“My love for fashion was ignited when I came to Nairobi to work for the government.
Here I found that women paid attention to the way they dressed and I soon followed suit and got compliments for my sense of style. I particularly loved West African fabric and I dreamed of starting a business designing and selling clothes. I even bought two sewing machines to that end, but my dream to be a designer never took off. I settled into my administration job and stayed at it for 15 years.
Nevertheless, I still dreamt of starting a business.I got an opportunity to do so when I started a side hustle, going to Dubai to import household goods, clothes and shoes for sale in 2000. Those days there were not as many people in that business, so business was so good that I thought to myself that if I left employment to concentrate on it, my business would thrive.
I quit my last job as an administrator at a non-governmental organisation in 2008 to focus on my Dubai hustle. I did it for four years, and initially things were good, but soon many other people got into it, and because they were importing truckloads of goods, they were able to flood the market with what I was offering and at a cheaper price. I was selling from my car boot, so I couldn’t compete and soon I had to hang my boots and get something else to do.
I decided to try my hand at organising events. However, that proved challenging because most events happen on Saturdays, which happens to be the day I go church, so I had to abandon that idea too.
Next I tried a dance school to teach children ballet and ballroom dance. Most people I asked welcomed the idea, so I thought I had finally found my niche. However, when I started the classes, the clients were hard to come by and I had to close the school after a year.
BACK TO BASICS
“I was back to square one. I started toying with different business ideas. Then one day by chance, someone asked me if I could supply football uniforms for a school team and I said yes. After that I also supplied uniforms for a hotel. It occurred to me that this was it, so I started telling people that I do uniforms. I would get an order, get someone to produce the uniforms and then hand them over to the client. It soon occurred to me that I could be the producer.
That is when I remembered my two miserable sewing machines that I had once wanted to start a fashion business with. I dusted them off and went into the uniform business full throttle.
I decided to focus on upcountry clients who are left out by the big uniform makers, who prefer to focus on the major towns.
I also realised that the small jua kali producers did not have good quality uniforms so I decided to capitalise on quality. That was in August last year. The lessons came hard and fast. First, nobody knew me except my friends and family, who didn’t need uniforms.
I knew the big names have all corners covered so I was trying to hustle for small jobs, but even those were hard to come by. You find that people either want to go with the big names, or with the jua kali producers who make uniforms at a cheap price.
I remember waking up on some days wondering if this would work, especially in the first few months when I was paying rent and utilities from my pocket. But I learnt that nothing comes easy; you just have to keep pushing and with time it gets better, especially as you build your network and learn how to get around in business.
Moreover, every undertaking has its challenges; you just have to persevere as you work on carving out your niche.
TOUGH BEGINNING
“Our first job came at a time when every job we tried to get was slipping through our fingers. Sometimes I felt as if I was the most competitive bidder but then I would end up not getting it. I got the feeling that many of these deals are not clean, top-of-the table deals.
However, five months after we started operating, after two months of pushing, my persistence paid off and I got a tender to supply two schools with uniforms. That encouraged me to keep going.
My other challenge has been maintaining my team of 15. I often have to deal with the turnover of employees and look for replacements.
But by and by business has grown, though there is still room for more growth. I am still waiting for my big break, which would be if I got a tender to supply the uniformed forces or even a big public hospital.
Moreover, in the next few years I want to push over the big fish and create as much employment as I can. In the meantime I am happy doing the best I can and working on my goals without focusing too much on my competitors.”
HOW SHE DID IT:
- Do something that you like because it makes it easier to hang in there during the hard times, but keep in mind that the things you like are not necessarily the things that will work.
- Do your homework well. Find out who else is doing it, their challenges and prepare yourself. Don’t go into something because everyone is doing it.
- Have a good relationship with the people you work with and have a mutual understanding about the way the work should be done.
- You can never be too ready to go into business; just plunge in and learn as you go.
- Leverage your network and use it to get business deals.