Reuben King’ori is the chief executive officer and Director of Corporate Marketing at Promote Kenya Ltd, a marketing and innovations startup company creating awareness about Kenyan brands, companies, Kenyan heritage, history, culture and Kenyan products.
The business was at first registered to be a marketing agency to showcase Kenya through content creation. The company started as a partnership with the basic registration costs, website costs. Minimal startup costs came to about Sh. 30,000 first. We were then fortunate to get some seed capital from the Tony Elumelu Foundation as I was one of the qualifiers selected from Kenya.
Around this time, my partner went for some other greener pastures and I was left alone to run the business. The business converted into a limited company and commenced full operations towards the end of 2021.
We leverage on experiential marketing to ‘beat the drums’ about the authentic and lesser-known aspects of Kenya. We do this through immersive and memorable experiences to showcase Kenya’s rich cultural heritage. We deploy our skills from the private sector and modern advancements and technology to complement different government institutions work towards achieving their mandate.
I was employed in the insurance industry as a financial advisor and sales agent before I ventured out and started my own business. I started this business as a side hustle, but over time it morphed into a full time job. It has been two years of operation. The greatest challenge has been working capital and operational finances needed to execute all the projects we are involved in.
I invested almost all of the funding we got as seed capital into creating and building an app that wasn’t necessary at the time. In hindsight, I would have used that funding better to align other parts of the business as the app conversation didn’t take off in the way that I wanted and thus ended up shelving it. Maybe we will revisit that conversation at a later point.
I took Sh. 650,000 loan, paid fake Nairobi agent for Canadian visit visa
Some of our greatest business moments have come in the form of the experiential events we hold. Two events in particular stand out. One was an outdoor movie screening, held in partnership with the National Museums of Kenya, of a movie depicting Kenyan past history and heritage. The second one was a 3D hologram show we held showcasing ancient bio-diversity of Kenyan early historical life.
If I could turn back the clock, I would make better choices with funding and how we use money in the business. Also, I would counter procrastination that limits entrepreneurs, way earlier and not delay as much as I did.
I have come to realize that there are times when we lose really good opportunities because we are afraid of what will happen if we put our money into a certain investment or even open a certain type of business.
With due diligence, procrastination shouldn’t be the common denominator holding us from financial growth and independence.
I save my money using a unit trust – money market fund. I also save money using a platform on the Safaricom app known as MALI. These work for me by creating a balance in my savings portfolio such that I do not save just for the sake of it, but rather save as a form of investment from which my money is not beaten down by inflation. Previously, I used to save using mobile money and end up falling victim to impulse buying and spendthrift tendencies.
Find your BHAG (Big, Hairy, Audacious, Goal) and go after it one foot in front of the other. As Kobe Bryant – one of the greatest basketball players – used to say, the greatest fear we face is ourselves. Not anything external or superficial. Because we all have dreams and it’s very scary sometimes to accept the dream that you have and it’s scarier still to say, you want it and go after it.
My big BHAG has been entrepreneurship. I am a marketer and salesperson by extension and thus with entrepreneurship I can challenge myself to attain targets and goals beyond my wildest dreams.
A version of this profile feature on Reuben King’ori of Promote Kenya was also published in the Saturday Magazine. The Saturday Magazine is a publication of the Nation Media Group.
