Business of Charging Electronics: In the global layman’s definition, tarmacking could be easily interpreted as the laying down of the material of tar and broken stones to upgrade a road to bitumen standards. But in Kenya, this term has become synonymous with thousands of jobless graduates walking in and out of offices in search of jobs.

The script is mostly the same for every graduate: earn your papers and join the train. But Anne Nyagichu was lucky. She did not tarmac after graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Keele University, UK, in June 2008! “I was employed shortly after graduating with my first degree. With little to no previous work experience, I started off as a Protection Intern at the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) branch office for Somalia,” says the 33-year-old.

She would have especially loved to remain at the United Nations. This, though, was not possible. “I needed higher academic qualifications in order to be absorbed into full employment. I was also told that I would have to wait for 6 months before I could be considered for any formal position,” she says.

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Once her internship was over, Anne moved on to an administrative post at a private investment company that was located in Westlands, Nairobi in July 2009. “I was started off on a salary of Sh. 35,000. On the sidelines of this job, I tried to apply for government tenders. But this did not work out well,” she says.

Over the period that Anne was in employment, she began to realize that there was a very slow rate of absorption into high earning employment positions. “There was too much bureaucracy in the organizations I had worked for so far, which hampered the growth of anyone who did not have years of experience or direct skill set,” she says. “The pay I got was also not okay.”

In a bid to make herself more marketable, she left her Westlands job and relocated to the United Kingdom where she pursued her Master of Science degree at the Manchester University. “I returned towards the end of 2011, but still found it hard to get a stable and fulfilling job,” she says. She says that she really wanted to change this. By this time, whichever way she looked at it, the only way she could do it was quit her pursuit for employment and venture into entrepreneurship.

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Anne began to carry out surveys on which business she could start and do well in. “I came up with a list and eliminated one business idea after the other.” Eventually, in July 2016, she settled for a business that could provide power charging services for electronic devices. She registered and named her business Charging Bar Limited.

She says that she was inspired towards this business idea by the sheer irritation of always having to leave the house with electronic device chargers, the trouble and inconvenience of finding strategic plugging points, and the risk of leaving valued electronic devices such as mobile phones for charging with strangers. “I saw all these inconveniences as an opportunity for me to provide a unique solution to an unattended market,” says Anne.

Initially, Anne sourced for her start-up capital from her personal savings. But this quickly ran out. She tried to get a bank loan. But this, too, quickly proved to be an impossible task. “The service was new in Kenya and banks were not confident in putting their money on my business idea,” she says.

Also, the concept of her charging business was not easy to comprehend which meant more difficulties in quantifying the return on investment that any institution she approached for funding would get. “I was taken round in circles and asked for endless documentation only to end up with rejection slips. In the end, I was left with no choice but to turn to family for support. Fortunately, my family came through with the much-needed finances. This was huge relief for my start-up,” she says.

Business of Charging Electronics

She started the business as a pilot placement at a conference centre in Nairobi’s Central Business District (CBD). Nonetheless, once she launched her business, Anne was thrust into the rough road that starting and running a business can sometimes be. “From onset, I was faced with the challenge of getting a clear picture on what the market entails. This is a challenge that up until now sometimes rears its ugly head,” she says.

Anne says that the cause of this challenge has been largely due to the dynamism and unpredictable nature of her Kenyan target audience. “Even though there is a demand for the services that my business offers, market penetration has proven to be harder than I thought,” she admits. “This form of business is not too common, either, but I’m glad to be among the pioneers. I also believe that the most successful entrepreneurs are those who move away from the norm and go on to introduce new forms of market solutions.” Currently, Anne is targeting corporates, with whom she is pitching her services as a form of value addition to their various market niches.

It is now almost three years since Anne launched her business. She now not only provides direct central charging services, but has also acquired charging machines, which she has been hiring out to corporates on short to medium term contracts of between 1 and 2 years.

“The business has also diversified to advertising on our charging depots where we provide audio and visual adverts for corporates. It also offers on-demand branding services, which has worked well in creating new revenue streams for the company,” she says.

Anne also moves her services to events and concerts in order to widen her audience. “Today, we offer our services in public areas such as malls, restaurants, bars, clubs, campsites, and conference meeting areas,” she says.

Anne admits that there are days when she doubts her resolve to be in business. “I sometimes yearn for the predictable pay cheque at the end of the month, and the stability that formal employment gives, especially currently when the economy is not doing well,” she says. But Anne has also resolved to keep her head above the water. “In the next five years, I foresee the business forging partnerships with corporates, and also becoming a market leader in the modern, new form of advertising and brand promotion,” she says. Business of Charging Electronics.

This feature on Business of Charging Electronics was first published in the Saturday Magazine.