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Ekezapoa, Machakos (2026)

17/07/2018

9 TIPS FOR GROWING A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS

To succeed in business today, you need to be flexible and have good planning and organizational skills. Many people start a business thinking that they'll turn on their computers or open their doors and start making money, only to find that making money in a business is much more difficult than they thought. You can avoid this in your business ventures by taking your time and planning out all the necessary steps you need to achieve success.

1. Get Organized

To be successful in business you need to be organized. Organization will help you complete tasks and stay on top of things to be done. A good way to do this is to create a to-do list each day. As you complete each item, check it off your list. This will ensure that you're not forgetting anything and you're completing all the tasks that are essential to the survival of your business.

2. Keep Detailed Records

All successful businesses keep detailed records. By keeping detailed records, you'll know where the business stands financially and what potential challenges you could be facing. Just knowing this gives you time to create strategies to overcome those challenges.

3. Analyze Your Competition

Competition breeds the best results. To be successful, you can't be afraid to study and learn from your competitors. After all, they may be doing something right that you can implement in your business to make more money.

4. Understand the Risks and Rewards

The key to being successful is taking calculated risks to help your business grow. A good question to ask is "What's the downside?" If you can answer this question, then you know what the worst-case scenario is. This knowledge will allow you to take the kinds of calculated risks that can generate tremendous rewards.

5. Be Creative

Always be looking for ways to improve your business and to make it stand out from the competition. Recognize that you don't know everything and be open to new ideas and new approaches to your business.

6. Stay Focused

The old saying, "Rome was not built in a day," applies here. Just because you open a business doesn't mean you're going to immediately start making money. It takes time to let people know who you are, so stay focused on achieving your short-term goals.

7. Prepare to Make Sacrifices

The lead-up to starting a business is hard work, but after you open your doors, your work has just begun. In many cases, you have to put in more time than you would if you were working for someone else, which may mean spending less time with family and friends to be successful.

8. Provide Great Service

There are many successful businesses that forget that providing great customer service is important. If you provide better service for your customers, they'll be more inclined to come to you the next time they need something instead of going to your competition.

9. Be Consistent

Consistency is a key component to making money in business. You have to consistently keep doing what is necessary to be successful day in and day out. This will create long-term positive habits that will help you make money in the long run.
Whatever type of business you want to start, using these nine tips can help you be successful in your venture.

For more details on how to plan, start, grow and keep your business profitable, you can contact us at [email protected] or [email protected]

20/03/2018

10 EASY WAYS TO RAISE CAPITAL TO START A BUSINESS

Putting your money where your mouth is important, this article will give different means of raising capital to start a business.
Many people always have ideas. They all seem to be great, but very few put their ideas into practice by coming up with a business. To the many left out brilliant ideas the excuse is always lack of capital to start up a business. Here are ways that one can make capital to start a business.

1) Personal Assets

Mostly belongings you can do without. It all goes down to how much ones can sacrifice. The hope here is always to get better versions of your assets once your business brings profit. It depends with one’s risk appetite. As much as it looks logical to sacrifice, not everyone find it easy to let go of their assets. Hence, people may opt to offer their assets as security to bank loans.

2) Savings

It is always good to do it yourself. Put together an amount of money from your income. It may add up to the capital you need to establish a business. At times your savings may not be enough but it helps to attract more capital since it will be easy to convince family, friends, the bank and other ventures that the money you have and what you need to top up for your business.

3) Crowd funding

It goes back to self. How far can one go in terms of networking, sensitization and convincing crowds of people? With the help of social media one can channel money from social media, open forums can also be a source of acquiring cash. This method helps the entrepreneur to get small money from different sources. An example would be how the activist Boniface Mwangi is used social media to fund his campaigns for a political seat in Starehe constituency in the 2017 elections.

4) Partnership

One can get a partner who has money to contribute to the business, or come together with a partnership where you all contribute on skills and money needed to start the business. “Billionaires never have a business called ‘mine’. Are you in cooperation with others such that you can get out and that business will run smoothly? Great minds don’t compete, great minds pull together,” says Architect John Kithaka, CEO and founding member of the Fountain Enterprise Programme (FEP) Group of Companies.

5) Small business grants and loans

Looking for capital to fund your business can be a full time job on its own. At times running to the bank with your business plan may not guarantee that you will get a loan. However, all is not lost for Kenyan entrepreneurs. There are options like: M-Shwari from Safaricom, Uwezo Youth Fund, Vision Fund Kenya among others that offer financial support. Do not let opportunities like these by pass. However, it is good to know the difference between grants and loans. Grants do not attract interest and are not to be repaid. Loans attract interest and are to be repaid within the stipulated time.

6) Family and friends

Your family and friends will determine the future of your business since they have a strong influence over you. Those close to you are more likely to believe in your vision and listen to you, and be willing to offer financial support and see your business grow. It could be a gift, a loan or an equity investment in the business. Each have pluses and minuses, and each should be recorded in writing. In many cases, a legal document. An example is Eric Muthoni, founder of Stawi Foods Kenya.When he started his business, Stawi Foods, he was only 25 years old and fresh out of university. He didn’t even have any money to start a business so he borrowed from his family.

7) Angel investor

An Angel investor is usually a former entrepreneur or professional who provides starting or growth capital in promising ventures, and helps also with advice and contacts. Unlike venture capitalists, angel investors usually operate alone (or in very small groups) and play only an indirect role as advisers in the operations of the investee firm. They are deemed to be ‘angels’ in comparison with grasping investors who are termed ‘vulture capitalists.’ Angel investors are also called business angels.
KCB’s Lion’s Den simplifies to entrepreneurs how angel investors work. They get a link for entrepreneurs to apply, present their business plans to their panel (which is full of professionals from different careers – most of them are CEOs of their companies) and they get their business sponsored on an appealing business idea. To attract an angel investor, have an attractive business plan, unique business service, and work with your close networks.
One may use either path or all of the ventures to get capital the goal is always to see your business grow.

8) Join a Chama and save

“Chama” is a Swahili word for financial groups that are formed by friends who share common interest. You can join a reputable Chama in your neighbourhood and start saving bit by bit.
Benefits of being in a Chama:
• Chamas are eligible for many types of loan including the Youth Fund and Uwezo Fund
• You can learn a lot through a chama as you interact with other members
• Chamas encourage you to save…imagine if you started saving Ksh50 per week some 5 years ago, how much would you have accumulated today?
Instead of sitting there and complain the whole day of lack of capital, why not look for a well-managed Chama and start saving from as little as Ksh50 per week?

9) Use Peer-to-peer Lending Networks

Peer-to-peer lending is a relatively new source of capital for SMEs. Also known as crowd-lending, peer-to-peer lending systems do the job of bringing savers and borrowers together…thereby eliminating the need for a bank in between.
People who are willing to save their monies for a good interest rate lend it directly to the borrowers. As there is no bank involved in between, you (the borrower) can get a cheap loan.
Used wisely, peer-to-peer lending can prove to be a great source of cheap capital for small businesses in Kenya. An example of a thriving peer-to-peer lending network in Kenya is Zidisha Peer to Peer (P2P) Lending Network

10) Customers and/or Suppliers

Advance payments from customers--assuming the terms aren't too onerous--can give you the cash you need, at a relatively low cost, to keep your business growing. Advances also demonstrate a level of commitment by that customer to your operation. Financing from suppliers/vendors can also help startups to grow. This is normally done through supply of products on credit. This way, your financiers do not control your growth; you do. Just be sure not to enslave yourself to a handful of powerful suppliers in the process.

In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure
- Bill Cosby
The key to success is to start before you are ready
- Marie Forbes

For more tips on sources of business finance and other business insights, contact us via email at [email protected] or post an enquiry at our page

20/03/2018

FROM POVERTY TO A $3 BILLION FORTUNE — THE INCREDIBLE RAGS-TO-RICHES STORY OF OPRAH WINFREY

Today, Forbes estimates Winfrey's net worth at $3 billion, and she is the only black woman on the publication's list of the 400 richest people in America.
Before she became a media mogul and the queen of daytime TV, Winfrey suffered a tumultuous childhood.
She was shuffled between family members, spending her first few years on her grandmother's farm in rural Mississippi while her u***d teenage mom looked for work, according to the Academy of Achievement.
When her grandmother fell ill, 6-year-old Winfrey was sent to live with her mother in a Milwaukee boarding house, where she would not only grow up around extreme poverty, but also endure years of sexual and physical abuse.
She was r***d for the first time at age 9 by her 19-year-old cousin, writes Oscar Bamwebaze Bamuhigire in his book "The Healing Power of Self Love." It would be the first of several episodes.
At age 14, Winfrey broke free and went to live with her dad in Nashville, Tennessee, where her success would start to take course.
Her dad provided direction, discipline, and a sense of structure that Winfrey had never known, according to the Academy of Achievement. The stable and education-centred environment he created allowed her to thrive academically and socially at East Nashville High School, where she became an honour roll student and was voted the most popular girl in her class.
It was at East Nashville High where she would discover her passion for media. She joined the speech team and worked for a local black radio station after school.
By her senior year she had secured a full scholarship to Tennessee State University. She left college early, however, at age 19 to pursue a career in media.
Her gamble paid off.
She became the first black female news anchor before the age of 20 in Nashville, starting with a few gigs as a local anchor before landing a co-anchor position in Baltimore. She was sexually harassed and humiliated at her job in Baltimore, according to DailyWorth, but didn't need to quit — she was fired seven and a half months after joining.
Winfrey didn't stay down for long. She landed a gig hosting the then-stagnant morning talk show, "AM Chicago."
Within a few months, Winfrey turned "AM Chicago" from the lowest-rated talk show in Chicago to the highest-rated one, writes the Academy of Achievement. Three years later the show would be renamed "The Oprah Winfrey Show."
She made a savvy, career-transforming move in 1986 when she founded Harpo Productions and negotiated ownership of the "The Oprah Winfrey Show," which brought in $300 million a year during its peak. Her company later produced lucrative spinoff shows, including "Dr. Phil" and "Rachael Ray."
While best known for her award-winning talk show, Winfrey has also been involved in films, television series, and plays. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the 1985 drama "The Color Purple."
She also published her own magazine, The Oprah Magazine; started a radio channel, Oprah Radio; and most recently partnered with Discovery Communications to launch a cable channel, the Oprah Winfrey Network.
Now 64, Winfrey has a lifestyle that she could only have dreamed of during her traumatic childhood.
She flies in her own $42 million, custom-designed Global Express XRS jet.
Her impressive real-estate portfolio includes a $52 million estate in Montecito, California, which she nicknamed "The Promised Land;" a 15,000-square-foot duplex in Chicago; a farmhouse in Kula, Hawaii; 63 acres of land near Maui's Hamoa Beach; a vacation home on the shores of Antigua; a shore home in Lavallette, New Jersey; a ski villa in Telluride, Colorado; and a home in Douglasville, Georgia.
She even has her own street: Chicago Mayor Richard Daley renamed the blocks in front of Harpo Studios "Oprah Winfrey Way."
Winfrey also has given millions of dollars to charity, mostly directed towards three foundations: The Angel Network, The Oprah Winfrey Foundation, and The Oprah Winfrey Operating Foundation.
She's come a long way from the girl who wore potato-sack overalls, now donning Prada and Jimmy Choo.

20/03/2018

THE TOP 10 REASONS WHY SMALL BUSINESSES FAIL

Why do some businesses succeed when others fail? While it may seem to be a matter of luck, in reality there are common mistakes that kill many small businesses before they ever get off the ground. Give your start-up a fighting chance by avoiding these 10 top start-up missteps.

1. Growing too fast

While growth is desirable, over-expansion is a serious error. Wanting to be the first to market with a new product, taking on added overhead, or trying to prove to anxious investors that you’re growing can all spur you to overextend your business financially. Set realistic goals and expand only as needs dictate.

2. Failing to track your finances

Look at businesses that fail and you’ll find that many of them took on too much debt. Learn to pay strict attention to your finances, and keep careful records of all money coming in and going out.

3. Overspending

Many new entrepreneurs burn through their start-up capital before their cash flow is positive. This often happens because of misconceptions about how business operates. If you’re just starting out, seek out seasoned veterans you can turn to for advice before making big expenditures.

4. Lack of reserve capital

Be prepared for unexpected increases in the costs of things like utilities, materials, and labour. Make sure you keep enough reserve cash to carry you through tough times and seasonal slowdowns.

5. Poor choice of location

Do not let a cheap lease tempt you into choosing the wrong location. Consider competition (how many similar businesses are located nearby?) and accessibility (is the area well served by freeways/roads, public transportation, and foot traffic?).

6. Poor ex*****on

Poor customer service and overall employee incompetence will quickly sink your business. Make sure your employees place a premium on customer service. Develop systems and processes for how tasks should be accomplished, and create internal controls to monitor them.

7. An inadequate business plan

A well thought-out business plan forces you to think about the future and the challenges you’ll face. It also forces you to consider your financial needs, your marketing and management plans, your competition, and your overall strategy.

8. Failing to change with the times

The ability to recognize opportunities and be flexible enough to adapt is crucial to surviving and thriving. Learn how to wear multiple hats, respond nimbly, and develop new areas of expertise.

9. Ineffective marketing

Customers can’t do business with you if they don’t know you’re there. It doesn’t cost a lot to advertise and promote your business through online marketing, social media, email, local search, and more.

10.Underestimating the competition

Customer loyalty doesn't just happen — you have to earn it. Watch your competition and stay one step ahead of them. If you don’t take care of your customers, your competition will.

19/03/2018

TIPS ON HOW TO SAVE MONEY

Financial freedom is what everybody aspires to have and saving money is just one among the many ways of achieving financial freedom. The ability to save money is not an easy one; for some it comes naturally but for some it has to be learnt. This article looks at 13 ways on how you can save money as a Kenyan and thus assist you towards your journey to financial freedom.

1. Use cash as opposed to Credit cards

Most of us have credit cards, but one thing that you should about credit cards is that the money is not yours,
you have to repay it back eventually if you use it. Try as often as possible to use cash when shopping and rely less on credit cards.

2. Avoid hidden charges

In case you decide to use a credit then make sure you do not incur other charges that you could have avoided altogether e.g. late repayment fees or other charges that are hidden.

3. Create a Budget

Get into the habit of making a budget before you start spending your hard earned money. The only way to track your expenses is to come with an effective budget that caters for all your necessities and even leaves you with a little extra for that uncertain future.

4. Learn the art of saving

Always strive to leave a certain percentage of income to go towards your savings kitty. We live in an uncertain world and emergencies usually occur like job lay-offs and the impact of such occurrences can mainly be mitigated by savings. Another good reason to save is retirement. We must strive to put aside some money for our sunset years.

5. Do not keep up with the Joneses

You cannot save money if you keep on buying stuff just because your friend, colleague has just bought something. Live according to your means and purchase only the things that you deem necessary and useful to you and not just because your neighbour has purchased something!

6. Compare prices first

Always try to compare product prices before you decide on buying anything first, because you may just find a place where the product prices are heaving discounted for the same product.

7. Cook at home

Many people just don’t know how cooking at home can save you some money. Always try to prepare your own food as much as possible unless you cannot avoid it.

8. Carry Packed Lunch to Work

If you can carry packed lunch to work then do it. This will save you the costs of eating out or ordering for lunch.

9. Shopping in bulk

Whenever you prepare that shopping budget, try to make bulk purchases as this will save you money as opposed to buy things in smaller quantities. Bulk items are very often cheaper than several smaller packages.

10. Go slow on the beer drinking

Most people spend more over the weekends on beer than the rest of the days combined! Why save your money only to drain it all over the weekend? Not a wise move at all. Try to reduce the quantity of beer that you drink and you will just realize how much money you can end up saving in a year.

11. Cut down on your Smoking

If you smoke, then please cut down on the number of ci******es that you smoke. This initiative will not only save you some money but it will also ensure you live a healthy life.

12. Save on Water

Saving on water can also help you to save your money because you will pay less water bills and have more cash to save. Just make sure to tighten all those loose taps and never leave running taps.

13. Cut down on electricity costs

The cost of electricity has risen in the past few years and people are finding themselves with enormous electricity bills which could have been easily avoided with a few energy saving measures.

The art of saving money does not come easily, but with constant practice and a little devotion, you will eventually get it right and eventually be on the right path towards your financial freedom.

19/03/2018

5 Entrepreneurs in Africa Who Started a Successful Business with $100 or Less

Let me start by saying that there are terrible lies about starting a business. One of the dumbest lies is that business is for people who didn’t go to school. Jeeez! That’s pathetic. Another fat lie is that you need huge amounts of capital, another lie from the pit of……….ignorance!
Now, I want to debunk those lies by sharing these short stories of 5 Entrepreneurs in Africa Who Started a Successful Business with $100 or less in hand. Guess what? They are smiling to the banks after just having started a few years ago.

Note: This article was originally published by Dr. Harnet Bokrezion of Africajumpstart. Now let’s meet them…

1. Heshan de Silva (Kenya):

In 2007, Heshan de Silva dropped out of school and as things got worse for him in the US, he joined his parents back in Kenya to get his life back together.
Aged only 18 at the time, his parents gave him 10,000 Kenyan Shillings (US$116), which he used to start a new business. He targeted the bus travel sector in the country by selling insurance bundled with the bus ticket purchase. And it is widely reported in the media that by the end of the year, the business had made 90m Kenyan Shillings (US$1.05m). Isn’t that amazing!? Heshan has since invested that money in his new business, De Silva Group, a venture capital firm.
With an incomplete education, no capital, not even a great deal of life experience and yet Heshan made it in a short period of time. He was featured in CNN and Forbes Magazine as one of Africa’s most successful young.

2. Abasiama Idaresit (Nigeria):

Abasiama Idaresit graduated with an MBA at Manchester Business School and moved back to Nigeria in 2010 to start his own business. Today, he is the Founder and CEO of Wild Fusion, a digital marketing company.
Guess what? He started his company in 2010 with a gift of $250 from his mother and it took him 8 months to make the first deal. Just three years later, Visa, Vodafone, Samsung and Unilever as well as several large Pan-African corporations are his clients and his company is valued at over $6 million in revenue. Yes, you heard that indeed right; $6 million! And yes, he started in 2010. Wild Fusion has now become Google’s certified partner in Africa!

3. Axel Fourie (South Africa):

Take Axel Fourie from South Africa. By the time he was 27, he had tried unsuccessfully to set up several businesses. When his iPod was faulty and he was told by specialists that nothing could be done about it, he searched for a YouTube video online and learned how to fix the iPod himself!
He then put an advert into a local newspaper and offered to fix faulty iPhones and iPads. The response he got exceeded his expectations as he was flooded with calls and requests from potential customers. He knew he was onto something!
Axel opened his company iFix and started fixing iPods and iPhones from his university dorm. This was in 2007. Today, Alex runs a chain of 8 stores and employs 85 people. He has since expanded his business into manufacturing mobile phone accessories which he exports into 12 countries across Africa. Oh, we forgot to mention the amount of his starting capital. Here it is: Zero! (unless he paid a little for that newspaper ad).

4. Anna Phosa (South Africa):

Anna Phosa started her pig farm venture in 2004 in Soweto with about $100 in hand. She bought four pigs with that money after she was introduced to pig farming by a close friend.
A little less than four years later, in 2008, Anna was contracted by Pick ‘n Pay, the South African supermarket and retail giant to supply its stores with 10 pigs per week. This was a first breakthrough and the request by the retailer grew quickly to 20 pigs per week.
But the really amazing bit happened in 2010 when Anna signed a breathtaking contract with Pick ‘n Pay to supply 100 pigs over the next five years under a 25 million Rand deal – that’s nearly 2.5 million US Dollars! She did not even have so much land or enough pigs! With a contract in hand, Anna received funding from ABSA Bank and USAID to buy a 350-hectare farm property.
Anna started with 4 pigs in 2004, today her farm employs about 20 staff rearing 4,000 pigs at a time. Her perseverance has made her a millionaire!

5. Jacky Goliath and Elton Jefthas (South Africa):

The venture ( De Fynne Nursery) started in 2001 by South African entrepreneurs, Jacky Goliath and Elton Jefthas, in Jeftah’s home backyard. Market demand grew fast and steadily which meant that they moved the nursery to a 0.5 hectare land in 2005, and in 2008 had to move again to a 1.5 hectare area outside Cape Town where they hosted 600,000 plants!
Today, the De Fynne nursery supplies its products to retailers such as Woolworths, Massmart and Spar in South Africa and it was reported that they since moved to a whopping 22-hectare commercial property. This is a simple start up idea on a shoe string budget anywhere in Africa where you have a booming housing & hotel sector and expanding city areas!
It’s Your Turn…
What are you waiting for? Will you allow your mum, dad, sister, brother, friend, enemy, the government, college degree or whatever to stop you? After reading this, do you still think that you need a million dollars to start that business? I don’t think so. While success is not guaranteed , you’ll never know if a business will succeed or fail when you start. Just start anyway.
I hope these stories have inspired you to start your business today. Not tomorrow.

Ekezapoa

17/07/2018

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Monday	09:00 - 17:00
Tuesday	09:00 - 17:00
Wednesday	09:00 - 17:00
Thursday	09:00 - 17:00
Friday	09:00 - 17:00