT) but this didn’t change my passion that I had.

When I finished my studies, I realized that there is an opportunity in the technology news segment. There was no in-depth story telling going on about the technology industry in Kenya, only just news coverage by the mainstream media on technology news which didn’t get that much air-time. That’s when it came to me that I needed to start a tech blogging business.

So I decided to blend my passion for journalism and my IT skill to start a blog about technology news and provide more insight to readers on what it happening in the tech space.

It is interesting to see how you merged your passion and skill to create Techweez.com. Now, what challenges did you face when you were looking for your first customer after setting up Techweez?

That’s a very good question Enock. Well, conversion has been the biggest challenge when I started blogging. Mainstream media had always been perceived as the point of information and thus it has attracted companies to advertise their products/services with them.

Companies used to perceive bloggers as just bunch of guys sitting at their homes expressing their bad opinions on anything via their blog. But there has been a huge progress on blogging in Kenya, as we have seen more corporate companies collaborate or advertise on blogs as the perception has changed dramatically. We have been able to attract small businesses and corporate website to advertise and run campaigns on our platform.

What were the main challenges you faced early on in your business? And do you still encounter them to this day?

Well, I have IT skills and am passionate about journalism but I had little business skills. Before I got a business partner who invested in my company, most of the business operations and process were hard for me. I had challenges on how to sell my products, how to package it, and also presentation were not among some my list of strengths. Since I was able to build a team that could be dedicated on those areas that I was not strong, it allowed me to focus more time on my strengths which was writing articles.

Considering the fierce competition in Today’s business world, how would you highlight your company’s competitive advantages? What makes it stand out of the crowd?

There is a beauty in specialization when it comes to blogging. You get more recognition in your area of specialty when you focus on one topic as suppose to when you try to cover everything. You should always avoid trying to be everywhere and be nowhere. People tend to look for someone who understands a particular topic very well to consider them an authority in that field.

In Techweez, we have made that we only focus on technology reviews and news thus making us an authority in our field. That has helped us to get recognition by some of the big technology corporate companies who have engaged us because of our specialty.

Techweez made some improved changes on its user interface for online web and mobile platform. Could tell us what impact this changes made for the company?

The growth of our website was an increase in resource utilization on our web hosting. Sometime back we were struggling to pay our hosting bills because our website started to consume more memory, disk space and of course that meant that the cost of our hosting went upwards due to the frequent upgrades we needed to do to sustain the site traffic.

With the increase of bandwidth and memory consumption on our website, we decided to move our hosting to a dedicated server that would provide resources that will help us to sustain any increase in traffic in our website.

We also started to create products on our website that will make us stand out from the mainstream media and improve our web structure so to allow easier access of information by our readers.

On a lighter note, what are some of your top mobile apps that make your work more effective?

Telegram – I find this app very useful especially when it comes to collaboration and communicate with my team and has improved our teamwork.

Mailchimp – this helps me to view reports on my mobile in regards to the performance of my website when it comes to email subscription for our website.

Evernote – When I attend events, I usually use Evernote to write my notes that enables me to save it offline. When I go online, the notes get synchronized automatically that allows me to access the notes on my laptop and other devices.

Office365 – We also use cloud computing service. We have subscribed to Microsoft Office365 that allows us to store images from events attended by our writers. Our cameras has Wi-Fi capability that allows our writers to send us photos to office365 as soon as they take them, thus enabling us at our offices to access the photos almost on real time basis.

What is the toughest decision you had to make?

I would say it was the transition from employment to entrepreneurship. Employment had provided me with consistent salary but you know when you get into business, your salary is not consistent. Of course business has its benefit because I am able to set my salary and determine how much I would like to earn.

Do you feel that the decision you made to leave employment was the right decision for you?

Yes! I am glad I started my business and have the freedom to build an authoritative business in my industry that is attracting big corporate who want to work with us.

Your company recently received some funding. How did Techweez obtain funding from investors and what was the key to your success in getting that fun

Well, I don’t know if my case applies to any person, because before I got my funding I wasn’t looking actively for funding but rather focusing more on building my influence in my space.

There are people who are looking for investors actively and they tend build their business with the hope of getting funding. To get funding, you need to start solving problems that exist in your choose niche market or mass market. Do not create a problem that does not exist, make sure that you do research to find the problems that people experience in your market and how you will go about bringing a solution for it.

You need to also have a big vision for your business. Investor likes to see an entrepreneur who has a great vision for the company that will grow the business in the future. Don’t focus so much on how much money you will get or you want from an investor, but rather look at whether your business idea is viable or fundable.

You need to have the ability on how to build a good team that will enable the business to grow by utilizing the funding wisely that will bring results. You need to develop growth projections for the business and be able to lead your team to achieve those targets.

Many entrepreneurs complain about not succeeding in business due to lack of adequate funding, what is your take on this matter and how do you cope with funding issues in your company?

I’d say it entirely depends on the type of business you have and also your business model. If you are targeting mass market, of course you will need to have huge resources to acquire them, but if your target is niche market or Business To Business (B2B) like us, then you have a chance to be able to grow your business with minimal resources. But don’t get me wrong, this doesn’t mean that our business model is cheap to run.

Let’s say that you want to start a social media in Nairobi for Kenyans, you will need huge amount of resources to build such a social media company since you will be competing with well established business such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+. To get funding for such a business will be harder, unless you can prove to the investor the viability of the business.

What impact will this funding have on Techweez operations?

The funding has enabled us to have stability in our operations and it has been easier to build strong structures for the business to grow better. We have been able to publish more stories to our readers because we now have a good team.

When I used to run my business by myself, I was limited on the number of interviews or events that I can give coverage. But now with a team, we have been able to give more coverage to Technology events and perform several interviews. We have more capacity to run multiple campaigns for several corporate clients all at the same time.

I can see you have a good number of team members during the tour you gave me in your office. What’s your way of identifying talents and building effective working teams to achieve great results?

Well, there is one interesting fact that doesn’t get mentioned in public domain. There are a lot of people in the job market and of course there are a lot of jobs. But what is currently missing is the connection between what the companies are looking for and the skill set that the employee has. It is hard to get the right person for your business at the same time unemployed people are finding it hard to get the right company for them as well.

So, did you find the right skill set for your company and how did you go about it?

Yes, I was able to get the right people whom I wanted to join my team because I used the right forums to reach out to the right people. I also looked for people who had passion for technology but also the know-how when it comes to technology news and writing skills for blogging.

What are your most effective methods to motivate your team for outstanding results?

First thing I do, is to sell the vision on why we exist and what we stand for. I make sure that ownership of the vision is there. In the media industry, there is a great responsibility to provide accurate information to the readers. That’s why I make sure that our team understands this responsibility of working on articles that are accurate and relevant to our readers.

Outline the schedule of one of your typical working day?

My typical day starts at 6am. I start by checking on the website, to see if there is everything is running smoothly. I also check social media to see if there is any urgent response needed to be done that myself or the company has been mentioned on. I also check reports on the website traffic and how it has been performing.

I arrive in the office at around 7am, where I check my emails to see if there is any correspondence that are required. This helps me prepare a To-do list that I need to achieve for one that given day before end of business.

Part of my to-do list as a managing editor is to make sure that our readers are getting the relevant content. I also monitor other sites that are in my industry and see what they are doing.

We also do content strategy as a team so that everyone knows what they need to get done, and then we use our Telegram App to engage each other on those tasks in real time.

My day usually ends at around 8-9pm.

Wow! Now that is a long day at work. Do you consider yourself a workaholic?

There is nothing special about the number of hours I work. Well, success doesn’t come easy. You have to put in long hours in your business for it to succeed.

What are your top websites/blogs that you can’t imagine your day without? Give your reasons.

I would say Gmail and Twitter. Without Twitter, I would feel very disconnected from the world. I use twitter a lot to read most of other websites that I follow & keep up with. Gmail is also another crucial site that serves me for communication with my clients, so I can’t see how I can go a day without it.

Who is your greatest example and inspiration?

I would say Jim Bankoff – CEO Vox Media. Jim runs all aspects of Vox Media, one of the fastest growing online publishers, focused on the sports, personal technology and gaming categories. Am impressed at how he grew The Verge which he started 3 years ago and now it is the most influential online media website in the US. They are doing things differently and interestingly and everyone wants to be associated with them.

That’s the direction I want to do things at Techweez.com. I want us to be different from other tech blogs or media websites in Kenya and Africa.

Ok, final question from me: What are the future plans for Techweez?

We plan to grow and scale up our business to other markets. We want to focus to East Africa countries, South Africa and also Asian countries. But our main focus now is to build an established authority in Africa.

Thank you Martin for a Great Interview! Here is to your success in business.

The post Interview with Martin Gicheru: How I Started Techweez.com appeared first on Fenesi.com.

Enock Kiprono: Hello Estelle, can you please tell us a little about yourself and your business?

Estelle: My name is Estelle Verdier-Watine, 27 year old French National. My very first experience in Kenya was in 2006, when I came around as a tourist. I was still in school, the people were hospitable, the country very scenic. I made a mental note of coming back-I wasn’t sure how, but I was certain this was where I wanted to be! By then I was a student in Political Science, and later took a Master in both Management and Economics. As luck would have it, I had the merit of fluency in both French and English, which nabbed me an internship with UNFAO Headquarters in Nairobi-Gilgil. My dream was about to be realized.

Later on I worked with an NGO before moving to the telecommunication industry (Orange and Cellulant) which spurred my confidence and interest in Start Ups. I launched Jovago.com East Africa in July 2013, whose main objective was to make travel in Africa easy, accessible and affordable.

Jovago.com is an online hotel booking company focused on the African market. We have operations in over 20 African countries and partnerships with close to 9000 hotels. We take advantage of technology to make it easy for people anywhere in the world, at any time to book a hotel in Africa.

Enock Kiprono: So who exactly are you targeting as your customers?

Estelle: We are targeting both locals and international travelers. In Kenya for instance we offer both resident and non-resident rates on our website. This is part of our objective to sell Kenya to Kenyans by supporting local tourism, in the same spirit we launched Mpesa as a Payment Option and we also allow customers to pay during their check ins.

Enock Kiprono: I believe you are not running Jovago.com by yourself. So how many people do you work with?

Estelle: In East Africa we have a team of 30 people, making sure we get the best hotels on board, best deals with these hotels and a great customer experience for referrals!

Enock Kiprono: How would you describe your entrepreneurial journey into the world of online business and hotel industry?

Estelle: I have always been quite a geek. I created my first website when I was 10 years old. At that time I was living in Canada and got a chance to get computer classes and learn how to do this. I started my career in the telecommunication industry, I worked with Orange at their HQ then at their subsidiary in Kenya, Telcom Kenya. You learn a lot from big corporate like Orange but the speed of action is a bit frustrating. I then worked for a Kenyan start up but it was still not dynamic enough. I finally joined African Internet Holding which was exactly what I was looking for in terms of speed of action.

I love travelling. I travelled in North and South America, in many countries in Africa and in Europe. I love discovering new places, preparing a travels etc… When I was offered the opportunity to co-found and launch jovago.com in East Africa I immediately said yes to the offer. I have been organizing travels for many friends and actually think that jovago.com answers an unmet need. People used to struggle a lot to organize their trip to Africa, Jovagois making it easier and more secure. Hotels are also enthusiastic about getting customers from all over the world.

Enock Kiprono: When you started out Jovago East Africa, what specific idea, purpose or vision was your key driving force?

Estelle: The idea was to make it easier for people to travel to Africa, and provide more transparency about the services offered by the different hotels. We display pictures for each hotel, we confirm that all the information about the hotel is correct, etc…

We also adapt our services to local needs such as: resident rates, Mpesa payments, Agent Affiliate Programme etc…

Enock Kiprono: What challenges did you face when you were looking for your first customer after setting up your business?

Estelle: On the contrary, there already was a customer base: travelers were hampered by the challenge of finding affordable accommodation in preferred destinations. The task lay with the hotels: hotel managers are not always very tech-savvy. Hotels are often managed by 40-50 years old managers who are not used to technology and are more often than not, unaware of the opportunity online web presents to their business. We have to prove to them that they have to go online, get an email address, and learn our system to grow their business on a global scale.

Enock Kiprono: What achievements can you tell us about Jovago East Africa?

Estelle: Today Jovago is partnering with over 3000 hotels in East Africa. In Kenya alone, we have our largest market of over 1000 hotels signed to our website. Everyday we have new customers using our service and more and more happy customers returning to our website. Hotels are also happy to see that we are helping them get some business especially in this difficult times for the Kenyan hospitality industry. Moreover I am very proud of my team, they are doing an amazing job here, some of them have really grown in terms of competencies and gained experience to help them launch own businesses in future.

Enock Kiprono: Very impressive achievements Estelle. In your journey to success, you must have encountered some challenges while running your online business?

Estelle: Like most online entrepreneurs will agree, cultivating integrity with a faceless system is a challenge, initially our brand was new and some hotels would not trust us. They would think we are one of these very many online businesses. We had to patiently prove to them that we are a really proper business with a strong team based here in Kenya, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Pakistan, Portugal, France and Germany. We offer top level customer care and we have a strong IT and online marketing teams based in Europe supporting our business. It takes time to create trust but I think after a year of operation we now have a good reputation and hotels see that we are helping them grow their business.

Enock Kiprono: How do you balance your personal life (family) and that of your business life? What challenges did you face and what advice can you tell an aspiring entrepreneur about work life balance?

Estelle: I work hard and fast during the day without any distraction such as Facebook or personal emails. I make the most of every minute to make sure in the evening I have some time with my husband, daughter and friends. When you manage a company it’s not possible to disconnect completely but it’s important to spend some time doing other things other than work, it allows you to step back and get a fresh look at things.

Enock Kiprono: Do you have mentors, business coach or external consultants that you work closely with to grow yourself and your business? If yes, to what extent would you describe their impact on your business? If no, are there any particular reasons?

Estelle: I don’t really have a mentor, I learn from many people: colleagues, friends, family.

Enock Kiprono: Many entrepreneurs complain about not succeeding in business due to lack of adequate funding, what is your take on this matter and how do you cope with funding issues in your business?

Estelle: I think when a venture is well timed, and strategically packaged to serve a demand, attracting investors becomes easier. Africa Internet Holding, has very powerful investors (MTN, Millicom and Rocket Internet) on board, they not only invest financially but also supply expertise in launching and sustaining successful online businesses, structuring, rolling out plans etc…

Enock Kiprono: It seems you have everything working for you, so how are you changing the world through Jovago?

Estelle: We are making it easier, more affordable, and more secure to travel in Africa. We provide many options to our customers from 5 star hotels to hostels. Moreover we negotiate rates for our customers. Through jovago.com it’s very easy to make a booking without the anxiety of your Visa Card’s security. Apart from Mpesa, you can opt to pay upon arrival. For each hotel you will find accurate information, and pictures which will help you make the best choice for your budget and criteria. This will definitely support the growth of hospitality industry and more specifically of local tourism and the growth of many businesses making it easier and more affordable for SME managers to travel to close new deals.

Enock Kiprono: What would you describe as your secret formula for business success?

Estelle: There is no secret, you have to work a lot and be passionate about providing the best services/product to your customers

Enock Kiprono: Thank you so much for taking your time to do this interview. Do you have any advice that you would like to tell any aspiring entrepreneur or business owners who are reading this article?

Estelle: Do things, take decisions don’t think about it for ages. Life is short and you spend too much time at work not to enjoy what you do. Enjoy your work, enjoy your life, be passionate about what you do.

Thank you Estelle for a Great Interview!

The post Estelle Interview On How She Started Jovago.com appeared first on Fenesi.com.

Challenges

I fled Liberia as a result of the war in 1990, moving to a refugee camp in Ghana with my parents.

At the age of 19, I started working at a salon outside the camp where I learned to style hair and manicure nails. I used my salary from the salon to start a beauty school at the camp. In just three years, I provided training to over 500 women.

When the conflict in Liberia ended in 2005, I was sent by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to visit Liberia as part of an effort to encourage repatriation. That trip demonstrated to me that women in Liberia needed help rebuilding their lives and our country.

With my savings from the beauty school in Ghana and $100 from UNHCR, I was able to re-establish myself in Liberia. I opened a salon in 2008 and re-established the beauty school in 2009.

Results

As a result of 10,000 Women, the annual revenue from my shop has increased threefold and the number of employees has doubled. I am now able to enroll over 30 women in my school.

Future Goals

In the future, I hope to apply for a loan to grow my school. I also aspire to grow from renting to owning the building where my business is located.

Learn more on how you can grow your business like Christine through the 10000 Women Program

Here is to your success in starting, running & growing your business.

Photo & Content Courtesy of Goldman Sachs

The post Christine On How I Started My Beauty School Business appeared first on Fenesi.com.

Challenges

In order to expand my business, I need to purchase new equipment. I plan to apply for a loan and if it is approved, I will use the loan to buy new machinery.

Results

10,000 Women has taught me concepts I had never considered before. For example, employees used to pick up jobs themselves. Now, employees are assigned tasks and they know exactly what they are expected to do. This has created a more effective work force.

I now keep better accounts of my stock, sales, expenses and expected revenue. In an effort to give back to my employees, I took what I have learned through 10,000 Women and trained my management staff. The cooperative also supports the local schools. I understand the value of education and how expensive it can be pay for the school fees.

Future Goals

For the next few years, I will work on securing the market in Kenya, Uganda and South Africa. And, I have even bigger dreams — one day I hope that people in the United States will be able to buy my banana wine.

Learn more on how you can grow your business like Christine through the 10000 Women Program

Here is to your Success in Growing your Business

Photo & Content Courtesy of Goldman Sachs

The post Christine On How I Started My Banana Wine Business appeared first on Fenesi.com.

Along with everyday dining, Big Treat also provides catering services, wedding planning, and organizes receptions for special occasions. Clients include international banks, NGOs and government institutions. The business has been in operation for over two years.

Challenges

When I opened Big Treat Restaurant two years ago, I rented a building, trained staff and established what I find to be a very favorable menu.

The business was vulnerable to high staff turnover and cash flow issues in a very competitive market. Because I did not own the building, the restaurant suffered from significant overhead costs.

We had developed a strong client base but knew there were areas to grow, including expansion of the catering business and in establishing long term contracts.

Results

Before I enrolled in the 10,000 Women training program, Big Treat had 10 employees and we were cooking for approximately 25 people per day. After graduating from 10,000 Women, my annual revenue increased nearly eightfold, I hired five additional employees and we now cook for up to 55 people per day! By improving the business’ record keeping procedures and implementing new strategies for human resource management, I have been able to address one of the key components to success in the hospitality industry: retention of qualified employees.

I learned to write a business plan as well as to prepare and distribute effective marketing materials. I have started marketing all of the restaurant’s many services, which has bolstered business.

The training helped me understand that the business’ financial situation was actually quite good: I used my savings to build a new restaurant in a more accessible location, hired another 10,000 Women entrepreneur’s business to do the design and construction, and terminated an unfavorable lease agreement.

Future Goals

I hope to establish Big Treat restaurants all over Monrovia.

A long term goal is to franchise the business and begin operations outside of Monrovia.

Learn more on how you can grow your business like Christine through the 10000 Women Program

Here is to your Success in Growing your Business

Photo & Content Courtesy of Goldman Sachs

The post Christine On How I Started My Restaurant Business appeared first on Fenesi.com.

Challenges

Being a small player in the industry is challenging. Technology is very expensive, and it changes rapidly. Big companies shy away from giving small firms jobs due to fear of quality. There are also challenges with slow payment by government, high cost of imported printing paper and high cost of electricity.

Results During the 10,000 Women training, I acquired the skills, exposure, networks, and mentors required to allow Design One to become a successful and large design and printing company. The course enabled me to develop management skills and know-how, and emboldened me to make major strategic decisions to expand my business. I developed a business roadmap for the next five years.

Since graduating from 10,000 Women, I have increased my turnover by 100% and hired 11 new employees including a manager to oversee the printing and production process. Recently, I have moved to a larger premise and acquired a complete printing press. I am currently working on developing and implementing management systems, procedures and policies to improve the company’s productivity and I plan to launch a website shortly to gain a global presence.

Interacting with fellow 10,000 Women scholars has opened my eyes to recognize that there are many opportunities to grow my business. My new network alone has greatly increased orders for designing and printing of business stationery and expanded my reach through word of mouth and referrals.

Future Goals

In the future, I plan to expand operations and invest in full line printing equipment. I plan to enter the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) by identifying and collaborating with strategic partners in Uganda, Southern Sudan, Rwanda and Tanzania. I also intend to provide complementary services to make Design One a one-stop-shop in creative and innovative marketing solutions.

Photo & Content Courtesy of Goldman Sachs

The post Victoria on How I Built My Designing & Printing Company appeared first on Fenesi.com.

We didn’t have a clear strategy and what we sold was not commensurate with the effort we were putting in. We found that we couldn’t make enough money just selling “Moin-Moin” so we also started catering for small events.

Challenges

Our two main challenges were location and cash flow. Location was a problem because we cooked from my kitchen at home. Initially, this wasn’t much of an issue until we started getting bigger orders. My kitchen became too small, and we had to turn down a few large orders. At other times, we had to contract additional staff that cooked all night in my house! There was no privacy and I knew I was pushing the goodwill and patience of my family beyond acceptable limits. Yet the 10,000 Women program had fired us up for growth!

Results

Through 10,000 Women, I realized that not everyone could be my client-“market segmentation” they called it. So, I began choosing my clients. As a policy, we started receiving payments in advance. A key lesson for me is that being predictable in terms of quality and service delivery increased our brand equity and ability to negotiate better payment terms with our clients.

We have experienced tremendous growth after attending 10,000 Women. We have increased our client base and now focus on high net worth customers who pay in advance for services. From a humble beginning of 20 guests per order, we now regularly serve 750 guests per order, often three times a day! Since graduation, monthly turnover has increased more than tenfold!

When I started, I was the only staff. Now I have ten permanent staff, including an accountant, and we also hire up to 60 temporary workers from time to time depending on the orders we have.

We recently acquired a used delivery truck, which gave us control over delivery. We were also able to lease an apartment with a large kitchen- so we finally separated my residence from the business. A BIG relief for everybody!

In 2011, we relocated and opened our first restaurant and kitchen in Gbagada (Lagos mainland) and we are already planning for our second restaurant in a high brow area of Lagos Island (Ikoyi).

Giving back to the community is important to me and we now offer free meals to prisoners once a month.

Future Goals

My future goal is to continue our expansion and make the ‘No Leftover’ brand a household name.

Learn more on how you can grow your business like Ayodeji through the 10000 Women Program

Here is to your Success in Growing your Business

Photo & Content Courtesy of Goldman Sachs

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After graduating from 10,000 Women, I have improved my sales strategies, customer service, and general management skills. I am now exporting more locally-made African cooking oils to New Jersey, thereby increasing my exports by 50%. Additionally, I am now working on a branding strategy for my products, and I have started keeping records and budgeting. 10,000 Women has enabled me to think strategically about growth, and better identify and evaluate new business opportunities.

I have become a much better manager, and have begun to delegate tasks to my employees so that every responsibility does not fall onto my shoulders alone, and so that my employees can better serve my customers.

Since 10,000 Women, I have hired four new employees and opened three additional warehouses around Monrovia. My revenues have increased by over 30%.

10,000 Women gave me the confidence to enroll part time in University where I am currently studying Agriculture. With support from the Government of Liberia, I hope to obtain a piece of land that I will be able to use for my own palm tree farm.

Business Overview

Passama Agriculture and Trading Corp. provides locally processed Liberian oils (palm oil, palm kernel oil, coconut oil, and tobogee oil) to hotels, restaurants, the general public, and government and international NGOs operating in Liberia. Passama is involved with both domestic sales and international exporting. The company also operates a successful set of warehouses in the busiest market in Liberia.

Challenges

The major business challenges I faced included finding international buyers interested in the African oil market, transportation of goods due to poor Liberian road conditions, and exporting goods through the ports in Liberia.

Future Goals

I would like Passama to be the leader in the local oil market, and to be the supplier of local oil to other vendors in and around Monrovia.

Watch the video of how the 10,000 Women Program is transforming female entrepreneurs.

Source: Goldmansachs.com – 10,000 Women Program

The post Kabeh Sumbo On How I Started My Cooking Oil Business With Just $50 Loan appeared first on Fenesi.com.

Had Shirley Nailantei stuck to her community’s culture, she would have been married off at 14. Traditionally, Maasai girls are circumcised between the ages of 11 and 13 and soon are married to men chosen by their fathers in exchange for cattle and cash.

But tradition could not derail her ambitions. “My parents were keen on education. They never tied themselves to  punitive traditions and wanted to see me go to school and become successful,” says Ms Nailantei who is a trained marketer.

Now sitting in her office located in one of Nairobi’s leafy suburbs, she oozes confidence and optimism, with her love for books clearly evident in her neat well-furnished office.

“I am an avid reader,’’ she says, glancing at a Cindy Trimm book Commanding Your Morning that is lying on a table.

Ms Nailantei boasts 3,000 clients under her travel company, Convette Group, which she founded in 2007.

“I established this firm while working for a flower firm, Preesman Company. It was a side job to supplement my earnings and none of my employers knew about its existence,’’ Ms Nailantei, 32, told Business Daily in an interview last week in her office at the plush Riverside area.

“At Convette Group, we provide both local and international clients with the best leisure and business travel arrangements across the world. We merge industry and leisure destinations to give it a complete package. We also provide visa procurement and consultancy services, local and international hotel reservations, customised holiday packages, flight reservations and ticketing among other services.”

Convette Group was started with a capital of Sh10, 000 as registration fees. She started operating from her house because she could not then afford office rent.
As her business grew she started marketing it online, backed by referrals from the initial clients she had managed to bring on board.

“This taught me the value of patience and the importance of offering quality service no matter how small  your business is. If people discover the uniqueness  of what you selling them, they will always come to you no matter the cost or even the location of your business,’’ says Ms Nailantei.

In 2008, she resigned from her job and left for South Africa to look for business. She wanted to give her newly found enterprise a global outlook.

“I wanted to create linkages and give my company both local and international touch,’’ she says.

But it has not been an easy ride. The challenges have been inevitable if not insurmountable.

“When I started, we used to make hotel bookings for our clients through our own savings. Initially, they could pay on time but the trend changed and the bills could accumulate for months without a single penny coming in.’’

She says those were the lowest moments in business that almost saw her close down. “I had taken a huge loan from a bank to sustain both the business and my employees with the hope of quick profit but that was not forthcoming,’’ she says.

Ms Nailantei recalls how the banks were making visits everyday with threats of legal action yet the payments were late. She was then dealing with retail shop directors travelling abroad to look for business.

“I first dropped the corporate clients and started dealing with individual customers who were not very demanding, ’’ says Ms Nailantei. The trick worked and led to a remarkable change of fortune that enabled her to secure an office in Nairobi’s Westlands suburb and employ five people mainly in marketing. She sent the marketing team to various parts of the country.

“Today, we have marketing agents in South Africa, Ghana, the United Kingdom and Dubai,’’Ms Nailantei says she has set her sights on bigger markets abroad to tap rising demand by tourists and business travellers seeking quality but affordable travel and accommodation.

Convette Group also handles families and groups who require quality hotel accommodation in major world cities for leisure or business trips. Locally, they deal with Sarova Hotels, Tribe, and Diani among others and boasts a budget for all travellers.

“We normally charge the client a service fee that is determined by the standard of the hotel. Apart from getting a commission from the hotels, we source for the clients on their behalf,’’ said Ms Nailantei.

Most of her customers come from Nigeria, South Africa, USA and the United Kingdom.

Pressed to say how much the company makes per month as a profit, Ms Nailantei was rather guarded on the figures.

“We are doing well in terms of profit and customer base given our office rent alone is Sh160,000. I am running a sustainable business,’’ she said.

“Healthy competition shapes the industry and increases quality service. We are also abreast of emerging trends in the sector,’’ says the young whose steely determination has seen her rise to the top in the competitive hospitality industry.

Source: Businessdailyafrica.com

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