Sylvia Moraa is the CEO of TechHub  Holdings Limited, a company with three subsidiaries in business development and consultancy, printing, branding and graphic design, and events management, and an Administration Director of the Rotary Club of Muthaiga.
After starting my company, I assumed that it had become stable and decided to shift my focus to a new business venture that was in a totally different line of trade. This had looked like a smart move at the beginning. You see, my initial business involved helping new franchises with development of branding strategies and marketing plans. This comes with the bonus of acquiring new clients through direct interactions and referrals. In one of these assignments, I came across a firm that was setting up and wanted distributors. This was an opportunity that I couldn’t afford to lose. I jumped in together with my two friends.
The distributorship venture was a capital intensive business that required constant stocking, monitoring, and hands-on management. This required me to always be at the new business office monitoring daily activities. The supplier also pushed for re-stocking. This was too stressful because the returns did not show as fast as I had anticipated in my business plan. I consulted my mentor on what I was doing wrong. He advised that we wind it up, but I was hesitant. I kept holding on in hope that things would turn around. I tried to effect changes in operations to no avail. After running it for six months without any tangible returns we cut our losses and quit.
My Lesson
I did not want to fail, especially since I had always thrown myself hard on the mantra of failure not being an option in business. But one thing I got from walking away and counting my losses was that you need to know when it is time to walk away from the ring. The more you hold on, the deeper you could be sinking. Always remember that what looks good and workable on paper may not necessarily be the best venture to throw your money at.