urn:mashada-com:feeds:atom Mashada Blogs » Startups in Kenya Mashada Blogs » Startups in Kenya 2009-11-21T10:01:03-05:00 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/StartupsInKenya/~3/RTDtXr0IcOY/speed-networkingis-it-like-speed-dating.html Startups in Kenya: Speed Networking...is it like speed dating? 2009-11-03T03:06:00-05:00 2009-11-03T03:06:00-05:00
The other day though, I went for a speed networking event organised by AFRI Business Development. The first time i heard about it I was a bit skeptic. We all know about speed dating so speed networking sounded a bit off key in relation to business. Questions going through my mind included..."is it like speed dating where you are able to get a date"?...Ok I know that's a bit simplistic thinking but really it was hard for me to conjure up what speed networking would be all about before I attended.

So i went, not with a business objective in mind but if i am to be honest, out of curiosity. I have to say i was pleasantly surprised. Unlike the conferences I had attended in the past with the intention of networking, this event was fun. More than that usually when i go for events to "network", I usually find myself sticking around people i already know. With speed networking I was able to make new contacts over a very short period and even get business out of some of the contacts. I can still call some of them and tell them, "hey you remember we met at the speed networking event". I was really amazed how a simple concept (almost playful concept) can have such a big impact.

I definitely plan to attend the next one on Monday 16th November. I hope this time around I will get to meet even more people. One thing am sure of though is that this time around I will go prepared with my "elevator speech".

If you want more information on the Speed Networking event being held on 16th contacts Julia at j.adhiambo@afribusinessdevelopment.com ]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/StartupsInKenya/~3/gNMzMdGFg60/am-buried-in-debts.html Startups in Kenya: Am Buried in Debts 2009-10-28T11:01:00-04:00 2009-10-28T11:01:00-04:00
The sad thing is the answer is simply my own debtors are not paying me. Today its frustrated me so much ive resulted to reading a book on chasing debts for answers. For those of you in similar shoes as I find myself, here are a few tips i got from my debt collecting book. Might come in handy to you too.

1. Make sure your credit terms are known to your customers. The best way is to print them clearly on the invoice.
2. As soon as your customer has overstepped the mark and the bill is overdue, ask for the money you are owed. This should be done politely in writing, prefarably by email with a followup on post.
3. Follow-up, follow-up, follow-up. Don't assume they don't have money, there might be queries on the amount or other problems.
4. Still no payment, keep ringing especially 2 or 3 days before their end of month
5. Keep the pressure up. Do not pester then drop for a few weeks, all your previous chasing is undone.
7. If the customer is always out on a meeting try calling different times of the days or calling as someone else to see if they will pick up your calls.
8. If the customer says the cheque is ready it is just posting that its waiting for, go collect the cheque yourself.
9. Check all the details of the cheque: your name, the amount, the date, the signature
10. Bank immediately.

If you are not able to get your cheque by step 8 condider using a debt collection agency of factoring your debt.

Hope the above helps a little. And hang tough, according to statistics even the most successful small business at some stage has to delay payment and will probably use the above delay techniques. So you being buried in debt is experienced by even the best in the game. ]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/StartupsInKenya/~3/KYYx2Cwik-s/chapos-and-chicken.html Startups in Kenya: Chapos and Chicken 2009-10-07T10:47:00-04:00 2009-10-07T10:47:00-04:00
It was also a good opportunity to participate in a non-conventional business. To use innovation in a nondescript script. Some of you might know the restaurant am talking about, KPs located on Utali lane, yes next to Mwenda's. It's been there for some time but received a full face-lift in January with the change of ownership. I'm not being paid to say this but they have the best chips masala and cocktail juice.

....Ok now moving away from my food ramblings and back to the business part. Restaurant as businesses are not an easy thing to work. As an unconventional business, the owners are required to not only meet the technical business aspect but be creative in their service delivery. It's business meets entertainment and the smiles associated with this part.

The point being...well business is not only a suit and paper agenda. There is a whole world out there of business that involves a goofy white hat and aprons that we sideline in the hard core business arena. KPs for me was a opportunity to see someone doing what they like and make a business out of it. From this I came out with this wise advice..."don't let desks and swiveling chairs be the criteria for defining business in your book, go for what you enjoy doing and invite consultants like us to help you put the hard core business structure around your idea".

There will be a networking meeting (speed networking) for professionals at KPs on 19th of this month (yes a monday) from 6pm. Entrance is FREE. Go and check it out. For more information on it contact Julia at j.adhiambo@afribusinessdevelopment.com. ]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/StartupsInKenya/~3/5E1t6IvbHr4/liverpool-scores.html Startups in Kenya: Liverpool Scores 2009-09-22T23:27:00-04:00 2009-09-22T23:27:00-04:00
Its very rare to see a young Kenyan be recognised for promoting positive change especially in the business world in our country. We are recognised for the Jerk dance (is that even ours by the way), for demonstrating against the youth fund ("Kenyan youth demonstrate against unfair distribution of the youth fund") and of course tenacity to follow ("Kenyan youth are driven by western influence"). I'm not hating here but its true, not many have been recognised for being a voice for positive change. That is why the article in the saturday magazine "A voice for Change" was a tear jerker for me.

We have reached a point in our country where we need a few heroes. A few Supermen and Superwomen that are Kenyan. We need more young symbols of positive change where it matters in the country. Right now so many Kenyans are going astray because of lack of jobs, lack of income, lack of direction and, as much as we can blame our government until something changes, all that we will have is our right to blame. Jobs will remain scarce and crime rates high. So every symbol that is a voice for change by our Kenyan youth for our country should be applauded. This is why when I read the article on Annabell and her initiative to help small businesses grow, irrespective of assistance or no assistance, I was filled with pride. We need that ..Annabell, this is me clapping.

For more information on Annabell's company and the affordable services they provide for businesses like yours and mine, visit their site at www.afribusinessdevelopment.com ]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/StartupsInKenya/~3/IkIA9i750qc/nobody-knows-trouble-ive-been.html Startups in Kenya: Nobody knows the trouble I've been through...Nobody knows my sorrows 2009-09-15T05:31:00-04:00 2009-09-15T05:31:00-04:00
I met an entrepreneur the other day - the real thing, not those cowboys who try to pass as one. This entrepreneur was an innovator, a calculative risk taker, a salt of the earth downright talented business mover who knew he was good at what he did because he loved it. I have to admit it was a beautiful thing to see. It inspired me, motivated me, propelled me to try and reach greater heights.

You might ask, why so much philosophy over what i consider a dog's life...literally. Well the thing about entrepreneurship is that its not for everyone. But for those who it is for, for those who answer the driving need in their hearts when they hear the call, it is the best possible thing you will ever see. For those it is for, entrepreneurship is about living life their way, its about making an impact, its about fulfilling dreams, its about living it the way they always wanted to.

If you hear the call within you don't fight it, it's who you are and when you take that plunge there will be no turning back. Because you will be in for the roller-coaster ride of your life and love every moment of it.

If you want to take the plunge but like all responsible business people need more information register for AFRI Business Development Workshop on Starting and Running a Profitable business at the British Council.

For more information on it contact Annabell or Ivy at AFRI Business Development
T: (254) 20 2515001 M: (254) 726 057212 mail@afribusinessdevelopment.com
www.afribusinessedevelopment.com ]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/StartupsInKenya/~3/YBCQhh8tpck/day-i-became-criminal.html Startups in Kenya: The day I became a criminal 2009-09-08T10:55:00-04:00 2009-09-08T10:55:00-04:00 SoftLaw had just started taking off. We finally had more than just cobwebs in our bank account and were learning how to roll with the big boys.

I guess it was because of this positive vibe that while engaging in conversation with one of my classmates I happened to mention that I was now an "international businessman". My statement was met with a sneer, she looked at me from toe to head lingering on my well-worn leather shoes. "So why do you still have dusty shoes?" she quipped.

The statement, intended to knock me down my perch, was delivered with pin-point accuracy. I did my best to laugh it off, but deep down I knew she was right, I knew I had to get a car to prove myself. As absurd as it may seem to a non-Kenyan, a motor-vehicle regardless of its state, is the ultimate status symbol.

It took almost a year after that dusty shoes quip, but I eventually got my car. And I did so with about three months to spare before the end of my stay in campus. The car was painstakingly chosen and customised with tinted windows and the obligatory 1200 watt sound system to deter anyone from thinking I'd borrowed it from my dad. With my excitement at leaving the dusty shoes club I had no idea that I had just become a member of a much worse club, the criminal's club.

Now before you call the cops on me, allow me to explain. Although most drivers in Kenya would balk at being called a criminal, the reality is that they most likely are. A criminal is someone who has committed a crime and when it comes to traffic offences, I doubt there is a single Kenyan driver who is innocent.

How many times have you gone down a one-way lane, driven through a red light, crossed lanes in the roundabout, failed to carry a fire-extinguisher in your car, driven without insurance? These are the common ones, but some you might not know about: driving a car without a speedometer, or filling petrol while the engine is running, or driving with part of the body protruding from the car.

Here is one traffic rule which I'm sure everyone has broken:

No person shall drive any vehicle into a roundabout unless, at the time of entry of the vehicle into the roundabout, it is reasonable to suppose that the vehicle will not be forced to stop in the roundabout by reason of traffic already therein.

Are you curious to gauge how much of a criminal you are? Take a look at the Traffic Act here

The worst part is that when most of us get caught we go ahead and commit an even bigger offence. However because of the fear of self-incrimination, I'll leave out any personal anecdotes.

Today I'm working hard to turn away from a life of crime. I've gone full circle and my shoes are dusty once more. You should take time today to appreciate all Kenyans who have chosen the dusty shoes way. ]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/StartupsInKenya/~3/wwYou8zMm6M/muta-do.html Startups in Kenya: Muta Do? 2009-09-01T14:39:00-04:00 2009-09-01T14:39:00-04:00
For a student to pass, technically all they required to do was ensure they met these criteria. Despite this many students were marked down for petty errors which had little to do with the functionality of the program. Some of my fellow examiners took a perverse pleasure in 'crashing' the examinees software and reducing them into tears, even when these examinees were their students who they had been in charge of for over three months. "This is not working, that is not running, it doesn't function". They complained and complained, crashing software, terrifying the student, and as I now realise, releasing the pent up frustrations that being a Kenyan necessarily builds up.

Kenyans are said to love complaining, and perhaps this is what this blog post is going to do - complain. The problem of course is not that we complain, but that just like the examiners marking down their students, our complaining has no positive effect. It's negative and doesn't appreciate the role that we play in the things that we complain about.

I'm going to try today and appreciate the role that I play in those things that make me so angry about my country. Everyday together with millions of other Kenyans we do bad things confident in the fact that we shall suffer no consequences. It is because we have realized after all hakuna kitu muta do!

im·pu·ni·ty im-ˈpyü-nə-tē
exemption or freedom from punishment, harm, or loss

I'm approaching the traffic lights at the junction. The light has already turned red but two cars before me have made it through. If I step on the pedal harder, I'll also be able to make it to the intersection before the car with the right of way gets there. I miscalculate and she has to brake hard to avoid hitting the left side of my car. I make a face but avoid eye contact with the irate other driver and squeeze my car through the space, thinking uta do?

It's three o'clock, I'm sitting at the reception desk bored to death; my facebook page hasn't had any new updates for the past fifteen minutes. I take out my mobile phone and start to send text jokes I've copied from the net to my friends. Two visitors walk into the office and approach my desk. I don't look up from my phone as I laugh from one response. Five minutes pass by and the visitors impatiently tap the desk to get my attention. I raise my palm to motion that they should wait, I need to reply to this really funny text, I'm ROFLMAO. 15 minutes gone, and one of the visitors walks out while the other sighs in exasperation. "Arghh, si they relax" I'm thinking, anyway muta do?

I pull up into the driveway of my Westland's apartment, I park the Prado behind my C-Class Mercedes taking a moment to admire its German curves. Whistling, I step down from the SUV Toyota and walk to the house, briefcase in hand, happy that it's Friday. Moses, the day watchman, runs after me "Boss, watu wa stima..." "Whaaat!" I don't let him finish the sentence shouting "I hope hawajakata!" "Boss..." he continues "ile bill nilikupa last week ilionesha kuna deni ya miezi saba, walisema kuna pressure huko ofisi, walikataa kuchukua kitu kidogo kama last time". Without hesitation I tell him to fix a wire where the fuse has been removed, after all they don't expect me to spend the weekend in darkness, wata do?

Alex steps in my office for the fourth time this afternoon, "can I see you sir". "Not now Alex", I stop him without looking up from the magazine I'm going through, "I told you I'm busy". "Sorry sir" he apologizes "but you promise you'll see me today" "Yes, yes, yes" I dismiss him with a wave of my hand. I really need to find some nice gold earrings to buy for Irene from this jewelry magazine. It's our second date and I want to impress her. I hope Alex is still not planning to bug me about his salary, he knows very well the business is not doing well, and if he's survived for three months, a few more days shouldn't hurt him ata do?

I'm awake by 10:00 am but I feel like breakfast in bed today. I press the intercom and Jane, the head housekeeper is instantly on the other line "Mtukufu, habari ya asubuhi" she's saying "Mzuri, mzuri Jane, leta chai kama kawaida". In less time than it takes for me to reach over and start reading the Dailies placed on the cabinet next to my bed, five caterers wheel in my breakfast. Together with a steaming pot of tea, there are two slices of buttered toast, freshly baked sweet potatoes with Parmesan cheese, two bananas imported from Florida, finely sliced mutura and a flask of goat head soup. One of the Dailies is talking about how some advisory board is going to tell me who I need to pick. Upumbafu! No one is going to tell me how to do my job. I reach over to the intercom again and shout some instructions. It takes some time because of the half chewed sweet-potato and mutura in my mouth but the message goes through. The reaction is swift after the media learn my decision. Watching the tumundus on TV trying to analyse how 'wrong' my decision is I laugh into the TV, muta do? ]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/StartupsInKenya/~3/1NN1Ca8-s9o/do-or-die.html Startups in Kenya: Do or Die 2009-08-28T08:24:00-04:00 2009-08-28T08:24:00-04:00
However, even if Do or Die, I came to discover there are many other additional things that will affect the success of your business. According to the Ministry of Trade (Kenya), those additional things include "being able to craft good strategies that can exploit the opportunities in the environment". These strategies don't just come by you, they are based on theories made practical.

How are we expected to get these theories made practical?

Well its simple ...training! A number of us (small business owners) don't look at training as an asset. Training well done can substantially increase your profitability. And am not talking about an MBA or an MSc...am talking about very practical workshops that increases your knowledge of the day to day challenges of doing business.

4th September 2009 is therefore an important date to note for SMEs. This is the date when the British High Commission together with AFRI Business Development will kick off a series of trainings that provide practical advice to SMEs. These trainings will include courses in areas such as Starting and Running a Profitable Business, Selling Your Product Successfully, Running a Business from Home and many others. All of the workshops are open to ANYBODY thinking of starting or already running their own business and are suitable to ALL types of business idea.

These trainings should provide you as a business owner the essentials of doing business. Remember when starting and running a business it’s important that one gets the essentials right.

For more information on them contact the trainers at T: (254) 20 2515001, M: (254) 726 057212 or email mail@afribusinessdevelopment.com. ]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/StartupsInKenya/~3/Y81bXBPFaMA/ceo-janitor.html Startups in Kenya: The CEO Janitor 2009-08-25T07:21:00-04:00 2009-08-25T07:21:00-04:00 I’m a self confessed holiday hater, but today as I still wait to be counted I am grateful for this holiday. Besides dreaming up some crazy ‘tribe’ which I’ll tell the enumerators I belong to (I’m leaning towards Kryptonian) I get a chance to take a breather.

You see the last two years have been a non-stop 24/7 marathon to keep ahead of an economy battered by the combined effects of post-election violence and a global economic recession. Although 2009 has had its upsides compared to last year, the scarcity of food, electricity, and water continue to take their toll on business. One can even say that it’s been stressful. Stress however is not necessarily a bad thing, like Jon Voight acting as a bad guy in 24 says “stress is the fertilizer of creativity”.


Indeed I have had to be extremely creative in 2009 to ensure that my business continues to be relevant in the face of a depressed economy and with all this rationing. By forging strong partnerships with other entrepreneurs I am part of formAKenyanCompany.com the online business registration service and AFRI Business Development Consulting, the UK firm that specializes in supporting SMEs. The idea behind these two businesses, together with Genius Executive Centre is to provide an end-to-end business solution for SMEs. An entrepreneur who wants to start a business needs to get it registered and comply with tax obligations, formAKenyanCompany.com takes care of that. He will need a place to operate from, meet clients, browse his email, and generally call his workplace – Genius Executive Centre can do all that. His business will need support in planning, securing financial assistance, netting clients, retaining clients, promoting its products, recruiting staff and other activities necessary to ensure the business becomes successful, AFRI handles that.

The businesses are converging nicely and the synergy is great but the toll on Harry has been extreme. It’s hard enough starting up and running one business, but to do this for three has required some super-human effort (maybe that’s why I’m thinking of calling myself Kryptonian). In addition I’ve had to ensure that SoftLaw my legal publishing company; Genius Forex, the currency trading advisory firm; and BetonStocks, the online betting/trading service don’t wither away and die from neglect. I’ve had to do all this while I nurture ShenZen Cars my low-cost internet motor-vehicle sales company and keep experimenting with other businesses.

All this takes me back to 2004, before SoftLaw took off. My partner and I were negotiating with Kenya’s then biggest company, East African Breweries Ltd to take up our SoftLaw Citator, Laws of Kenya software. EABL being an international company had a raft of procedures and one of them was that the procurement manager required to visit our premises before any purchase could be made. We knew that clinching EABL as a client would pay dividends with future prospects and we were determined to make a good impression.

At that time our ‘office’ was located at a friend’s rarely used cyber café which also served as a store for his structured cabling and network administration business. This meant that it was choked full of cables, boxes of cables, networking equipment and a whole lot of other of computer equipment. A healthy layer of dust covered most of these items, and only because we had no walk in clients were we comfortable enough to put up with this.

With the impending visit of our VIP prospect, we knew that this had to change. We hired one of the building’s cleaners to pass his broom over the place after his normal work hours. As CEOs, naturally we could not remain in the office with all the sweeping and the dust, and strolled to the nearest café to enjoy a cup of coffee. At around 7:00 pm we returned to the office expecting to find it sparkling clean. We were instead shocked to find that the cleaner had decided the 200 bob we had promised him did not justify the work and was AWOL.

Knowing that the future of this deal and our business was in our hands we put those hands to work. It was slightly past midnight when after plenty of sweeping, heavy moving, mopping, window cleaning and arranging that the place finally looked like an office. The next day the procurement manager came and despite having had our power disconnected early that morning for non-payment (story for another day), he was satisfied enough to give us business.

It is a fact that when starting your business you must be ready to take up several roles to ensure that you get the job done and the business makes that sale. While I would not recommend running several simultaneous businesses to anyone as a business strategy, it is what I love doing and I wouldn’t change it for the world. There are disadvantages to this besides the obvious fatigue and none is more readily manifest than having to do several jobs simultaneously. But if you do decide to start and run your own business even if its only one be ready to be the janitor as well as the CEO. ]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/StartupsInKenya/~3/eqvEYTpu8nw/laws-and-ambition.html Startups in Kenya: Laws and Ambition 2009-06-24T02:07:00-04:00 2009-06-24T02:07:00-04:00
That last one though (calculus) I continued to study even in the real world (apparently anything you experience while in school, under 18, and on your parent's allowance is not the real world, but a fictional world created to get you employable skills). Well, maybe not the actual formulae, but calculus dealt with curves. One curve I became familiar while studying law was the curve of diminishing ambition.

You see when you join law school, you feel like you are on top of the world. Heck, you must be one of the brightest minds in the land to get admitted, and law is usually chosen by pretty ambitious students. It is not uncommon to find 99% of the 1st year law school class with dreams of grandeur. Speaker of the National Assembly, Special-Rapporteur at the UN, President of the Republic, Chief Justice, Attorney General, Celebrated Trial Lawyer. The list is endless and only limited by the effort taken to actually establish the seniority of the position. As the semester progresses and you ferociously consume case law, volumes of law books, and professors' lectures, your ambitions are even more amplified. You gauge your progress by the number of questions you ask, and how many cases you can remember, sometimes how many House of Lords quotes you can recite verbatim.

However by the time your first year results are in, and for the first time in your life you get a C or worse, you realize that your goals might be a tad bit ambitious. Instead of the best lawyer in the world, you mentally settle for best lawyer in Kenya. A few more grades and your expectations of achievement drop to best lawyer in your firm. The curve which had only been going up now starts leveling off. By mid of second year after a string of horrifyingly bad grades you are looking at being best lawyer in your office... an especially steep drop if you are the only lawyer in your office. The only solace is that grades pick up towards the end but not after a battering of your ambitions (leads me to suspect these seesawing grades are engineered by the law professors to ensure our heads remain small enough to pass through the lecture hall doors)

In the end I skipped the whole lawyer thing and decided to be an 'entrepreneur' (in quotes because I'm not really sure if it that is a profession). I have discovered however that as an entrepreneur, ambition and a healthy dose at that, is an absolute necessity. Ok, by now I've stopped imagining that I will become the richest man in the world (advancing years and my geographical place of birth being my largest obstacles) unless I discover an unlimited energy source (actually, why not?) but I do not stop yearning to grow my businesses to be bigger and better.

In the 'real world' I have had to go back to the drawing board more than once on several businesses, I have seen projects with significant investments of time, money and effort crumble into nothingness, had 'surefire-guaranteed-clients-with-only-one-signatory-remaining-to-sign-the-cheque vanish in an instant and stop responding to calls or emails. I have had a much rougher time than I ever did in law school. But if there is one thing I learnt in law school about ambition, is that it should only go one way - up.

Ambition should not be determined by external factors like grades which can be engineered, but must always race ahead of your achievements. Ambition is the anti-depressant that combats the cynicism, failures, economic recessions, family problems, and fatigue that accompany all entrepreneurs in their path to build a successful business. Ambition is what gives us the spirit to have a victorious minute in the morning, every morning. Ambition keeps us reflective of the past, eager for the now, and focused on the future. To be ambitious is not to reach for the stars, to be ambitious is to ask "why stop there?"

I salute all ambitious entrepreneurs today with special mention to Annabell Wanjiku the founder of AFRI Business Development Consultancy ]]>