Our story: Recovering from business setbacks

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Pride Inn Group Hotels Managing Director Hasnain Noorani.[Maarufu Mohamed, Standard]

Every business goes through a rough patch, but how do you make a solid comeback after a disappointing spell? Mark Twain said: “Good judgement is the result of experience and experience the result of bad judgement.”

Optimistic business people learn to gauge the level of disruption brought about by a particular setback.

Is it permanent? Will it affect my whole business or a part of it? Was there a learning curve in the setback?

Read how some of Kenya’s young entrepreneurs made a comeback after some discouraging times in their business models.

Founder, Hello Sweetness Confectionaries

The dream

My desire since the early years was to become one of the richest women on the continent.  I had set myself a goal of making my first million before turning 21. I dreamt of getting my name on the Forbes list.

That was the reason I set up to bake cakes soon after obtaining my degree in hotel and restaurant management from USIU in 2015.

I had started baking small time back in 2010, just before joining university. Back then, the most compelling reason for starting the venture was financial independence. I did not want to bother my parents with ‘small money’ for personal expenses. The joke was that I was going into business so as to buy pizza.

Little did I know that my small hustle would later turn into a thriving baking enterprise that would require rental space and a proper delivery system.

By 2011, for example, the university was one of my key clients. The following year, other corporate customers had come on board. Things were looking up.

In business, however, trouble is never far away.

The setback

One of my biggest setbacks was the lack of trustworthy workers. In this business, my role would ideally require that I deal more with business development issues rather than managing the back office operations due to unreliable workforce.

Workers would quit at the shortest notice, even through text messages. This resulted in the business not meeting clients’ demands. I was so discouraged that I almost thought of quitting.

The rebound

Despite the low setback, I did not let the issues define the kind of businesswoman I was going to be. There were goals to achieve. I kept focus on my targets and looked for people who would walk with me in my journey.

How then do I scout for the right team?  First, I do not go for professionals, but ones who are teachable. Professionals tend to hold on to their own standards, doing things their own way yet each of our cakes has to be customised to meet customer demands. Professionals want to work for large companies or big hotels.

Second, I take up to six months to train the new employees. I help them specialise in particular areas. A baker, for example, should just be in the kitchen baking, not decorating. Third, I had to devise good working terms, remunerating them according to the sector’s standards or higher than what other people are paying.

Through such measures, I have achieved some milestones including opening a bakery in Nairobi’s Roysambu area in 2016 and the first shop near Thika Road Mall this February.

Founder of construction firm Jubilee Africa Limited

The dream

As a trained civil engineer, my goal was to create a construction empire and put the knowledge I had gained from JKuat to good use. After graduating in 2009, I got a job as a site engineer for two years, hoping to have enough proceeds to go into my own practice. Three years later, I tried my hand at the rough waters that is Kenya’s construction industry. But trouble called soon after.

The setback

Construction is cost intensive. I went broke and had to go back to employment for another year.

I tried again in 2013 and things were still not rosy. To get tenders I needed cash and the only way to get it was by borrowing. I borrowed money, invested in the county governments but got stuck in bureaucratic procedures.

By 2015, a machine I had bought for Sh12 million was auctioned for Sh6 million to pay a debt of Sh4 million. It was a low point in the business.

The rebound

I learned some key lessons in that initial failure. As an example, it was easier to lease machines rather than commit large sums of money buying them. In addition, we decided to diversify into other areas such as mining and selling machine-cut building stones. We currently employ 16 permanent workers and over 200 casual workers.  That translates to supporting the livelihoods of more than a thousand Kenyans. As some of my classmates continue in paid employment, I have a monthly turnover of between Sh6 million and Sh7 million.

MD, PrideInn Hotels

The dream

Simply put, my dream was to create one of the biggest hospitality brands on the continent. However, this was easier said than done.

The setback

Imagine this scenario: You are a banker. A 28-year-old walks in one morning and asks you for funds to open a hotel. What would you do? Open your coffers and hand over the cash or tell him to take a hike?

Well, that was exactly what I did. I walked, not into one, but four banks looking for money to create a thriving hotel business. But few bank managers could trust such a young man with little proven business experience with their money.

I was turned away several times. I almost gave up.

The rebound

A convincing pitch was the only piece of armour at my disposal. If you are passionate about an idea, banks will eventually listen to you.

One did and helped me with funds needed to open our first hotel in Westlands in 2011. The empire has since grown to six hotels under PrideInn Hotels. A few years ago, we realised that the coastal hospitality market lacked conference facilities. That is how our flagship establishment, PrideInn Paradise Beach at Shanzu, Mombasa was born. We are looking to open two more hotels this year.

Our key target is the local market because it is easy to convince the local travelers before turning to the rest of the world. Locals can make immediate decisions based on what they see.

Founder of AfroUrembo, a beauty platform connecting beauty and wellness professionals with clients.

The dream

If you are an African lady and you happen to travel to a foreign city, how would you know where to have your hair done?

I had this dilemma while doing my Master’s degree in Madrid, Spain. I was not alone in this predicament. During one of our business lessons, we were required to come up with a new innovation. One evening, while having a drink with a colleague, we decided to create an app that will connect beauty and haircare professionals with clients. What this means is that if you are a man in Nairobi, you can check through the app and see all the barbershops around, the price for your preferred hairstyle and even the time slots that are open. That would eliminate the custom where all men in the neighbourhood crowd one barbershop.

The setback

Changing people’s mentality has been one big setback.

It takes long for people to see the importance of having such an app. An influencer has to talk about it and a billboard erected for people to know about such an idea. They may feel it is too much to download it on their phones yet they will spend hours looking at social media posts that make no business sense to them.

For the fainthearted, that can make a good idea disappear.

The rebound

I spent 15 years abroad – either in school or at work – but came back to make a business case for the app. Optimism and I were born twins. Together with my business partner, George, we have invested about Sh10 million in development of the app.

That could not happen if we never believed in what the app can achieve. Though this will be a global brand that can be used anywhere in the world, it has to succeed in Kenya first before taking it abroad.