HR Business in Kenya: No one wants to be labelled a failure. Or the one who gave up because it was too hard. Everyone wants to come out at the other end victorious, admired and acknowledged for their persistence.
It was with this in mind that Gloria Otieno stuck through her undergraduate course in pharmacy even though she dreaded every day of it.
“I chose it because I was always good in the sciences and many people were pursuing it,” says Gloria, the first and only daughter in a family of three, who went to the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in South Africa to pursue a degree in pharmacy in 2004.
“Furthermore, I stuck on because my parents don’t believe in quitting. I complained several times that I was struggling with the course but they told me to hang in there.”
In her junior year, Gloria worked as a casual on weekly wages as a marketer with a human resources firm. “I distributed brochures, visited companies to promote our services, and managed personnel. I loved it. And I was really good at it. I soon became a marketing team leader and excelled at it,” says Gloria.
Pharmacy now became bearable because of this side job.
Gloria graduated in June 2008. She opted to return home because South African labour laws required her to work for seven years before she could get permanent residency. The HR firm couldn’t take her on permanent terms without a relevant degree.
But a thought struck Gloria as she boarded the plane, “I considered working for Kenya Airways (KQ). I always admired the cabin crew for their poise, confidence and cultured nature in dealing with people. I already knew my strength was in being of service to people, so I applied for a position in customer care.”
HR BUSINESS IN KENYA: SHE STARTED WRITING CVS AND COVER LETTERS
While she waited for KQ to respond, Gloria started writing CVs and cover letters for her friends at a fee. A majority of them were invited for interviews. Gloria joined KQ as a customer service representative in January 2010.
“The work was intense, but fun and fulfilling,” she says. “I was promoted to a mentor, and one of my favourite duties was training the newbies when they joined the company.”
But this came to an end in early 2012 with the infamous retrenchment. Gloria and her colleagues who survived it were shipped off to an outsourced HR company.
“We were given more duties but our salaries were slashed. There were no prospects for career growth. We were under-staffed and over-strained. For over six months, I didn’t know what life outside of work was like.”
The straw that broke Gloria’s back was a delayed connecting flight of 322 passengers, from Bangkok. Taming the unruly crowd took her last ounce of tolerance. Gloria got home that night in tears. And she decided to quit. She consulted no one about her decision because she didn’t want anyone talking her out of it. That was in October 2012.
“I was scared and angry. Angry at my parents for not listening when I complained about the pharmacy course. Angry that I had quit a job I once loved but now hated. I didn’t know what tomorrow held.”
She opened a Facebook page, named it Recours Four Kenya, and returned to writing CVs and cover letters for friends. Her business gained considerable traction in the five months that followed. But Gloria was still uncertain of how she would earn a steady living from this ‘hobby’.
“I lost my grandfather to Alzheimer’s disease on Valentine’s Day in 2013. The burial was four days later in Kisumu. As I read out his eulogy,” Gloria says, “I got the validation I was after. Here lay a man who, with little to no formal training, outperformed himself in everything he pursued.
He was an accountant, a managing director and a librarian. What did I lack to succeed?”
She instinctively knew what she needed to do. Gloria registered her HR business in Kenya called Recours Four Kenya Consultancy as a limited company in March 2013. She finally told her parents she had quit then asked her father to be her business financier and mentor.
“He wanted a business plan before he lent me the money. I asked for Sh100, 000. I realised later how little it was after I spent it all on furniture,” she says, laughing at her own naivety.
From her office space in Ngong Road (now in Westlands), Gloria hired a team of three permanent staff. She hired a graphic designer, a business development manager and an accountant on a consultancy basis. Her trainer works on a part-time basis.
So what does Recours do? “We partner and consult with companies to manage their human capital. The greatest resource of any company is its people.
Our services include psychometric testing, recruitment and selection of new hires, payroll management, and training staff. A number of companies have also outsourced their HR functions to us. In the past year, our strategy has been to focus on training and development on a large scale.”
She adds, “We focus a lot on the youth. Helping them make informed career choices, so they don’t go down the wrong path that I did.”
Being a young woman in business meant that she had to work extra hard to earn her place in the industry.
“I needed some extra specialised skills in HR business in Kenya: I am certified as a HR professional from an online US-based university. I am also starting my executive diploma this May. My business development manager handles the business aspect.”
Another challenge is that she partnered with some fraudulent companies in the past. The slack in due diligence was a bitter learning lesson for the business, she says.
Gloria’s plan for her young business is to grow into the leading HR youth-focussed consultancy in the country.
HR BUSINESS IN KENYA: GLORIA’S TIPS
1. Focus your passion in one area only and be an expert on that – when you enjoy what you do, people pay for your confident self-belief.
2. Passion is nothing without a vision – ask yourself, what need I do for my passion to take me where I want to be?
3. Losing friends in the journey of business is usual – don’t beat yourself up about it.
4. Maintain an active and healthy lifestyle outside of work – outdoor activities are excellent for managing stress.