2 I INVERSK MAGAZINE July 2019
JULY 2019 INVERSK MAGAZINE I 3
CONTENT - AUG - SEP 2019 | VOLUME 1 ISSUE 1
Pg. 16
COVER STORY 16: Kyalo, Gathii and Their Koncepts The duo met back in 2004 in Thika High School and later founded a thriving events company. BY KABIRA DAISY
LEADERSHIP 8: Build A “Circle of Trust” Around Your Business
BY DR. STRIVE MASIYIWA
HIRING
10: Three Fun And Free Onboarding Ideas For Startups And SMSEs BY OLIVIA WOLD
OPINION
Pg. 28
13: More Commitment Needed to Revitalize Kenya’s SMSEs
BY GEORGE WACHIURI
4 I INVERSK MAGAZINE I AUG - SEPT 2019
CONTENT - AUG - SEP 2019 | VOLUME 1 ISSUE 1 EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
Pg. 24
14: Emotional Intelligence is like a Kaleidoscope BY DEREK BBANGA
FOCUS - SCALING 20: How to Scale Your Small Business for Greater Profit
BY ANTONIO AMOS
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT 22: Excellence is the Art of Striving to do Better!
BY DARSHAN CHANDARIA
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT 24: How To Develop Your Leadership Distinction
Pg. 40
BY ONYI ANYADO
ENTREPRENEURS 28: MARTIN KIBOTE The Mediabox Advertising Founder started out by losing his job in the most unexpected way. 7 years later - he does not regret it. BY KIMANI PATRICK
32: HELLEN NFUNG’U The 25-year old, Actuarial Science graduate and a mother of one revamped her YouTube channel less than two months ago and she has already caught the attention of brands such as SuperFoam Africa.
BY INVERSK TEAM
FOCUS - HEALTHCARE 34: For Effective Healthcare – Focus on The Patient BY OKOTH ONYANGO
GROWTH STRATEGIES | SELLING 36: The B2B Battlefield: How to Make Successful Corporate Sales
BY JORDAN STEPHANOU
PERSONAL FINANCE 38: Which Money Wave Are You Riding? BY HENRY OZIANYI
MENTORSHIP/SUCCESS
Pg. 32
40: Finance Leaders Share 3 Insider Tips to Succeed. BY SHORTLIST
AUG - SEPT 2019 I INVERSK MAGAZINE I 5
REINTRODUCING INVERSK
The ultimate resource for the 21st century business builders is back - with a 56-page magazine every two months featuring unparalleled insights and in-depth analysis into the most significant trends & strategies shaping today's business world. Grab a copy today and keep abreast on how to start, build and scale your business. Free Digital Copies available at: www.magzter.com www.zinio.com www.issuu.com Print Copies will be available from Dec-2019 / Jan-2020 Edition in leading magazine stands, corporate offices and hotels in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and South Africa. . RATES FOR ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION (6 PRINT COPIES) Kenya Uganda Tanzania Rwanda South Africa Rest of World
KES 2,310 UGX 82,740 TZS 51,660 RWF 20,580 ZAR 336 USD 23.1
INVERSK KEY CONTACTS Publisher/Executive Editor - Kimani Patrick Email: kimani@inversk.co.ke | TEL: +254 710 254524 Ads/Marketing Opportunities: Dennis Maingi Email: dennis@inversk.co.ke | TEL: + 254 724 332 042 Editorial Features Email: content@inversk.co.ke | TEL: +254 726 245915 For subscriptions contact subs@inversk.co.ke
www.inversk.co.ke
Inversk Magazine is a publication of The Carlstic Group. Views expressed in this publication do not in any way express the views of the publisher.
AUG - SEPT 2019 I INVERSK MAGAZINE I 7
LEADERSHIP
Build A “Circle of Trust” Around Your Business By Dr. Strive Masiyiwa, Group Chairman and Chief Executive, Econnect Group
“Success comes from creating a “circle of trust”, between your business, your customers, your suppliers, and your lenders.” often chased around, and even embarrassed by creditors. Our bank manager was an elderly lady, and one day, I sat down with her and explained our problem. She told me one of my largest suppliers, was also a client of the bank. She brokered a meeting, and told the supplier, she could vouch for me, as a trusted customer, because I was as she put it, “frugal and sensible with money”.
I
n the early days of our business, we were often forced to pay our suppliers, for everything in cash. At the same time, our key customer, the government, paid us usually after 30 days, or more. This meant we had to borrow to buy materials for our projects.
I knew that the larger, more established players in our industry, did not have this problem, because they had terms from the suppliers; the same ones who demanded cash from us. So, we always had terrible liquidity problems in the business, and we were
That was when we were small, but those principles remained with me, and even now, we have similar relationships, with global suppliers, around the world; in places like China, India and Sweden.
There are suppliers of ours, who have even recommended to governments, to give us licenses! Your suppliers (the ones you may now call your “creditors” …... because you have not paid them); and even your banks, they are running businesses, just like The supplier agreed to give us a you. Invest in getting to know them: Make yourself a small credit limit. I promised to trustworthy partner to them. allow the supplier Success comes from creating a free access to information about “circle of trust”, between your everything I was doing. If I got a business, your customers, your new contract, I told them suppliers, and your lenders. The immediately, and when we got more people enter, this circle of paid, or the payment, was late, I trust, the more you prosper, and told them. We started small, but the more the nation itself, soon, they increased the limit. prospers. This is part of the Before long, we became their “mystery of capital”. And, when largest single customer. We had the economy of your country built a partnership based on a enters a difficult time, (as all common interest. countries, do from time to time), Over the years, as this supplier it can be all that stands between prospered through our you and bankruptcy: your circle relationship, he enthusiastically of trust. introduced me to other trusted If you go back to my story about suppliers. Sometimes, when the how, I fought for five years, to same suppliers, heard about a get a license, you will see threads major new project, they would call me, and tell me to try and get of the “circle of trust”, that I had it…. It was good business for all of built. Now go build your, circle of us: We had built a “circle of trust”. trust.
8 I INVERSK MAGAZINE I AUG - SEPT 2019
JULY 2019 INVERSK MAGAZINE I 3
HIRING
Three Fun And Free Onboarding Ideas For Startups And SMSEs By Olivia Wold Chief of Staff @ Shortlist (www.shortlist.net), based in Nairobi.
“Great onboarding isn’t just for corporates with big budgets! Build an effective and affordable onboarding program with these tips and tools.”
O
nboarding is a crucial part of recruitment, but often feels like an afterthought once you’re done with the screening, selection, and offer process. As a super busy startup or SME, it might seem unattainable to dedicate even more team time and resources for onboarding. However, you may want to reconsider. In addition to making new joiners feel excited and welcomed, quality onboarding processes have been proven to increase employee engagement, productivity, and satisfaction, and reduce turnover and absenteeism in the long run. How to begin? We have shared three of our favorite fun and free onboarding ideas for you to incorporate today!
10 I INVERSK MAGAZINE I AUG - SEPT 2019
Tip #1: Create an informative and fun welcome packet to prep new joiners ahead of time Create a packet of key information that you share with the new joiner a week ahead of their start date. It can be anywhere from a one-pager to a lengthier document to a video, and you can update it and re-use it over the years. Some ideas for what to include in your welcome packet: • Your mission and vision statements. • A timeline of key company milestones and fun facts about your founding story • An overview of your key products with images and feature descriptions • Case studies that demonstrate your impact on customers and/or society • Organizational chart with names, pictures, and titles, so they can get a head start on learning names!
Tip #3: Pair the new joiner with a buddy Setting up your new joiner with a buddy gives them an automatic friend on their first day! Ask for team members to volunteer to commit 2–3 hours in the next three months to be a buddy. Ideally, the buddy is familiar enough with your organization (over 6 months tenure) that they can explain team policies and culture, and are not the new joiner’s manager. Once you’ve selected a buddy, here are some activity ideas: •
Introduce the buddy and new joiner over email about a week before they join, giving the buddy an opportunity to welcome the new joiner and share any informal tips before their first day.
•
Set up a lunch or coffee between the buddy and new joiner on their second or third day, so they have someone to share questions and observations with after the initial deluge of information.
•
Ask the buddy to schedule a one-month and three-month check-in with the new joiner, so that they don’t feel like onboarding stops at activities of the first week!
Tip #2: Time your existing company events to create an engaging and busy first few weeks Does your team already hold regularly occurring internal events? These could include all-company gatherings (like Town Halls or leadership Q&As), functional team meetings (like brainstorms or check-ins), or social events (like a monthly happy hour). Try planning your team calendar so that these events and meetings occur during your new joiners’ first two weeks at the company. With a little bit of advance planning or rearranging (and no extra cost), you’ve beefed up your new joiner’s onboarding agenda with fun and engaging events that help them dive right into your company culture and routines. For bonus points: Load these events into your new joiner’s calendar so, on their first day, they see lots of fun activities already planned for them
For bonus points: Try to identify a common interest or trait between the buddy and new joiner, which can help as an ice-breaker. Make sure to go beyond the obvious (e.g., same university) to highlight that team members at your company strive to connect over shared interests and behaviors that go deeper than surface-level.
AUG - SEPT 2019 I INVERSK MAGAZINE I 11
2 I INVERSK MAGAZINE July 2019
OPINION | SMES
More Commitment Needed to Revitalize Kenya’s SMSEs BY GEORGE WACHIURI
M
icro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) - both formal and informal - make up over 90% of all firms and on average account for 60-70% of total employment and 50% of the World’s GDP. This is according to recent data provided by the International Council for Small Business (ICSB).
Perhaps, this immense contribution to the World’s economy is the reason why the United Nations hived off its calendar, a day to specially celebrate MSMEs. Since 2017, 27 June was set apart for the World to celebrate the Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Day. The day was is meant to help raise public awareness of their contribution to sustainable development.
Photo from Freepik.com
In Kenya, the immense contribution of SMEs to the country’s economy cannot be belabored. Given though, the SMEs have been running through as many challenges ranging from access to finances to lack of harmonized licensing process between the central Government and the county governments. Despite all these challenges, it must be said that the government seem to be committed to the course of SMEs growth though initiatives such as Uwezo Fund, introduction of Huduma Centers to ease registration process amongst others. On the other hand, the same Government seem to be giving the same SMEs a cold shoulder when it comes to matters such as disinclination to repeal the interest rates caps, which has evidently been hurting local SMEs. As a team leader of one of Kenya’s SMEs, I feel the government needs to be more sensitive to the SMEs ecosystem as it seeks to acquire more revenue. Increasing taxes for SMEs will result to stretching an already tired private sector. The Government needs to seal misappropriation loopholes and up its commitment to necessitating the right environment for doing business for a healthier private sector. We look forward to
a more enhanced environment of doing business. ICT enabled concepts such as E-citizen should be made efficient. Even more importantly, we should not encourage introduction of punitive laws that undermine the growth of the very bedrock of Kenya’s economy. With a focus on the bigger picture other that an urge to quickly satisfy a transitory fiscal deficit, we will collectively realize the huge entrepreneurial potential in our great country. Although MSMEs generate the most of the new jobs, they face many challenges in day- to-day operations as they strive to grow. Access to finance is often cited as one of the primary obstacles that affect MSMEs disproportionately. According to the World Bank, there are 200 to 245 million formal and informal enterprises that do not have a loan or overdraft, but are in need of one, or do have a loan but still find access to finance as a constraint. More than 90 percent are MSMEs. George Wachiuri is the CEO for Optiven Group, author of three books, Philanthropist, Youth Empowerment Enthusiast and Africa Business Award winner.
AUG - SEPT 2019 I INVERSK MAGAZINE I 13
FOCUS - EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
Emotional Intelligence is like a Kaleidoscope BY DEREK BBANGA
A
t times, people tend to misunderstand why Emotional Intelligence is so important. The bottom line is that the way you ‘show up’ (how you behave and interact with people) determines how they feel (think of that person you know who brings the atmosphere in the room down just by showing up) and the way people feel determines how well they engage with you. Which in turn determines the outcome of that relationship. Simple…Basic… And you already knew that, right? It’s logical. The above should matter to leaders in particular, because a large part of our success is dependent upon our ability to engage people to get the results that only engaged people deliver. Emotionally intelligent leaders inspire and engage their people and, as a result, they achieve results from their people that are superior to the results achieved by other leaders. This is a key point: you are only as emotionally intelligent as people experience you being. You can have the highest EI ability on the planet and, if you ‘show up’ and don’t demonstrate that EI ability, then you 14 I INVERSK MAGAZINE I AUG - SEPT 2019
don’t get that payback. It all comes down to behavior - which means that any leader who cares to understand what behaviors constitute emotional intelligence, and to take the time to learn how to make those behaviors part of their day to day leadership style, can become a more engaging leader and get better results from their people. The organisation I work for, Genos International, invested 20 years of research in identifying a specific set of 42 behaviors that are responsible for driving an emotionally intelligent impact. The good news is that pretty much every leader ALREADY has many of those behaviors as a standard part of the way they behave day-to-day. In all likelihood, it is these behaviors that got them into their leadership positions in the first place. So, every one of us already has many of the behavioral seeds in our default behavior. But equally, none of us are perfect, and we all fail to demonstrate some of the behaviors that would dramatically improve our impact. But
EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
Photo from Freepik.com
don’t worry: our experience shows that it is not necessary to assimilate every one of those emotionally intelligent behaviors to raise the level of our impact upon the people who work for us. Even changing one or two of these key behaviors can have a dramatic impact. Think of emotional intelligence as being like a kaleidoscope. In a kaleidoscope, a series of mirrors set at angles to one another create fascinating fractal patterns when they reflect the tiny colored beads that share the tube with them. Each bead is reflected by each of the mirrors and each of the mirrors also reflects the reflection of the reflection, and the reflections of the reflections of the reflections and so on. So, if you turn the tube and even one bead you change its reflection, and the reflection of its reflection and so on - then the entire pattern changes dramatically. Your working environment is just like that. Each of your behaviors is like one of those colored beads, and each of the people who work for you are like mirrors: they are affected by every one of your behaviors. And how they are affected by your behavior is reflected back to you and to every other member of your team that they deal with day to day. The reflections, and the reflections of the reflections of your behaviors are felt throughout your team (to understand more about the way everything you do and say affects EVERYONE around you should read ‘Connected’ by Christakis and Fowler).
So, if you change even one small thing about the way you behave in your interaction with your team, it is reflected all around the team (and the world at large) - having a dramatic effect on the way you are perceived. Assimilating even one or two of the emotionally intelligent behaviors uncovered by 20 years of our research could have a dramatic effect on the impact you have on your people and the extent to which they engage with you and their jobs to contribute superior results. But how do you know which of those behaviors are already part of the default way in which you show up,' and which you need to work upon? You must ask those who work for you to tell you what behaviors you demonstrate with them day-to-day.
Derek Bbanga is a Genos International Certified Emotional Intelligence Facilitator. Email: dbbanga@gmail.com
AUG - SEPT JULY 2019 2019 I INVERSK INVERSKMAGAZINE MAGAZINEI 17 I3
COVER STORY
Cephas Gathii (Left) and David Kyalo 2 I INVERSK MAGAZINE July 2019
There are many articles and books that pop up on a simple online search on how to critically choose a business partner. While it is obvious teaming up with unemployed fresh college graduate is not a consideration, the risk is even bigger when the starting capital is a borrowed Ksh 1,500 and the first dive into a mega corporate agreement delivers a Ksh 400,000 loss. This is exactly how Cephas Gathii and David Kyalo started.
AUGUST 2019 INVERSK MAGAZINE I 19
COVER STORY
The Rise of Koncepts and Events: How Redundancy and Rebranding Landed them on Top 40 under 40 Men List with Over 5KSH Million Turn Over BY KABIRA DAISY
A
mutual call to meet up in Thika town was a determined move to deal with the giant of unemployment for David Kyalo a 29 years old Bachelor of Science in Human Resource Management Degree holder from Moi University, and Cephas Gathii, a 28 years old computer science and mathematics graduate from Jomo Kenyatta University of Technology and Science. The two are the founders of Koncepts and Events who meet back in 2004 in Thika High School but it was not until there was a need that they synergized to earn a living and survive the high cost of living. The duo started off with an IT company, Afrique Ventures, which majored in developing websites for schools and other small businesses. When not developing websites for their clients they would walk around Nairobi city seeking to find anyone who was in need of business cards and company logos so they could design for a small fee.
“We could to sit at the Kenyatta University food court and help ourselves with the campus Wi-Fi to run our business,” says Mr. Gathii. The business however conceived and bore a company for concepts and events development for products and organizations when they visited
a prospective client and though their request to design a website for them took a rain check and they left with a better deal; to plan a kid’s festival. Smart or Hard Workers?
“If you are working hard and smart at the same time that is a double-edged sword,” states Mr. Kyalo the CEO of Koncepts and Events who was listed on the Top 40 under 40 men list in 2016. Mr. Kyalo says that in their business they are on toes to work hard smart and hard to outsmart competitors and changes in the technology sector. Yet, at the on onset of the business partnership the pair was marked with hard but not smart results as they lost close to 400,000KSH after they executed the kid’s festival as demanded by their client -a huge corporate business in Nairobi. It was after the well attended sponsored event that they realized that the sponsored event was not to pay back the money they had borrowed from friends to organize the event leave alone yield profit. The grand mistake was as a result of communications which were done on Email ignoring the signing of the deal which required a written and contract. “Our mistake was our big
18 I INVERSK MAGAZINE I AUG - SEPT 2019
break and our major retainers came from this event.” Points out Kyalo Having been classmates in High School and even participating in the competitive Science Congress Contexts as a team while in form three and emerged third at Provincial level, the team eyed for a bigger price as a reward for cutting ties was at zero guarantee. The hard work applied on the well planned and executed open to public kid’s festival, had a ripple effect on the market earning them referrals and attracting clients of all cadres including World Bank, Mountain Mall, Garden city among others. Through these events they were able to pay back the borrowed money and made to a near KSH5 million turn over in the 2015/2016 fiscal year. “Some of the World Bank’s staff had attended our event and recommended us to their bosses,” said Gathii who was also listed in the Daily Nation top 40 under 40 men in 2017. Rebranding Since its inception in 2014, Afrique faced a brand misinterpretation where people easily confused the contents in the package with Travel and Tours Company, making them shy away from the brand. Like many
entrepreneurs hunt for profit, the company had to facelift by rebranding to Koncepts and Events, a name that say it all, in order to penetrate the market and attract more germane clients. Reinventing the wheel is a risk that Events Companies suffer through handling different clients with same needs. Hitherto, the success of Koncept and Events is attributed to a great team of young talented and creative personnel who are dedicated to give a unique experience, not showing up during the event, but engaging the clients from planning to completion of the their event. Their oldest employee is 29 years of age. The company claims that young employees are more innovative and creative which is a vital quality in the industry. While quality goes hand in hand with the price tag, Koncept has devised a way to deliver events with lowered pricing without sacrificing quality of events or client experience getting ahead of their competitors in the aggressive market of events.
Relations, marketing, live screens, dĂŠcor and information technology Kyalo and Gathii are passionate and prefer events to IT business because it gives room for creativity and innovation, enabling them to create platforms where people interact with brands while brands network with brands. The duo says that they love to be in events and have held successful World Bank Fun and Talent Day events, organized the Annual Young Entrepreneurs Expo drawing top industries and corporate among other event like press conferences, dinner parties, Annual general meetings, corporate and team building events and road shows. Koncepts and Events have had it all figured out and they look forward to empower more than 100,000 successful SMEs by 2030 which will have fairly unraveled unemployment crises which the co-founders, who now do not regret this partnership, are victims.
“Our Goal is to launch and be grounded in a number of African countries in the next five year as we are looking for dominance and not only competition with a million dollars turn over,� says Kyalo. With expertise in events management, Public
Cephas Gathii
Kyalo AUG - SEPT 2019David I INVERSK MAGAZINE I 21
How to Scale Your Small Business for Greater Profit BY ANTONIO AMOS
I
t is the dream of every startup to grow. As your business continues to make profits, it gets to a point where you have to scale it. This is because your customers will continue to increase and you will have no option but meet the growing demand for your products. Scaling is all about capability and capacity. Scaling is meant to empower your business for the task ahead.
If your business is unable to meet the orders, lacks the infrastructure needed for production and sufficient stuff, you might have a hard time keeping the customers happy. Scaling your business will support the growth of your enterprise and help achieve higher profits. Below are the ways through which you can scale your small business. 1. Invest in technology If you invest wisely in technology, scaling your business will be successful and less expensive. Automation of processes, for instance, will reduce manual work and consequently save on costs. Also, the integration of
systems makes the management of your business seamless: which results in the improvement of the company as a whole. Technology systems like CRM, inventory, sales management, accounting, and HR will enable your business to accommodate higher volume in all areas. 2. Secure the sales Scaling your business means you are preparing yourself to handle more sales. At this point, you should work with an online marketing agency and embrace digital marketing. You can empower your sales and marketing team by having them take a digital marketing course in Kenya. It will all be for the good of your business. Online marketing takes a targeted approach leading to the generation of more and quality leads. More so, you can employ marketing systems to track and manage leads. Having such a structure will help you sell more. 3. Identify your competitive edge Every business has something that makes it stand
20 I INVERSK MAGAZINE I AUG - SEPT 2019
out from the competition. For you to successfully scale your business, you need first to identify your strengths. Conducting a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Threats, and Opportunities) analysis, you will be able to identify the strengths of your business. By SO Doing, you will have a more focused growth by investing in your strengths. 4. Avoid shortcuts Cutting corners will do your business more harm than good. As you look to scale your business, you should be ready to put in the work. Not only will shortcuts compromise your ethics, but your customers will
FOCUS - SCALING
also pay the price. Note that scaling is meant to have long term results. Short cuts will not give you that. 5. Be involved As your business grows, there is a need to hire skilled and talented people to handle different operations. However, this does not warrant you leave. You need to be there. Being tuned in to your business will help you adjust together with your business. Also, it will be easier for you to identify the areas and processes that need to be changed for successful scaling. As you do the climb, you
need to be familiar and aware of every loose stone and foothold to make it to the top. While scaling your business, you need to know that time is a precious commodity. You need to put it into good use. What that means is that proper time management should be prioritized.
While there are so many things to do, you need to distinguish what is more important and give it the priority. Setting daily goals will help you plan better and keep you moving to the bigger goal. For your business succeed, you need to not only focus on growing but also scaling. AUG - SEPT 2019 I INVERSK MAGAZINE I 21
Excellence is the Art of Striving to do Better! BY DARSHAN CHANDARIA
“Quality means doing it right when no one is looking!” ~ Henry Ford n a recent interview I was Iand the asked what motivates me, answer I gave is the
the customer's expectations. That is easier said than done, because though quality is important to business it can be hard to define.
It is well known that to build a great company, you need a great product. There are no hard and fast rules on how to build a great product, but how do you develop a product that gives your clients the most satisfaction?
Quality is never as a result of a coincidence - you don’t just happen to come across quality! Producing a high-quality product or service is an intentional act of choosing to do your best or provide the best for your clients. You have to sincerely want to meet your client’s needs and you have to take intelligent directions and execute skillfully.
one I always give, to be the best at what I do.
When one defines quality within the context of a business, it refers to the quality of a product or service in relation to the perception of the degree to which it meets
Since taking on the leadership at Chandaria
22 I INVERSK MAGAZINE I AUG - SEPT 2019
Industries, I take pride in the innovations I have brought to the company. Our Velvex tissues now are better, stronger and softer, made from the finest virgin pulp and the Nice and Soft brand is the highest quality among its peers. That being said, product development or innovation doesn’t require a particular qualification; usually the best people to work with in product development are the individuals who have a lot of experience in developing products. I am fortunate to have many experienced staff who have seen the company grow. They
FOCUS - LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT rely on their expertise and experience in making judgment calls on which direction should be taken in designing products. Great companies that have made innovation part of their ethos can attest to the fact. Below are some steps that can lead you to develop great products that speak to the heart and soul of your clients: Commitment:- constancy it the key word here. When you are constant in developing your product, quality decisions are not tactical but rather are a result of constant exploration and the search for better answers to the problem you are trying to solve. The challenge with making tactical decisions on quality is that there in inconsistency in the overall product you produce - in other words, quality has to the same at the beginning and the end of the month. In this way you inculcate a culture of quality in your organization.
enough. There can never be too much training. Quality has to become a habit. To ensure this happens we can’t take it for granted that people will automatically understand and do as required. They must be trained and influenced to make the right decisions. Team work:- Allow your employees to interact with one another during the process of product development or organization development. It’s important to get your staff buy-in and to get their contributions as you make your business better. Participation should be voluntary and not compulsory - you will get a better response rate and high-quality responses. Great attitude:- Finally, have the right attitude. Attitude is everything in business because there will many times you will encounter challenges.
Too many times people have turned the quest to improve quality into something oppressive. You can possibly turn a delightful experience into a dreadful one. This point particularly applies to those in management. I recommend that as you undertake the process of involving your staff in developing high quality standards, you focus on improvements that can be made rather than the mistakes that were made. Whether you sell a product or provide a service, ensure that you are constantly improving the way you do business which will be much to the delight of your clients. Darshan Chandaria is the Group CEO for Chandaria Group, Forbes #AABLA2016 Awardee, Lion on #KCBLionsDen & Top 40U40 men Kenya
From a broader perspective, quality is not limited to just developing good quality products but it is also how your employees relate to clients. Keep a log of the times you have made mistakes:- mistakes are a great resource to learn from. You can’t learn how to do things better more than from how not to do them! This could be admittedly difficult, because not everyone is very comfortable reporting when they have made mistakes. This is why you have to set the standards and develop a system to track the mistakes and learnings. In manufacturing, this involves the process of setting a product's specifications and then sampling a small number of units from the production line to see how closely they measure up to those specs. Standards are set and, if too much deviation occurs, the manufacturing process is altered. Train:- Invest in training your staff. This can’t be emphasized AUG - SEPT 2019 I INVERSK MAGAZINE I 23
How To Develop Your Leadership Distinction BY ONYI ANYADO
I
with excitement and, serving with endurance.
Your leadership distinction isn’t about how old you are, how young you are, how long you’ve been in business, education or employment, your leadership distinction is about serving with excellence, serving
It is amazing how people can line up for seven days for the latest Apple phone. It’s not just because it’s a new phone but rather, it’s also because they have knowingly or unknowingly bought into the vision, the voice and the values of Steve
’ve named 2019 The Year of Global Distinction and I believe we are in the most exciting period in recent history. In fact, I’ve called this the era of creative distinction knowing birthing and leading with your innovation is a key to gradual, global and generational distinction.
From my message of Cutting-Edge Distinction, I combine excellence and branding then created my 3 V's of leadership branding: - your vision, your voice and your values.
24 I INVERSK MAGAZINE I AUG - SEPT 2019
Jobs/Apple. Your leadership distinction will come from understanding then applying your 3 V’s knowing, in this era of creative distinction, your distinction will come from being a creator of a recognized brand rather than being just a consumer, of recognized brands. Social media now represents your CV, your business card and your website so as a business leader, what are you saying on social media that can cause potential clients to buy into your vision, your values and
your voice? As a business leader, becoming intentional in leading with your distinction and consistently showcasing the 3 V’s of your leadership brand will mean throwing the status quo out of the window so in turn the parachute of disruption can be used to land in the place of forward thinking thought leadership.
It is important when people don't understand your distinction not to become defensive but rather, become open minded to see new opportunities and possibilities that are available. After all, one can't be creative in a state of anger, aggression and arrogance. In this era of creative distinction, do you know you don't need permission to be disruptive, you don't need permission to be distinctive
and, you don't need permission to be deliberate? It is vital as a business leader you lead with the baton of innovative thinking. What was good business practice say five years ago can potentially be irrelevant today and what is relevant today can be totally defunct in say 2024. If you have staff, a key to business growth is by having the ability to open the minds of your employees so they can see the future which has actually already started. When delivering talks and workshops on organizational growth and people development I share my 3 C’s of creativity which are critical thinking, creative thinking and collaborative thinking. The consistent understanding and application of my 3 C’s is a vital truth to leading with innovative thinking.
The essence of cutting-edge leadership is to live your legacy and leave your legacy.
“
DISTINCTION IN LEADERSHIP ISN'T ABOUT ME, MYSELF AND I, DISTINCTION IN LEADERSHIP IS ABOUT HIM, HER AND THEM
Onyi Anyado is a UK based global leadership speaker, workshop facilitator and business coach. Email: info@oamediahouse.com
JULY 2019 INVERSK MAGAZINE I 3
Fuel Your Brand
Drive Results Corporate Publishing 360° Branding Digital Marketing Enjoy up to 20% off our selected creative design products, - Visual identity and logo design - Company profiles - Digital Marketing - Marketing collaterals (Posters, fliers, brochures etc) - Corporate Publishing Offer runs till September 30 2019
Call: 0710 254524 #FuelYourBrand |
/Carlstic
Big Dreams And The Long Road for Martin Kibote The Mediabox Advertising Founder started out by losing his job in the most unexpected way. 7 years later - he does not regret it. BY KIMANI PATRICK
For all of Martin Kibote’s achievements over the past 7 years, the founder of Mediabox Advertising believes in keeping his feet on the ground and having a clear vision for the future. In a span of 7 years, he has transformed Mediabox Advertising’s simple idea to one of East Africa’s most trusted advertising agencies among blue chip companies and SMEs in the region. To start with, Martin Kibote may seem like just another down-to-earth lad, but don’t be fooled. The 29-year-old Murang’a native is smart as they come. He’s also a lifelong learner who learns from his own mistakes, reading books, watching youTube videos, benchmarking, attending industry forums and events. He also boasts to have strong mentors around him. His departure, however, was not one of a kind - “it was out of desperation,” he says. He’d just secured a greener pasture in September 2011 to work as a marketing executive at an agency. That required him to give a two weeks’ notice to his then employer.
28 I INVERSK MAGAZINE I AUG - SEPT 2019
SUCCESSS STORY - MARTIN KIBOTE So how did the Murang’a born son skyrocket East Africa’s go to advertising agency from his humble backpack into the big league without college education? When the two weeks’ notice period expired, Martin packed from his boss to start a career in a company of his dream - which also offered a better pay. This was not to happen. On his reporting day, the HR asked him to go home and wait for to be called. Apparently, the MD (who was to sign the employment letter) was away and Martin had to wait till he’s back. The wait was longer than expected, until today “I’m still waiting for the call.” Martin says. “That is how I lost my job.” “For days, I could pass by and camp at the station where I was supposed to work, in order to familiarize myself with the colleagues and work environment.” After two weeks of follow ups, nothing was forthcoming. His emails and calls went answered. It is then that Martin decided to go and do his own stuff. “I had a wife and a child at home who required my support. There was no way I could continue waiting to be called.”
Luckily for Martin, he had worked as a marketing executive in an advertising, branding and printing for two and a half years. Clients from his previous employment could call him for projects which he executed on freelance. “That is how I started out, working from home and with zero capital.”
The First Break
to design them from his mini laptop and go to print. He could also joyride at his friends in their offices in Nairobi’s downtown. His first office was co-shared with a friend in Westlands in January 2012. The friend gave Martin a work station at a cost of Ksh 10,000 a month. For the amount, he could get the work station, internet and cleaning services. The office did not last for long. The friend who had shared the officed closed after a disagreement with his business partner. Martin went home for two more months. While this happened, his business was also growing and he decided to get his own office. It was at this point Martin also decided to hire a first employee - an administrative assistant. This move allowed him to delegate some of administrative tasks so he could concentrate on building the businesses. On the marketing bit, referrals from the clients he’d worked with came in handy. “I had also created rapport with my suppliers and they could supply for me on credit as we wait for the client to pay.” To keep costs to the lean side, Martin started out with contractors and casual workers whom he could hire and pay based on a need basis.
A couple of weeks after losing his job, someone from Turkey wanted to run a media campaign in Kenya and needed someone to organize that for him. A friend vouched for Martin. They met at Hilton.
At the meeting, Martin was brutally honest. He confessed that he’d left his previous employment and was now working on freelance. Surprisingly, the client didn’t mind about that. “As long as you deliver, we don’t care.” Martin got the job. “I did the billboards, booked TV adverts and newspaper adverts and the client was very happy.” The margin from the project was good enough to afford Martin his bills for two months as well as allow him time to brainstorm. It was then that he decided to dip his two legs and venture on his own. He registered Mediabox Advertising in November 2011.
The Growing Pains As many startup CEOs attest, certain growing pains are par for the course when your business starts. For Martin, growing from a briefcase business to setting up his office was not easy. Initially, everything was done from a cybercafé - to print quotations, invoices, delivery notes et cetera. All he needed was
AUG - SEPT 2019 I INVERSK MAGAZINE I 29
“
WHEN HIRING SOMEONE, YOU NEED TO FIRST UNDERSTAND THEIR BACKGROUND AND ALSO THE NEEDS TO BE FILLED IN YOUR COMPANY. THERE HAS TO BE A PERFECT MATCH BETWEEN THE TWO.
Taking off some chips, According to Martin, who has built his business from zero to 10 full time employees, working with people you know well and hiring on a need basis is the perfect recipe to ensuring a business success. Martin also advises that “when hiring someone, you need to first understand their background and also the needs to be filled in your company. There has to be a perfect match between the two.”
For Mediabox, Martin employs people he has worked with or those he has nurtured in his firm as interns. This guarantees that they understand the industry well and also, he is assured of their capabilities. It also guarantees that they will be loyal to the brand he has worked hard to build and deliver to its promise. To advance his skills and knowledge, Martin has taken short courses in Marketing, Brand Communications and Advertising courses. 30 I INVERSK MAGAZINE I AUG - SEPT 2019
He is also currently pursuing an executive course at Strathmore Business School. Today, Mediabox has grown beyond itself and is privileged to have clients such as Darling, MoneyGram Ea, Barcadi Martini, Heineken East Africa, Loreal, Airtel, Bosch, Viva Global, Local and International Ad and Event agencies, and many others. Martin attributes his company’s success (which now has a workshop in Nairobi downtown and an agency office in Westlands), can be attributed to being frugal, resilience, constant learning and having a strong vision. “And this is just the beginning.” He says.
Kimani Patrick is a Kenyan based Afripreneur | CEO & Executive Editor for Inversk Magazine, former Coffee Advocate & Corporate Publishing Expert.
AUG - SEPT 2019 I INVERSK MAGAZINE I 33
Kenya’s Budding YouTube Sensation, Miss Hellen Ndung’u BY INVERSK TEAM
I
f there is one undoubted thing that we can say about Hellen Ndung’u is that she is Kenya’s budding YouTube sensation. The 25-year old, Actuarial Science graduate and a mother of one revamped her YouTube channel less than two months ago and she has already caught the attention of brands such as SuperFoam Africa. YouTube, the video-sharing platform, has changed the way we discover talented persons that are able to educate the youth in Africa today, at the click of a button. The millennial generation is definitely one that is changing the rules of how the world operates. For instance, consumers are now immune to generic advertisements and brands more capable of drawing consumers attention through working with peer influencers like Hellen. While hundreds of Kenyans upload videos to YouTube every day, Hellen stands out due to her focus on product
reviews, personal growth, and mom life. She has reviewed products that Kenyans use everyday such as Arimis, Oppo Phones, and the renowned SoftCare Diapers. Hellen credits her growth to consistency and content value. Every week she strives to put out at least two to three videos. Her consistency aligns with the YouTube algorithm that recommends videos from channels that upload consistently. On the other hand, she is able to achieve content value through a simple but rigorous process. Her content creation process starts off with research on topics of interest to her audience as well as trending topics. She then embarks on creating a plan for each video with the intention of sifting out the unnecessary information and directing her focus towards value addition. These are skills that she is still in the process of mastering as she grows her YouTube numbers. She also conducts cross-platform marketing through other social
2 I INVERSK 32 I INVERSKMAGAZINE MAGAZINEJuly I AUG 2019 - SEPT 2019
YOUNG ENTREPRENEUR - HELLEN NDUNG’U
media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and LinkedIn to draw traction to her content. All these coupled up with being a wife and nurturing her 5-months old son who also features on her channel, comprise the routine of this working mother. One notable thing from her videos is her commitment to intentional parenting. Whether she is sharing with mothers in her audience on how to sleep training their toddlers, to organized life tips, and advice for parents travelling with their children, one is sure that they will learn something new from all her videos. The value addition commitment displayed through her work is not only inspiring but also one that sets a world-class precedent. Her followers on her social media platforms are not so much like fans but more of friends that can trust her advice regarding products and personal growth. She has a warm persona that can easily transition into serious sit-down videos regarding real issues in our society today such as the recent Ivy Wangeci Murder and Maternal Negligence in Kenyan hospitals. Although content creation opens one up to criticism, Hellen says that it is her best way to contribute towards social building through her brand. Moreover, she is able to apply her actuarial skills of enterprise risk management in her online work. She aspires to work with more brands that care for her audience through consumer value addition. Many have tried and failed at launching a YouTube Channel but Hellen seems to be relentless in creating more content every week. This young achiever is one to watch as she scales up and beyond the limits. JULY 2019 INVERSK MAGAZINE I 33
HEALTHCARE
For Effective Healthcare – Focus on The Patient BY OKOTH ONYANGO
T
he recent changes within the healthcare sector has alerted governments, practitioners and other stakeholders to the need for Universal Health Coverage to be comprehensively implemented within their various jurisdictions. With this has come the need for a conscious, dedicated focus on the patient in the provision of healthcare services; and the push to move from a curative approach to a preventive approach to health and wellness. At the core of the healthcare system are the patient and the
medical practitioner, meaning an effective collaboration between the two remains fundamental for a desirable outcome to be reached at. However, as observed in many settings currently, the level of patient focus and/or engagement is still at an all-time disappointing low. Any patient’s treatment can be likened to a journey. Every patient is unique and so is every patient’s journey to health and wellness. It is therefore principally important to let the patient drive the topic (s), metrics and the cadence of engagement based
34 I INVERSK MAGAZINE I AUG - SEPT 2019
on what’s happening in his or her journey, at that particular time. Worthy of note as well is that patients’ journeys evolve and morph based on a number of factors such as how recently they have been diagnosed, how they are doing in therapy and how they are feeling. These and many others are coupled to a number of economic, social and political factors. An effective patient engagement program focuses not only on the intervention/ therapy/product/medication/ service but also supports the patient holistically during their restoration journey to health
and Political Climates). The list is not exhaustive. I venture to dissect these a little bit further. 1. Health Literacy/Patient Education A patient who understands his or her treatment plan and has the confidence that he or she can manage that treatment is sufficiently able to gain a sense of empowerment, and have a voice in their personal therapy and in the management of their health and wellness. This makes patient education and literacy a key driver of effective patient engagement and ensures the provision of value to the participants in the patient’s journey. By identifying a patient’s level of health literacy, a patient engagement program can assist patients in becoming better prepared, more confident and more empowered. 2. Disease State at every particular time.
Photo from Freepik.com
and wellness. One cannot separate the patient’s feelings, symptoms and disease state from the medication/service they are consuming – the best place to get this information from is the patient himself or herself. A number of factors will influence the patient’s journey to health. Such include Health Literacy/Patient Education (Understanding Treatment Plan, Sense of Empowerment, Confidence Level to sail through the treatment and come out healthy), Disease State at every particular time (HPI, Diagnosis, Treatment Plan, Reaction and Attitude, Comorbidities), Patient Preferences (Interests, Lifestyle, Communication Channels, Timings, Routines, Frequency), Demographics (Biodata, Social, Economic
Both the individual patient’s journey and the framework of the patient engagement program depend on this. If the disease is life-threatening or chronic, patients will likely need more support, as instanced in late-stage cancers. A newly diagnosed patient will most likely have more questions about the treatment plan/protocol. He or she may be anxious or upset, requiring more psycho-social support than a continuing patient. Should the disease be progressive or has periods of remission, the patient may need varying degrees of support at different points in their treatment journey.
channels and sufficiently dictate the frequency of the interaction. For example, a patient utilizing a tracheostomy tube will be better served by a live chat feature than a phone voice conversation. On the other hand, an elderly or a very ill patient may not have the access or ability to engage using internet-based tools or applications. Of essence, the patient should be guiding and also driving the topics covered during the engagement and the frequency of the contact. 4. Demographics The demographics of a patient greatly influences their interaction with an engagement program as well as how well the patient will journey through their therapy.
Older patients, for instance, may need more assistance with logistical support like transportation or medication administration, while younger patients may be resistant to long term treatment (ofttimes if they are asymptomatic). Those with family support and caregivers deeply involved in their treatment may not need as much support as individuals who are alone. Patients with better income are more likely to finance their treatment with much ease as compared to those with low income. Okoth Onyango is the President for the Dental Students’ Association of Kenya. Email: okoth.f.onyango@gmail.com
3. Patients’ Personal Preferences and/or Needs Individual patient preferences should be taken into account during treatment. The patient should be enabled to engage in via various AUGUST 2019 INVERSK MAGAZINE I 35
The B2B Battlefield: How to Make Successful Corporate Sales
S
o, you’re running a business that targets corporate clients? All you need is a few corporate signatures on that paper, and all of a sudden, you’ll have a sky-rocketing business with an exciting guaranteed revenue stream every month, right? Right… But it’s not quite that easy. Maybe you decided against a B2C (Business to Consumer model) because the marketing spend to win over one consumer at a time was not worth it, or that the South African consumer market is not big enough in your industry, or that it’s better to get 10 paying corporates rather than a million paying individuals. You’re not alone, and you’re not wrong. Both models have their major pros and their major cons. Trust me, I know. But here are some of the lessons I’ve had by pursuing the B2B model. The pitch: Anything other than a resounding ‘yes’ is likely a ‘no’
BY JORDAN STEPHANOU First step is to get the pitch. There is always a temptation to go about it as passively as possible, hoping that the deal will fall in your lap with a well written email. Reality is a little different however. To secure most pitches, a combination (or all) of in-person approach, phone call, linked-in message and email could be required. Once you’ve secured the pitch, book it in both parties’ calendars and hope that there’s no last-minute cancellation. The exciting part awaits. The sad fact of human nature is that people don’t always say what they mean, or mean what they say. Possibly it’s because we don’t like to hurt each other, or it’s because we avoid uncomfortable discussion as if it’s the plague. Whatever the reason, it’s quite rare to receive “hard no’s”. The reality is that after a pitch, anything other than a resounding yes, or a “when can we start”, or “where can I sign?”, is likely to be a soft no; they have no interest in doing business with The entrepreneurial spirit
36 I INVERSK MAGAZINE I AUG - SEPT 2019
is one that looks at the positive in everything, so it could be very dangerous for a glass half-full entrepreneur to receive a soft no, because this person will very much believe the deal is still alive. Once again, trust me, I know. I recommend tempering the enthusiasm by looking out for any sign of an excuse during the pitch, and addressing it then and there. You know how hard you worked to get that meeting - so make sure you leave with no question unanswered, knowing that you did everything you could to win that business, or learnt everything you could to enhance your product, service or pitch to win future business. If you don’t get their business, it just means you didn’t get their business right now. Extract the positives and move forward. 1. Balance patience and momentum: They don’t operate like start-ups It is often said that a corporates are the most
GROWTH STRATEGIES | SELLING If we are direct about when we want to conclude a deal and why, it could scare them away, or it could lead to them prioritizing the deal as a priority. Either way, it’s better to know where you stand rather than have something drag on in that mythical pipeline for months or years as false hope. 2. Their emails are not their priority
important thing to a startup, but a startup is far from the most important thing to a corporate. As SMEs, we just have to accept that. Where we would respond to an email in a heartbeat, it may take our corporate contact two weeks to respond; especially if they are the decision-maker. They don’t need our business, but we need theirs. As such, it’s important to remember when following up on a successful pitch that they are big, they are busy, and they have multiple balls being juggled at once. It’s likely that our proposition is the least important to them, and may be seen as a luxury. Remember, they didn’t pursue you, you pursued them. So we have to be patient. But this is the difficult part; we have to balance patience with the desire to keep momentum. It’s an oft-said phrase that “time kills deals”. As SMEs, we need to be respectful that our prospective client is busy, but also very direct and honest with them in terms of our position and our goals and objectives.
After the pitch, it’s easy to get in an unhealthy pattern. That pattern could look something like this: Send follow up documents directly after the pitch; hear nothing back from the prospective client; send a follow-up email the following week; hear nothing back; send another follow-up email the following week; hear nothing back; send another follow-up email the following week etc. into perpetuity until you go crazy and re-apply for your old job. I have learnt that busy decision-makers in the corporate environment don’t just sit at their desk all day reading and responding to emails. They’re on the move, in important meeting after important meeting, flying to London followed by a quick trip to Doha and then 10 days in New York. They’re not setting the wheels in motion in response to your proposal in that spare 30 minutes in the airport. As such, when they are available, you need their full attention and you need to get them to commit to the next step. Either a phone call or in-person visit is effective with this. Getting through to them and asking them the difficult questions about the next step is the only way to be top of mind, and to find out if they are serious about this deal or not. From my lessons, I recommend emails as secondary to the phone call as a way of confirming what was discussed
over the phone in terms of next steps. 3. Improve the product – become irresistible With all else said, there is only one way to consistently increase chances of getting a deal over the line. That is, simply, have an incredible product or service that solves a real problem. If you have pitch after pitch where the response is lukewarm, you should ask them before leaving “what would this product have to do / look like for you to sign up right now?”. Once you’ve had a few meetings like this, you will understand exactly what your market needs. If you build that product or service that the market craves, you’ll be turning away clients because the demand for your business will be so high. Become indispensable. Build something so good that your clients would be crazy to say no to. 4. Build a pipeline Your business should never rely on one client saying yes. Putting too much emphasis on one deal will make you desperate, and desperation is the easiest way to scare someone away - relationship, business or anything else. Your market should be big enough that a rejection here and there is water under the bridge and simply a learning. Closing one deal will provide a proof of concept and credibility that can be leveraged to close the next deal. Each subsequent client should, in theory, be easier to win than the previous one. Jordan is the founder of tastePal, taskforce member of the Job Creation Project with African Union & European Union and a member of One Young World. Email: Jordanstephanou@gmail.com
AUG - SEPT 2019 I INVERSK MAGAZINE I 37
FOCUS - PERSONAL FINANCE
Which Money Wave Are You Riding? BY HENRY OZIANYI 350,000, my sister’s W Ksh salary was Ksh 16,000,
hen my gross salary was
we both ate from the 1st to the 30th of the month. We both got sick occasionally and we both stayed under a roof. We both took kids to school and we both got the same level of reprimands from parents as to how we weren’t supporting them as mandated in the holy book. We occasionally met and discussed how life was hard. How school fee was a mess and how health care had become extraordinarily expensive. At parting time, I would tip her for her transport, sometimes I would give her the only money left on me and I would be forced to “fuliza” the next day to cover for my fuel. Bottom line, we were both
struggling financially. I listened to friends across. There was one particular Nziza, whose salary rose from Ksh70k to Ksh700k in 3 years, and there was a visible change in her life. There was a car and her children had changed the school from the east side to the west side while her rent jumped up four notches. She still had more month left at the end of her money each month. Then there was this MCA’s Ms. Clande, a friend of mine. She worked for a multinational bank and she had a steady boyfriend. Occasionally, before Mr. MCA showed up on her door, she would borrow some money from me to cover her pressing emergencies, and I would occasionally do the same when my finances were under the
38 I INVERSK MAGAZINE I AUG - SEPT 2019
water. Then she got Mr. MCA and she was categorical that if MCA’s job was to park in a secure location between her limbs at night, in return, she also should park her Vitz purchased by the boyfriend in a gated community on Gatanga road. It happened; Mr. MCA complied but her financial circumstances remained the same. One day in a discussion with Ms. Clande, she conveyed frustration at the way money was treating her. She wondered why there was a time she used to pay her own rent and all other expenses on her own from her salary, yet she now has two other people chipping in to pay her expenses but she still has to borrow and sometimes endure bad hair days.
There must be something wrong with money. In the banking sector where I used to work, we occasionally heard stories about the behavior of customer accounts. Customers had a maximum over which their money never exceeded. In fact, at account opening, a customer was asked how much money he/she expects to be deposited in the account and a trigger is set to alert bank officials when that ceiling is exceeded. On the floor side, a customer’s closing balance at the end of the month would be within a particular range. For most, this range was approximately zero and life ground on! This ceiling and floor reflect the level of financial awareness for the customer. It is like a radio frequency that is set and you operate within that. Ever wondered why in interviews, you are asked how much you would like to be paid and how much you were earning before? Your new prospective employer is trying to figure out your money wavelength. He is trying to see whether you are within the company’s wavelength or significantly outside of it. When you answer those two questions and you are completely out of your former employer’s range, the next question would be why do you want to be paid so much higher than what you used to earn. In this question, they are trying to establish what is this new awareness that is moving you from a lower wavelength to a higher one. What is money wavelength? Think about it in this way. My sister earning Ksh16,000 is programmed to accept this as her maximum pay. She coins her life within this range. Her children are born and naturalized in this situation.
She lives in a shark on the east side and interacts with dust and dirt without much ado. Her stomach is strong, it can digest both roast maize and can handle partially rotting tomatoes in equal measure. She does her shopping in her vicinity, she may have never encountered refined cooking oil, she uses cooking fat. The things she listens, hears, smells, and does are all a reinforcement of this environment. All her neighbors are doing the same and therefore everything is normal. On the other side, am living near the west side. I am lower middle class. I have a car and instead of paying bus fare, I fuel my car. Instead of paying rent I service a mortgage. Instead of using cooking fat, I go for refined cooking oil. My neighbors have shunned public schools because they are cheap and crowded and taken their children to a group of schools, I do follow suit. Everything in my immediate environment is reinforcing me to do this. If my sister is watching the equivalent of a vernacular TV station in her money management, I am watching CNN. Although both are TV, what we are hearing and seeing is very different. it means we are tuned into different wavelengths and therefore our behaviors must be different. We are differently tuned to different money wavelengths. How much we earn and ask for in terms of pay is controlled by these wavelengths that we are broadcasting at. What should happen to move someone up or down these money wavelengths? If my sister came to stay with me, she will realize that even tea in my house is taken in Chinese porcelain as opposed to her tea in Kenpoly. But both are teas and we both get our dose of caffeine from it.
She will eavesdrop on conversations with my friends and she will realize that we are talking about people earning Ksh1m a month and she would start to question why she is earning less than 1 percent of that. If she stays longer, she will start hearing us talk about complex investments and passive incomes that she may have never heard of before. Last week a friend of mine shocked me when he said he has an acquaintance who was planning to set up a company to provide private military services to governments. Maybe the most sophisticated business my sister has heard of is the supermarket business. In my studies, I have realized that there are four wavelengths, struggling, maintaining, comfortable and very comfortable and it does not matter how much money is involved! There has to be a mental attitude change for one to inch up or slide down these wavelengths. To change your wavelength, you need to improve your skills, get a well-paying job or totally change your money attitudes and decide to find a new bigger source of income by leaving employment and risking into the business world. By jumping from employment to business, then you will face immense turbulence in your personal life. Most give up, most try and fail and go back to employment, while a few succeed, those are the entrepreneurs, they are the ones who tune up to a higher money wavelength. Henry Ozianyi is a former CFO at Standard Chartered Bank and now works as a CFEI and Founder at Financial Matters Email: ozianyi40@gmail.com
AUG - SEPT 2019 I INVERSK MAGAZINE I 39
MENTORSHIP/SUCCESS
Finance Leaders Share 3 Insider Tips to Succeed. What we learned from local experts about their career paths, mentorship and how they got where they are today. BY SHORTLIST the last quarter of 2018, we held monthly events for young professionals in I nnetworking Nairobi. Shortlist’s “Top Finance Talent
Meetup”, our first forum, brought together a select group of finance professionals to hear from three experts within the field of finance. Ariane Fisher, Shortlist East Africa’s Managing Director, was joined on the panel by Peace Osangir, COO of Kopo Kopo; Sharon Olende, Lendable’s Director of East Africa; and Job Muriuki, CEO of Momentum Credit. This highly informative discussion contained a wealth of insights on topics such as their career journeys, future trends in the field and the importance of cultivating mentorship. In addition, our guests shared their lessons on professional development and lifelong learning. Below are “3 Tips to Succeed Professionally in Kenya” by our panel of finance experts
1. Education Doesn’t Always Equal Results Peace Osangir shared that, in her experience, many young people are more focused on accumulating credentials and degrees than on how those experiences will enhance their learning. “Someone can have two Master’s, but the output doesn’t tally. How do you make sure that the type of information you’re getting is going to create a difference in terms of your output? Sometimes someone can come in 40 I INVERSK MAGAZINE I AUG - SEPT 2019
without any background in finance and is able to excel. And that’s because the level of execution really differs. It’s not about how many credentials you accumulate but how your output changes as a result of your learning.” Sharon noted similar observations from her previous experience of two decades in the banking sector. She spoke about the value of having the right mindset in your professional life, adding that “it’s not about what you know, it’s about your attitude and what we can teach you. A lot of things can be taught to you. Accumulating degrees with no work experience doesn’t help you. We’re recruiting for people we think can learn. We just want to see your thought process, how you think about a problem. I can tell you that we have put out job adverts looking for someone with five years’ experience, but we hired someone with two.” Job lamented the tendency for youth in the workforce to be close-minded when they view their career paths. “I believe to be successful you have to have fun. Too many young people decide to put themselves in a box. If you’re in your 20’s,
It might appear easy for a panel of highly experienced and respected professionals to share this advice when they are at a point in their careers where they can be highly selective. However, as Peace shared, they got to this point through having a track record of excellence: “To have the luxury of selection, you have to have the execution and stand out from the crowd. Having that ability to select and question decisions comes from understanding your capability and ability to execute.” 3. Learn the tough lessons from early on in your career Each of our panelists shared harsh truths they gained from past decisions they had made in their professional lives. Peace expressed the uneasiness she encountered when she switched from a role in finance to one in transfer pricing. Since she had no previous work in doing so, she had to apply herself to get up to speed with her colleagues. In turn, she acquired valuable life skills from that opportunity.
“That was a moment of challenge. With time, I made sure I understood transfer pricing rules and guidelines. To make sure I could execute the cycle better than I could have. This took a bit of time, being able to start writing 200-page reports, but I needed to make sure I learned it so next time I could execute. My brand shouldn’t be impacted by the decisions I make. Despite setbacks, I make sure I know where my gaps are so everything is good the next time around.” you’re gonna work for another 40 years or so. So why put yourself in a box when life has so many experiences before you decide what you’re going to do? Think outside the box.” He went on to share that there are plenty of ways to continue your learning outside of the classroom: “The best education I have received in my life has been reading a lot of books. It’s good to enrich your mind with non-conventional thinking, push the envelope, read interesting things. Try not to conform to what people expect you to be.” 2. Be reliable and always execute Throughout the conversation between the panelists, the topic of execution came up frequently. The added benefits of being reliable in your professional life reach far beyond excelling in your current role. As Sharon remarked, “execution is the best thing ever. If you can execute, and people know they can rely on your work, you’ll go far. We’ve all sat in jobs we didn’t like, but you keep performing, because that will open your next opportunity for you.”
Sharon provided an anecdote about the importance of managing people, based on an unfortunate situation she found herself in at a previous position. She explained that it’s not just about managing those beneath you in the organizational structure, but “how you manage people above you is equally important.” She went on to say that “in large corporations, there’s a lot of politics. Unfortunately, to some extent, you have to learn some politicking. Particularly more senior people.” Job shared a particularly difficult moment when he decided to make a decision without consulting with his supervisors. While the decision he made was the wrong one, he learned immensely from the experience. “Since that day it’s fundamentally changed the way I do everything. Even now as a CEO, I can make any decision I want, but I don’t. It’s not the right way to do things. It was a painful lesson to learn. That was a tough lesson for me because you can be really smart, but it’s important to work as a team.” Shortlist helps growing companies in Africa and India build happy, high-performing teams. Email: info@shortlist.net
AUG - SEPT 2019 I 2019 INVERSK MAGAZINE I 41
54 I INVERSK MAGAZINE I AUG - SEPT 2019
SPOTLIGHT - VIRTUAL REALITY
From Alabama to Kangemi: Experience VR BY KAMAU MBUGUA
It all started with an inbox to my Facebook messenger. I didn't know that he had been following me online with keen interest. He felt that my posts on my social media handles, as a technology writer and tech enthusiast resonated with his passion for all things virtual reality.
His name is James Khermah. He is 35 years old. He attended Moi Avenue primary school, Nairobi. In the year 2000, he sat his KCSE-Kenya Certificate for Secondary Education, at Uthiru Secondary School, Kangemi and scored a grade C minus. He started off as a photographer, doing graphics and printing of T-shirts. In 2003, he left Kenya for Alabama, America. He joined Calhoun college, Alabama, to study 2D graphic design but at the same time studied 3D graphic design on his own time outside the college. Somewhere along the way he dropped out of college. His first encounter with computer generated reality was with Augmented Reality (AR), in
2010 while in America. There, Khermah spent a lot of time, learning online how to program C++, and 3D graphics; he is literally self taught in these two key areas. His being outside there endowed him with the opportunity inherent in high speed internet connectivity. He put this to good use. He came back from Alabama to his locals at Kangemi in the year 2014. Upon return to Kangemi, with the support of others, a team of four, they set up an animation studio. However, the other three partners gave up and left the project when it took too long to generate revenue; he was on his own. Sometime in 2016, he produced his first VR content, an advert, titled: "Swag Vibanda", that's Swahili for: Cool stall, a stylish hotdog stand.
Entertainment, Advertising/ Marketing and Education/ Training/Simulation. To achieve this, Khermah reckons that, it will entail continuous improvement on what is currently available in the nascent VR industry.
He informs me that VR is an ever changing, dynamic and fluid environment, where the rate of hardware improvement is faster than software/content development. He cites that there is a dearth of online tutorials on VR, a challenge that can be overcome only by the use of trial and error method. In Africa, there are very few VR content creators, and the few pioneers available are literally charting their own course. He identifies himself as one.
Khermah has a burning ambition to produce VR content of the highest quality covering: Gaming/ JULY 2019 INVERSK MAGAZINE I 43