Founder 360 Magazine (October-November 2017)

FOUNDER 360° MAGAZINE ISSUE 001 OCT-NOV 2017

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FOUNDER 360° MAGAZINE ISSUE 001 OCT-NOV 2017

EDITORIAL

L E T T E R T H E

F R O M

E D I T O R

WELCOME TO OUR ISSUE

There’s no better time to be in this world as right now. We are in the inner galaxy of an entrepreneurship revolution taking place across all the 6 continents.

VOtieno Vallency F Otieno Editor-in-Chief

Entrepreneurs are sprouting from the corners of this world in a mission to squash the status quo. Starting a business has never been that easy as now. Gone are the days when you will need a 70 page business plan and tons of capital to kick-start your venture. Right now, with a laptop, hunger for success and passion, you can launch a business that will change the lives of millions.

these successful entrepreneurs and the thought leaders of this generation and retrieve rich and abundant information on what it takes to build a successful business from the ground up, how to grow reach our goals and live a life of purpose. We provide real and practical information that you can relate too and easily action them in your life and business.

Every time, we will hear stories of people making it in life through entrepreneurship, we get to see “overnight millionaires” in the media and wonder how they got there. As a potential entrepreneur, you ask yourself questions like “how did this person get all these customers and make millions of dollars? How have they created such a massive impact on the world?” How did they start in the first place? What did they have to sacrifice? Yes, it’s real and its happening across the world and it’s being done by people like you and me.

This is it. It’s our first issue, a special edition. Ride with us. From the 31year old young lady who is building a Human Resource empire to an award winning blogger and Samsung brand ambassador, this issue highlights some of the networking skills every entrepreneur needs to master, this issue lays the foundation of what Founder360° Magazine will offer in the future.

That’s why I have built Founder360° Magazine. To provide hindsight, shine a light and bring to surface behind the scenes from successful entrepreneurs on how and what they have done to be where they are. We go one on one into the real depths with

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Read it, Share it. This is just the beginning.

EDITOR IN CHIEF

FOUNDER 360° MAGAZINE ISSUE 001 OCT-NOV 2017

CONTENTS

CONTENTS

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Gloria Michelle Otieno-Muka When the 31 year old Pharmacy graduate quit her stressful day job, she was quite sure of what she wanted to do. 5 years later, she has never looked back.

A RT I C L E S

02 04 06 10 14 16 18 19

Letter from the Editor Starting Up Growth Strategy Cover Story Hiring Branding

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Events

E D I TO R I A L T E A M Photography by

Design by

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Award Winning Blogger, MURIUKI KAGIRI Shares Top Personal Branding Tips Entrepreneurs Need to Know

Networking

18 Articles by

Personal Branding

Founder 360° Team Valency Otieno | Founder 360° Team Emmanuel Kyama Kiruthi, Esq

5 Networking Tips Every Entrepreneur needs to Master The art of networking is not just in the start or creation, but in establishing and sustaining a mutually beneficial relationship in the long-run.

FOUNDER 360° MAGAZINE ISSUE 001 OCT-NOV 2017

STARTING UP

THE LIFE CYCLE OF A BUSINESS: S T A R T I N G

U P

STAG E S B U S I N ESS H AV E TO G RO W T H RO U G H As you start a business, it is very important to know the life cycle of a business as inevitably you will have to pass through them.Examining the different stages of the business life cycle allows the entrepreneur to identify the different sets of obstacles and how they can overcome them. It also helps in anticipating the key needs required at every stage and provides the entrepreneur with the opportunity to adapt to changes.

The stages of the cycle in a business are almost the same as when a baby is born. What the baby is fed within the first 6 months is very different with what to feed on one year going forward. Each stage is unique and if you fail to identify and feed your business needs then it will suffer and eventually die. Different strategies will be required when it comes to financing, market penetration, and even business development at every stage.

We have summarized five different stages that most businesses go through.

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1 2 3

This is the start of the cycle also called the soul searching cycle. This is the stage where you evaluate and analyse the potential and viability of the business. At Founder360°, we have designed a one-page business plan that allows you to test if a business idea is actually conceivable. This is where you also do some soul searching on your self – your skills set and knowledge of the market. One gets to seek advice from friends, relatives, potential customers and industry veterans.

D E V E LO PM E N T STAG E :

Your business is officially up and ready to run. It is duly registered as a legal entity. You have already developed the products and services and a team is behind you.

This stage will involve testing and be changing the products to fit the market. It requires establishing a customer base and a presence in the market.

One will also require to effectively managing their sales expectations and cash flow in the business.

STA RT U P STA G E :

In this stage, the business is already thriving. You have sales and loyal customers and you have already assumed a business lifestyle. This stage basically invoices generating more revenue which is used to keep the company afloat and hiring more team members. It will require further improvement of products and services on offer including the business model. Best business practices, automation and even operations model will have to be tweaked in order improve productivity.

G RO W T H STAG E :

STARTING UP

E X PA N S I O N STAG E : The

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FOUNDER 360° MAGAZINE ISSUE 001 OCT-NOV 2017

business has already grown and established a firm presence in the industry and is ready to expand into new territories and markets. This stage allows the owner to gain a larger market share with more customers on board and absolutely more profit generation. The owner might need to source for outside funding in order to facilitate this expansion. The sources for the funds could be banks, investors / partners or alternatively, you can rely on your profits.Â

The business has solidly established itself in the industry and it could be still growing but not as fast as it was initially. The profits are positive and stable throughout the year. Fierce competition, new markets dynamics and policy changes by governments are possibly affecting the profits and cash flows. You can either continue with the expansion or exit /partially exit from the business. Exits could include mergers, acquisitions or initial public offering (IPO) or liquidate the company.

M AT U R E STA G E :

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PLAN

FOUNDER 360 ONE PAGE

Try to Answer the Entire Questionnaire With One or Two Sentences

Founder360mag

Problem

Costs

Solution

Revenue

What problems are you solving?

How will you solve this problem?

What costs will you incur when building this business?

What is the average cost of your product/service?

Metrics

What metrics will you measure success by? (Monthly income etc)

Target

What problems are you solving?

Differeciator

What is distinctive about your business?

Medium

How will you reach your target customer? How will they find you?

Personal Fit

What skills do you have that are an asset to the business?

FOUNDER 360° MAGAZINE ISSUE 001 OCT-NOV 2017

GROWTH STRATEGY

G R O W T H

S T R A T E G I E S

SOCIAL MEDIA AUTOMATION STRATEGY Social Media has become a marketing platform that any company that seeks to penetrate any market, cannot ignore. The importance of social media marketing cannot be overstated. According to Hubspot in 2014, 92% of marketers indicated that social media marketing was important for their business, with 80% indicating their efforts increased traffic to their websites.

Much attention has been directed on growing followers across the social media channels. Growing followers and creating your own online community requires an intentional and well thought out strategy that is both longterm and short term.

An effective social media strategy will allow you to create a loyal brand following, create a strong brand identity; increase your web traffic hence resulting into higher conversation rates into new customers.

For the past one month, I have been learning some few practical social media growth automation strategies that any startup can implement. Whether

low-quality images are a “no-no” for your social media engagements; especially if you want to push your content on Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest.

And so, we’ve highlighted some of the incredible tools you can use to design and create free images not just for your social media posts, but also for your website.

you are a B2C or B2B, these strategies can help you stand out in the crowd.

These are the same strategies that we are using at Founder360° Magazine.

A social media automation strategy basically involves the creation, curation, and management of the entire social media creation process.

CO N T E N T C R E AT I O N Image Creation Tools A picture is worth 1000 words. Sharing one picture can “Move Mountains” on your social media. But charming people to taking action on your posted image requires a well-designed image.

In as much as it is stressful to create a fresh picture for every new post,

Spare time every start of the week to create, curate and manage your entire social media process

Canva allows you to create and design logos, quotes, charts, Infographics, Quotes, and Cover Photos for any social media site among other capabilities from a set a pre-designed template. It is free for most of the things that you would want to do but they also offer additional features on their premium.

1 . C A N VA :

BeFunky is a photo editing tool that allows

2 . B E F U N K Y:

Inforgram is a tool that allows you to create stunning in-

3 . I N FO RG R A M :

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FOUNDER 360° MAGAZINE ISSUE 001 OCT-NOV 2017

GROWTH STRATEGY

fographics, charts and interactive maps that boost visitor engagement and traffic on your website or blog.

To access the advanced features like more interactive maps, you’ll need a paid account.

This is one of the biggest sites of GIF. It is easy to upload, store and access all your GIF from one account.

There’s no upgrade for this. It’s totally free.

4. G I P H Y:

We have other similar tools like Piktochart, Sketch, Stencil and even GifMaker for GIFs.

Video Creation Tools Video marketing has also taken a focal position when it comes to content sharing for businesses. Through videos, brands can position themselves strategically as it allows effective communication. According to buffer, 64% of users are more likely to purchase a product online after watching a video. This illustrates how important video content is

as part of your social media strategy.

And just like images, quality is key when sharing videos on your social media platforms.

Below are some of the tools you can use to create your video content: PowToon is a user-friendly tool that allows you to create branded and animated videos for sharing with potential customers. It has both free and paid versions.

1 . P O W TO O N :

Wideo allows you to easily create marketing, promo and explainer videos within minutes. It has both free and paid versions.

2 . W I D EO :

With this tool, you can create inspiring video stories for your business by synchronizing audio & visual aspects of your campaign. It has both free and paid versions.

3 . M A G I STO :

Facebook, Video and even Instagram provide a strategic avenue to share your video content.

CO N T E N T CU R AT I O N

As I had initially highlighted, content creating can be tedious at times yet your social media strategy involves being consistent on a daily basis. That is where content curation comes in.

This involves retrieving content relevant to what you do from other sites and sharing them on your social media platforms. The whole idea with this technique is to always make sure that your audience is constantly fed on good and relevant content they have been accustomed to.

According to a past research by convince and convert, the ratio of content creation to content curation is 80:20; always keeping in mind that the primary information comes from you while the secondary which is the curated one comes from other parties.

Below are some of the major content curation tools that you can use in your social media strategy.

Feedly is like a supercharged RSS. Allows you to discover and aggregate all your favorite content into one place called “Pocket” from your desktop and mobile devices. It provides a clean, minimalist reading experience.

F E E D LY:

This tool provides an option to store all your interesting articles for reading later in pockets. Viewing or accessing the content at a later date does not require the internet.

Articles can be grouped with tags, and the site’s built-in search functionality makes finding those articles easy. It also allows seamless integration with over 1500 apps including Flipboard and Evernote.

P O C K E T:

Other curation tools include Storify, Curata, Twitter List, Pan-

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FOUNDER 360° MAGAZINE ISSUE 001 OCT-NOV 2017

da, and Diggs among others.

SOCIAL MEDIA M A N A G E M E N T TO O L S You now have the content creation or curated ready to be shared across your social media platforms. But you need a systematic way on how to post, track and analyze every content you posts across all your social media platforms.

This will ease the pressure off you as an entrepreneur to focus on other areas of your business.

Below is a sum up of all the tools that you can use to manage all your social media activities.

Buffer is one of the best tools there is for social media scheduling. This tool allows you to schedule your posts on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and even Google+. You can schedule up to 100 posts at any single time with its paying option. Buffer also provides a central analytics dashboard to monitor all the activities on all your social media pages.

1 . B U F F E R :

Other tools that are similar to HootSuite include SproutSocial and HubSpot This is a great tool that allows you to track and analyze what content is being shared online. In addition to managing multiple social media accounts, Buzzsumo is able to alert you when your content goes viral. You can track how many times your article or the name of your company has been shared online across various platforms.

3 . B U Z ZS U MO :

Other similar tools include TweetDeck and SocialOomph.

Other tools that are similar to this include SumAll, SocialCount, and Social Mention.

Hootsuite provides so-

These are not the only social media

2 . H O OTS U I T E :

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cial media integration across all the major social media platforms in addition to MailChimp and Tumblr.

Just like Buffer, you can schedule all your posts at a single time. The number of posts or social media accounts you can manage depends on the premium plan you take. Its dashboard also provides insights on the performance of your posted content in addition to monitoring and tracking messages and mentions.

tools out there, research and find the ones that suit you.

Spare time every start of the week to create, curate and manage your entire social media process. The best thing is to try different tools and see which best works for your business.

FOUNDER 360° MAGAZINE ISSUE 001 OCT-NOV 2017

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FOUNDER 360° MAGAZINE ISSUE 001 OCT-NOV 2017

COVER STORY

C O V E R

S T O R Y

How this 31year old built a recruitment firm generating

OVER KSHS 40 MILLION EVERY YEAR

When the 31 year old Pharmacy graduate quit her stressful day job, she was quite sure of what she wanted to do. 5 years later, she has never looked back.

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FOUNDER 360° MAGAZINE ISSUE 001 OCT-NOV 2017

COVER STORY

GLORIA MICHELLE OTIENO–MUKA is the Founder and CEO of Recours Four Kenya, a Recruitment firm that has an annual turnover of over $400,000.

Her journey has neither been easy or smooth, but Gloria always knew that her entrepreneurial journey will be geared towards the field of Human Resource.

“I started the business by doing CVs for people; I started with doing CVs for friends, family and workmates. I realized that many people were clueless on how to construct a professional CV and as I got to do many CVs, I realized that interview skills were also a big problem.”

Before this, Gloria who is the first born among 3 siblings, and the only girl, graduated in 2008 from Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in South Africa with a degree in Pharmacy. In between her studies, she worked at a recruitment firm in South Africa.

“I led a team of 15 student staff involved in recruitment and interviewing of potential staff in ensuring daily sales targets are met on outsourcing target” After graduating, she returned back home since the firm couldn’t hire on a permanent basis as she lacked the necessary relevant degree. Her admiration of the cabin crew during her flight back to Kenya on-board a Kenya Airways place led her to apply for a customer care representative at Kenya Airways.

While waiting for a response from Kenya Airways, she realized that many people were clueless on how to construct a CV. She capitalized on this opportunity by doing CVs for her friends and family, and many got accepted.

Gloria was accepted at KQ, but her stint there came to an end during a retrenchment exercise undertaken by

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the company in early 2012. She was transferred to an outsourcing company that made the working conditions a bit better harsh and unbearable.

“Our salaries were slashed; we were under-staffed and overstrained”

try because, in Kenya, the unemployment rates were alarming, I wanted to be part of a social change and to make a difference in the human sector as a whole.”

Gloria’s deep desire to enter this field was driven by the fact that there were alarming employment rates and

In Oct 2012, due UNEMPLOYMENT RATES to lack of most young people WERE ALARMING, I work satwere clueless on WANTED TO BE PART OF A isfaction, how to construct she decidSOCIAL CHANGE AND TO a professional CV ed to quit MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN or how to conduct her job THE HUMAN SECTOR themselves during and capiinterviews. talized on her hobby; “This was my mowriting CVs tivation, I wanted and cover people to be able letter to friends and family. to acquire jobs easily by enabling them to construct a professional CV For the next five months, her because let’s be honest, a CV is the business picked up, she opened up point of the first impression. A good the Facebook page and more clients first impression can get you through came through validating her idea the door to your first interview.” into a real business. And in March 2013, Gloria registered Recours Four And that has been her mission for Kenya, and with a Kshs 100,000 loan the last 5 years; Recours Four Kenya from her father and R4K was estabis a Human Resource spectrum conlished as a limited company. sulting services focussed in recruit“I basically felt like I needed to be a part of the human resources indus-

ment, psychometric testing, salary survey and a variety of HR Consul-

FOUNDER 360° MAGAZINE ISSUE 001 OCT-NOV 2017

COVER STORY tancy services. In addition to providing outsourced HR functions to companies; they are also focussed on training and development of teams on a large scale.”

“We collaborate with companies to manage their human capital” United Nations in the Human Development Index (HDI) 2017 records that Kenya has an unemployment rate of over 40% of the overall population.

Out of the available labour force, 80% of them are below the age of 35 – predominantly a youthful population. At the same time, the literacy level across this youthful population is over 80%, but many of them do not have the relevant skillset to be hired.

And this is why R4K is focussed on training and equipping the youth on not just making the right career choices but also adopt the relevant skills to help them wade through the competitive job market.

“We aim to bridge the gap between unemployment and the workplace.

We use innovative approaches to curb the alarming unemployment rates, improve organizational staff development and smooth progression of careers.”

LESSONS THROUGH GLORIA’S LENSES What are some of the obstacles you have faced through the journey?

Well as the business grows, different problems and opportunities demand different solutions. You find yourself constantly in need of the right systems, right skills, market research and basically new innovative ways of reaching your market. All this needs constant cash flow, planning ahead and great financial management. Most of the time funding can be a major problem for most businesses.

What was your key driving force to become an entrepreneur and coming up with R4K? My passion for socio-economic impact in the country and the need to do more in order to build Africa, improve the economy and get more people employed and excel in their roles.

What leadership lessons can you advise a young person who is venturing into entrepreneurship?

It is important to create great channels of communication between you and your team. Have an open door policy and allow your team to be innovative with ideas, avoid micromanaging your team. In addition, be patient, Rome wasn’t built in a day. It takes some time to build a thriving business.

What entrepreneurial tricks have you discovered to keep you focused and productive in your day-to-day busy schedule?

Setting goals the night before and prioritizing a day in advance. Then schedule the tasks in order of priority.

What are your hidden inspiration sources? What best motivates you?

How do you get new ideas?

Reading books inspires me. My favourite book author at the moment is Robin Sharma and also, I like digging through the internet for valuable sources of information.

If you were to write a book about yourself, how would you name it?

‘Leadership in a Skirt’ or ‘I said Yes to Success’

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FOUNDER 360° MAGAZINE ISSUE 001 OCT-NOV 2017

COVER STORY

the Star Quality in Leadership award – Gold category that was held in France in May 2017 by the Bid Group.

Being a young lady in entrepreneurship has meant that she has had to go cover steps to extra toil to gain the grip and position in the industry.

“I don’t believe that being a lady has simply contributed to the success I have gained in the industry; I have had to sacrifice a lot including my social life; I have lost a lot of friends along the way simply because I did not have the time anymore to just hanging out and waste time doing nothing much. I had to quit my job

To make this possible, Gloria has brought together a team of 4 permanent staff and 15 consultants comprising of training, payroll and HR experts who have a combined professional staff experience of 30 years in Human Resource Management. To make R4K competitive, all the consultants are members of the Institute of Human Resource Management (IHRM) in addition to having all their trainings are accredited by the National industrial Authority in Kenya.

Gloria who has previously pumped in 2 million more as capital has never raised outside funding to date.

“I was able to raise the 2 million from personal savings out of the previous jobs and also group investment savings” With over 50 job placements per month, R4K has experienced tremendous replicating successes over the years and has partnered with several companies in Kenya, South Africa, Russia and even France. Notable companies and organizations include World Bank, USAID, Cytonn, Sportpesa and USAID among others.

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Gloria believes that excellent customer service across their platform has largely contributed to their success.

“We have a great customer referral system, high retention rate from our recruitment services and amazing reviews from our client base which has grown tremendously over the years.”

In 2016, Recours Four Kenya won the Best Corporate Partner of The Year Award at the Gala Awards held at The Villa Rosa Kempinski organized by Eddah’s Hope. And on May 2017, the company received a nomination for

at Kenya Airways to fully focus on my business so I sacrificed a steady salary, in the beginning, to earn unstable income as the company was in its initial stages.”

This year, her hard work and passion to make a difference in how human resource is managed led her to be listed on Forbes Top 30 Under 30 2017. Gloria’s plan is to grow Recours Four Kenya into a leading a youth oriented Human Resource Consultancy in the region and beyond.

FOUNDER 360° MAGAZINE ISSUE 001 OCT-NOV 2017

HIRING

SHAFIN ANWARSHA:

H I R I N G

E SS E N T I A L H I R I N G T I PS FO R E A R LY STAG E STA RT U PS “The most important factor in retaining talent in a start-up is right from the get-go, to ensure that the “right” candidate is hired for every role.”

SOUTH AFRICA’S POPULATION which is pegged at over 55 million has an unemployment rate of over 26% growing at a rate of 2% p.a. A country which has been described as the economic powerhouse of Africa is still grappling with alarming unemployment levels since the end of apartheid. It is a common scene to see graduates packed with their certificates and resumes taking various positions along the streets begging for work. More appalling is the fact that its unemployment rate among young people (15 – 24) is above the global average at more than 50%.

But Shafin Anwarsha and Anish Shivdasani are on a mission to close this employment gap by changing how young and entry job applicants can have easy access to job opportunities.

The two are the co-founders of a Johannesburg-based tech startup, Giraffe.

Giraffe is a job recruitment site that seeks to provide access to job opportunities to low-income job seekers through their phones. The plat-

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form created in 2015 is aimed at those workers who earn between $200 and $1000 per month and provides a lowcost option for employers to hire the most suitable candidate swiftly.

Through its intricate algorithm, Giraffe combs its database of potential candidates and automatically identifies the suitable candidates contacts them through SMS and schedules interviews at a time and place of the employer’s choice; and it even goes ahead to provide a tip like “Don’t be late”.

Giraffe is at the principal central bridge between job seekers that need to know about relevant available job opportunities and businesses that need to be able to source and contact the best candidates.

Shafin and Anish invested over USD 70,000 in seed funding from their savings and have received further investments from Omidyar Networks, a venture fund founded by eBay Founder, Pierre Omidyar’s. In 2016, they won the 2016 edition of Seedstars World, an International Startup competition.

This South African Startup which has a team of 8 generates revenues by getting a percentage of the annual salary of the candidate from the businesses after successfully placing the candidate in the company. For small businesses, they do this on an ad-

hoc; but with larger corporates, they have monthly subscriptions that allow them to place a certain number of candidates for the month.

Giraffe has currently over 500,000 registered users and more than 400 businesses – both large corporates and small business and they are in an expansion plan across South Africa before embarking around Africa.

Shafin, who is an Actuarial Science graduate from the University of Cape Town shares exclusively with Founder360 ° Magazine on best practices a Startup, can adopt during their hiring processes.

How would you describe the hiring process for businesses in Africa?

Varies depending on the resources available; bigger businesses have the luxury of using recruitment agencies and/or labour brokers. These options are expensive however and don’t suit the bulk of businesses in Africa which are small or medium enterprises SMEs primarily rely on 2 channels for recruitment: Internal team/ referrals or Job Classifieds. These channels, however, are not perfect. They require a lot of time and effort in sourcing and screening candidates – time that business owner has to take away from running the business. Moreso, there’s a cost element for most high-quality job classifieds and they have a limited reach. It also takes time to fill/ close a vacancy (if at all).

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HIRING

It’s precisely for this reason that the recruitment industry is ripe for disruption, desperate to find a solution that efficiently matches job seekers to employers in the quickest possible way.

Who should a startup hire first in the early stages of growth?

Assuming the product is ready to go to market, during growth, the 2 functional areas required to support growth are sales/ business development and operations. I’d argue that startups shouldn’t hire for either of these positions and instead have its founders lead up these divisions given that it’s key to the eventual success of the business.

Retaining top talent in a company is difficult in the current competitive environment where well-funded startups are sprouting from every corner?

What are the tips that founders can embrace in retaining such talent once hired?

The most important factor in retaining talent in a start-up is right from the get-go, to ensure that the “right” candidate is hired for every role, to minimise the risk of attrition- the perfect candidate is someone who: •

•

•

•

•

Is capable of the required role and has the necessary skills and experience to perform as required.

What should startups be wary of when hiring?

Aside from the basics in terms of the candidate’s technical abilities for a particular role, it’s very important to suss out the motivation for why a candidate wants to work at a startup as well as the specific startup in question.

Working for a startup seems to be the “in thing” for many people these days, but without really understanding the stress and hard work that come with it. It’s vital that each candidate hired for a startup is aware and completely aligned with risk and hardship they’re about to sign up for. Only when this is done would I even consider them for a position.

What are the best practices for hiring right?

I don’t think these are set in stone but I approach recruiting in the following way: •

Wants to work at a startup and understands the risk it presents.

Believes in the vision of the company and what it’s trying to achieve.

•

Believes in the leadership/ team of the company, and its future success.

Understands the culture of the company.

Finally, it’s also important to have the uncomfortable salary conversations up front. Startups often cannot compete with bigger corporates or VC backed startups, instead, they

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use equity as a way to incentivize staff whilst paying a below market salary.

It’s important that the employee has properly considered this and planned accordingly to avoid any uncomfortable financial issues that may arise in the future.

•

•

Clearly define job spec, roles, and responsibilities and use this as a framework to determine best type of candidate (education or experience background) as well as necessary compensation-use industry benchmarks if necessary Advertise across as many recruitment channels available. Although I’ve always found personal networks to be the best source for my first few hires.

Ensure candidates meet the necessary specs for the job role but also the right motivation and understanding of working in a startup.

Ensure candidate is aligned with and believes in the vision and success of the startup and always ensure you

check references.

•

And finally, take your time – more important to hire the right candidate slowly than fill the position immediately with a less-than-perfect candidate.

Let us work with an example here; let’s say a 2-year-old tech startup wants to hire a Chief Marketing Officer, describe the process that you would use including some of the qualities that you will check out for?

I’d follow a similar process as above.

Given that a CMO is a relatively senior role, I’d take even more care to ensure that the candidate selected is the best candidate for the role. They will have to convince me that they can do the job and at the same time, have a passion for startups and the vision of our company in particular Any additional tips you have?

Equity is the biggest differentiator between working for a startup and a corporate. Ensure you have enough equity to give to early staff/ founders.

Setup an equity vesting structure to ensure that the team is incentivized to stay at the company for longer.

PERSONAL BRANDING B R A N D I N G

Award Winning Blogger, Muriuki

Kagiri

Shares Top Personal

Branding Tips Entrepreneurs Need to Know Muriuki has dived into the world more associated with the feminine kind.

His demeanour and style of dressing points directly to a world characterized by elegance, couture, and frill.

Muriuki Kagiri is the founder and voice of “The Dapper Brother” brand is a personal style blog where he shares style tips, outfit inspiration, explores fashion trends, and reviews products.

His blog is focussed on menswear providing personal style tips for men in a quest to inspire them to create their own unique personal image.

The Dapper Brother brand has experienced immense success and growth over the past 2 years; commanding a massive following of over 20K followers across his social media platforms.

In 2015, he won the MIMI Fashion blogger contest which had over 98% female blog entries of the total 200 entries. Muriuki has also won the Kenya Glamour Awards 2016 Blog of

Muriuki Kagiri started The Dapper Brother brand in April 2015 having been BUILD ON YOUR STRENGTHS RATHER inspired by the THAN FOCUSING ON THE “FAKE IT TILL fact that there YOU MAKE IT” ATTITUDE. PEOPLE was little content in the marWILL SEE WHEN YOU ARE NOT BEING ket on menswear, AUTHENTIC AND THIS CAN DAMAGE men styling and YOUR CREDIBILITY. men’s fashion collectively. By then, the thought of blogging was not in place; Muriuki had previously graduated with The Year and received nominations for a Bachelor of Science in Information ABRYANZ Style & Fashion Awards 2016 technology and established himself (Best Fashion Blogger – Africa). professionally as UI/UX designer.

A.N OTHER

Having identified that the specific niche was unsaturated, he proceeded to establish his brand by gathering his experience as a commercial model having collaborated with international brands such as Coca-Cola & Airtel.

Muriuki has and is currently working with brands such OPPO, Deacons, Daniel Wellington, Dapper Time, Switch Limited, and TOMAZ Italy. And He is currently the Kenyan brand ambassa-

FOUNDER 360° MAGAZINE ISSUE 001 OCT-NOV 2017

dor for the Samsung Galaxy A-Series.

The Dapper Brother who has not only solidly established himself as model or fashion blogger but also as a top men’s image consultant in the region.

He shares with us the importance of personal image for professionals and entrepreneurs.

Tell us a bit about how you started the dapper brother brand?

Having an interest in fashion, specifically menswear, I was always scouring the internet for inspiration. There wasn’t a lot of content locally at the time, as I only knew of two other male bloggers in Kenya, so I saw an opportunity to establish my brand as the niche was unsaturated at the time.

What drove or inspired you to get into blogging, fashion, and personal branding?

Funny, I had never thought of becoming a blogger until mid-2015. Once it crossed my mind, I didn’t even think twice about it. I wanted to share my perspective on menswear and personal style and the blog provided a

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sort of a blank canvas for me to express myself and inspire other men to look good.

the importance of personal branding; how important is this to other professionals and entrepreneurs?

How do you generate revenue as a fashion blogger?

The sources of revenue from my blog & social channels stems mainly from sponsored content and brand collaborations. Many big brands are starting to embrace influencer marketing as it appeals to a very specific audience; so conversion rates from this marketing technique tends to be higher than traditional advertising.

Having positioned yourself as a trustworthy source as an entrepreneur, people will be more inclined to bring their business to you. If you’re employed, a personal brand that shows off your best qualities and demonstrates your unique attributes will help you go up the ranks in your career.

How would you define personal image and branding? What does it entail?

Personal branding is essentially an ongoing process of establishing a predefined impression in the mind of others about oneself. It is how people look to create an identity for themselves that they would like to be seen as by their peers, colleagues or in the public eye. In most cases, this is achieved by marketing yourself similarly to the way a corporate brand would.

As a fashion blogger, you are aware of

How would you personally measure the ROI of personal image and branding?

I measure the ROI from how much my following grows and the business that comes my way.

What are the benefits of personal image and branding?

It enables you to stand out from the pack. You earn respect from your acquaintances and the general public. It puts you in a position of influence.

What are tips that entrepreneurs can adopt to start or improve their personal image and branding?

Being in the digital age, you cannot ignore social media for the power it has in building personal brands. Use social media to your advantage and share content that is in line with the brand you are looking to build. Be consistent across all channels. It wouldn’t hurt to also have a personal website that you can link to on your bio that can either act as your resume or as space where you share your opinions.

Build on your strengths rather than focusing on the “fake it till you make it” attitude. People will see when you are not being authentic and this can damage your credibility.

FOUNDER 360° MAGAZINE ISSUE 001 OCT-NOV 2017

NETWORKS

5 NETWORKING TIPS EVERY ENTREPRENEUR NEEDS TO MASTER N E T W O R K I N G

NETWORKING IS ONE OF THE LIFEBLOOD OF MAINTAINING long-term and valuable relationships. No matter whom you are or what stage you are in life, networking is the one skill that every entrepreneur needs to master.

Whether it’s learning or making potential business alliances, networking is the social catalyst for success.

The art of networking is not just in the start or creation, but in establishing and sustaining a mutually beneficial relationship in the long-run.

The best networking process comes from establishing genuine and sincere connections rather than exchanging business cards and business pleasantries.

Below, I share some of the tips on becoming a “Power networker?”

1 . AT T E N D COM M U N I T Y E V E N TS

Get to identify and attend events within your ecosystem that are relevant to your field. Startup events are spread out around the continent and in all the major cities. Cape Town, Durban, Lagos and Nairobi are some of the main cities that host the most entrepreneur focussed events. It is also very important to research and find what kind of event it is. Not all entrepreneur focused event is meant for you as a founder. If you are in the farming

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business, it may not be wise to attend cyber security event.

definitely require some practice before attending the event.

2 . C R E AT E A P L A N

4 . J O I N A N D B U I L D YO U R W O RT H

For you to be effective, you have to create a plan before attending any event. Research the kind people attending the event. From the list of speakers, you can have an idea of the kind of people whom you will need to connect with. Most of the time, we would want to connect with most successful and seasoned entrepreneurs for advice and mentorship. But it is also very prudent to identify would be clients and even partners.

Establishing long-term relationships is not a one-day affair. Go beyond the norm and join some of the existing community groups that you’ll come across or you can as well create a community from like-minded individuals you’ll meet. Such initiatives we’ll position you as a valuable asset to your networks. Networking isn’t just about receiving, but also giving and sharing from your resources bank which may include both knowledge and other networks. In the long run, this will contribute to the swift growth of your business.

3. G O ST R A I G H T TO T H E P O I N T

Have you ever been in an event and during the break, and as you connect with your favourite VIP and a stranger shoves their way through the conversation and before you know it, whatever you were pitching is no longer relevant? Yes, that happens a lot. Always have in mind that you might not be the only person who wants to meet this VIP; so you don’t have the luxury of time to spend with them. That is why you have to master the art of pitching.

LaShonda Bracey, a contracting guru and serial entrepreneur recommends 7 seconds to make a first impression, 14 seconds to create interest and 21 seconds to tell your story. This will

5. K E E P T H E COM M U N I C AT I O N L I N ES F R ES H

There’s no point of going to an event to connect if you are not planning to grow and maintain the relationship. It is very important to touch base soon after the event is over. After 48 hours, you can do a follow-up email appreciating the importance of meeting them. They may not be in a position to become your mentor or be a partaker of your products and services, but they may have an extensive network of people who can. So keep your optimism levels high and positive.

FOUNDER 360° MAGAZINE ISSUE 001 OCT-NOV 2017

EVENTS

UPCOMING EVENTS HIGHLIGHTS A B I L L I O N STA RT U PS ENTREPRENEURSHIP EVENT This is a CSR initiative run by Glasshouse PR to promote the growing entrepreneurial ecosystem in Africa with the aim to help accelerate the growth of startups by aiding in the cultivation of structured ideation and business design advisory.

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DATE: November 17, 2017

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TIME: 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM

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LOCATION: Glass House PR (Laibon Centre 4th Floor, Lenana Road, Nairobi) ENTRY: Free; Apply Through Eventbrite (https://www.eventbrite. com/e/a-billion-startups-entrepreneurship-event-tickets29462318588?aff=es2)

A F R I C A R E N A 2 01 7 - I N T E R N AT I O N A L A F R I C A T EC H CO N F E R E N C E BY F R E N C H T EC H & S I L I CO N C A P E

H I G H G RO W T H AFRICA SUMMIT 2 017 BY STA RTA + I N G R E SS I V E

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DATE: 6th Nov – 7th Nov 2017

This is a 2-day conference exclusively dedicated to teaching entrepreneurs how to build, scale and fund high growth businesses in Africa. It will convene successful business founders and operators from the Silicon Valley, UK, and Africa who will share practical how-to guides on strategy, tactics, and tools startup founders can use to grow their business in Africa

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TIME: 900 AM – 5:00 PM

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DATE: 21st Nov – 22nd Nov 2017

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TIME: 8:30 AM – 9:00 PM

Silicon Cape and La French Tech have joined forces to create AfricArena, a platform to connect investors from across the world with the very best startups from Africa and beyond, and big businesses interested to leverage the African opportunities.

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LOCATION: Century City Conference Centre (Cape Town, WC 7446, South Africa)

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WEBSITE: africarena.com

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ENTRY: $250 - $395

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LOCATION: Landmark Centre (Plot 2&3 Water Corporation Road, Victoria Island, Lagos State Nigeria) ENTRY: $20 - $100

FOUNDER 360° MAGAZINE ISSUE 001 OCT-NOV 2017

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