Dear Aspiring Enterpreneur

Dear Aspiring entrepreneur,




I write you based on my past experiences, failed hopes and realised realities.



You see, 6 years ago I started working. I like the idea of a pay check. even though the job I was in was much lower than the expectations is had when in University - I got a pay check anyway.



after 6 months of working, one sober Saturday afternoon it hit me that I lived for the weekend and the drinking life clubbing away in Manchester. If I needed to keep up with this, I needed more money. Shallow I know, but this is what got me thinking of an alternative source of funding.



so I went almost sober for 2 months and saved some money to trade in the stock market. I invested wisely and my returns were good. but it took 8 months to realise the returns. I needed something that had more regular cash flow. and this is when I started researching business. But i was disciplined not to pre-maturely sell my stocks. By the way - Nairobi stock exchange is a good place to make money; very inefficient market it is.



to be honest I didn't know what business to be in. I read www.enterprenuer.com every dinner time and I did a lot of research online. I quickly knew I could not afford a business in UK - I didn't have the capital needed. but I knew I could capitalise on the information gap in Kenya to start a business. this was a great idea on paper, but the information gap itself prevented me from obtaining information necessarily to make informed business decision.



so I decided to go to basics. Africa is in hunger and the solution is food. This is needed daily by all humans, so if I produces food I would be in business. There was a distance problem but I figured my mum would help. She wanted to be in business but not food business. so I started on the relentless phone calls to her just to make her understand we can make some money - she wasn't having it. it took over 2 years for me to give in to her wish not to be in food growing business - i.e. farming. but I had too much information and I just wanted to share it with someone who cared.

so I made a BLOG and documented the information gathered. I had no reason not to share it - I wasn't going to use it anyway. I was also saving for the 2 years - so after 2 years I had no business, no hope for one but I had some money to spend.



i tried moving to Kenya in 2011 and this happened to be the 'Grenade attache season' and i could not handle it. I quickly came back to UK. But i had new hope and new frustrations - but the fact is Kenya had a big highway and i realise that the middle class was growing was a reality. opportunity spotted.



but I moved on to some other business that I thought my mum would be interested in. so I started to chat with my friend who I had lost contact with. he was in import and export business. I asked him how much he made and how come he was not working for the bank in Kenya anymore. I also started tracking his whereabouts on face book. He was in and out of country every 3 weeks or so. so I knew he had some cash behind him. He told me the figure - over £10k a month. and I knew I was going into import export business.



I ordered wool and I failed terribly. but I learnt how to import stuff from china to UK - pretty simple compared to what you have to do in Kenya. why would i order wool and import to UK if my target market was in Kenya - No idea! but lesson learnt.



but that was not going to make me 10k a month.



6 months later I started exporting shoes from UK to Kenya using Somalis - it worked mildly but the profits were not good. To bring stuff to UK you got to pay the 20% customs and the overheads in UK are high. Therefore it is not optimal to buy stock from UK (Especially because it is made in China or India or somewhere outside) and send it to Africa. Well, you aren't charge the VAT is exporting outside UK but the profits are still not the best. if wondering of the profit margin on ladies shoes from UK to Kenya - well have a look on Fabguru on Facebook.



I talked to a few more people and then someone made a comment about a university guy in Nairobi who sells over 10 K units of shoes on wholesale a month. Well this was the break I needed. it took over 3 months to get his name and contacts. but I did anyway.... started the business, made a few losses but now on track. lesson - don't give up. if you do you will never see the light at the end of the tunnel. I learnt this in my NSE stock days - never sell a stock that is making a loss, hold onto it the value always goes up and you will make a profit at a delayed time.





The fact is - my business is very young (18 months or so) although profitable. I only source and sell 1 product. I am not looking for any other products as well. I got contacts that work. I have worked on my trust issues - but sometimes I still close my eyes when clicking submit now on Western union when sending money for new stock. Going to church helps but exercise does ease me off it as well. having a partner that understands the risk you are taking and still encourages and funds you is also very key. i still havent mastered how to disconnect emotionally from the business - but am sure one day i will.



But I do it for the promise of a better tomorrow, a better holiday and staying at home with no daily commute on M62.



so, don't waste all your time researching. get out there and get doing. take calculated risks, and remember information on a piece of paper or on your computer is calculating risk and NOT taking calculated risk.



Remember, Rome wasn't built in one day.



Oh yeah, I stopped drinking and my priorities have changed from shoes and makeup.



Good luck!

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my experience with the Kenyan bank tends to be the same - one I don't like or enjoy.




Why do I bank with a Kenyan bank if I don't reside there? well I make money there and need to bank there!



Anyway, having a Kenyan bank account (I have several) is a necessary evil and in fact I could not run my business without one. These banks kind of know this and even though they have dedicated Diaspora teams - well you wonder why they don't have a better service for the Diaspora.



a few weeks ago I needed to transfer money to someone in Kenya from my Equity bank in KES - sounds simple. I could not use the internet banking as it was either down or was not logging me in. so I filled in a form like you would do if you did not have internet banking and sent it over to the department who deal with it.



Firstly, there is never ever an email to confirm they have received your email request



Secondly, you have to chase to find out if the funds have been transferred - nobody bothers to tell you. I would normally wait for a day or two and if there is a movement in my account there is an automated email sent to you



If I don't receive the email - I would then call them to find out what is happening. I find this being quite ineffective for a Diaspora team



Co-op team is not better to be honest but Equity takes the cake for being lousy.



Making an international payment is possible with equity - but until recently I had to send in the forms. Needless to say you have no control of the forex rate they use. but if Equity transacts the request - it would reach India the next day. I don't know re the other destinations - which I think is fair for a price of KES 1365 approx (I think). However if it goes wrong and the money has to return to your account - your lose another 600 kes. and then another 1365 to send out!



I have been told that you can do online international payments - but am yet to see to this. Because if this were correct I would cut out the human element which happens to be Equity biggest undoing - even though they have poor technology as well.



I have also contacted Citi bank and Barclays bank of Kenya in view to open an account - but I was told I had to show up face to face. I would have expected these two banks to be more flexible as they are 'more' international. I opened my Equity and Co-op account from Abroad - you would think international banks like Barclays and Citibank's with branches all over the world would allow for the same.



anyway, moral of the story -- if you are Kenya and are abroad and need a Kenyan bank account to stay in control of your money - get onto Equity and / or Co-op but do know they aren't the best!

marrige bill

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-27206590




The marriage and my beef with it



Legal doesnt always equal to moral and neither does it make it practical



i have a few issues with the marriage bill



For instance the proposal a wife is only entitle to 30% or marrital property? i work my ass off literally and i have surely contributed more than just 30% of the property we own.



I dont really care about him taking the second wife - because i will have divorced him before he even does it legally. You can force a donkey to go to the river but your cannot force it to drink. So if he want to move on, i will happily pave way legally. but he is not leaving with the 70% of the property



This would just mean that as a wife - it would be time to make sure that the property i worked hard for is in my name and not a joint name.

If i lived in Kenya, were a woman and was as hardworking as i am, i would not marry. That way i would walk away with what i worked for and not be short changed thanks to some stupid marriage bill!



I hope that unmarried women there stop rushing to get married; i wouldnt if i were them



I live and am married in a country where this marriage bill doesnt apply - but am still Kenya!



However, i think this is good news for the women who are lazy and dont pull their weight - i think 30% is a generous offer. But then again men dont generally look after the children and the households!



I dont like the bill at all.... but there are ways around it!



The whole idea that someone has to be 18 to get married is a great one - i wonder how they will enforce this



I didnt like the stipulation that the women were 'tagging' onto men for maintenance... am sorry but i work hard for the little i have then go home and do dishes whilst my hubby is cooking! that is the kinda union i have.