When everybody is crumbling, your business can stand

Mr Naftali Nyabuto, CEO Mzawadi

Four years ago, we featured Mzawadi, a new startup that had just launched a card less loyalty programme in Kenya meant to revolutionalise how small businesses manage data and create incentives for their customers.

We have followed the business to know the company has been able to adapt to what many businesses have come to refer to as the ‘new normal’ that has changed how business is done and has shaken governments and businesses to the core.

The CEO Naftal Nyabuto shared his views with the Standard Digital on what businesses need in hard times to stay afloat

Q. What have you been doing the last four years?

A. Let me say, it has been an adventurous journey that has taken our business to new heights and learning experiences like no other. That said, our products have transformed to unimaginable depths in order to align to our clients’ need. We have a philosophy that says,’ let technology fit into your strategy and not the other way round’

Q. How is that? Make me understand that strategy.

A. Our loyalty and incentive programs spans across almost all industries touching any size of business, from the smallest to multi-nationals. We have huge footprint in manufacturing, FMCGs, Insurance, Finance, retail and hospitality. What it means is that we cannot offer, one-fit –all solution. We are true believer in blue ocean strategy where we want our solution to move a business further into an uncontested market and help it create its own competition

Q. How comes you gained acceptance and trust from such big ‘wigs’?

A. Nobody can say no to an innovative product and a solution developed to change their businesses for good. Who doesn’t love numbers or high bottom-line? Every business is competing in ever-shrinking markets and profits.

To stay ahead, therefore, you have to look for solutions that are disruptive and can change how you sell or promote your services. That is exactly what we presented to our clients.

Another critical aspect is trust from our clients to deliver what we promise, and go an extra mile to not only deliver technology but also offer our experience and assistance to make our programme successful.

Q. During this Pandemic how is your business adapting? Many are collapsing, downsizing and closing, but am seeing your team is busy on Zoom working.

Answer. Great innovations and leaders have always emerged from a crisis. If you let the virus to infect your minds, it will distort and affect your capacity to innovate or be creative. What our amazing team has done is to fight corona virus from the mind first, then understand that if you win a war after destroying the city, it will leave you with no one to celebrate with.

I think this is our time to win the war by staying afloat, innovate new solutions and give companies and businesses something to make them also survive.

It is the ecosystem survival where all ‘organisms’ have to help each other to stay alive. That is our fight.

Q. Am curious, so what have you been working on?

A. In the coming days, we will be launching, a disruptive solution that will change how companies do promotions, how they can restructure their route to market that has been disrupted by Corona, how they can put a smile back to their clients during this difficult times and of most importance, how they can quickly bounce back after the pandemic.

Q. Anything we need to know about the launch?

A. What I can say, we are going to ensure we do not disappoint and in the spirit of being a responsible company, we will not be converging or do any physical launch that will bring people together. We will be doing purely a social media launch in all channels and we will be having a live event with our clients in those channels. We hope they will follow our channels to know the dates.

Q. That sounds like a first one

A. Yes, as I said early, innovations and inventions came as necessity whenever humans needed to survive; we want to deliver a digital product through digital platform.

Q. So who is your target? Whom do you want to transform?

A. Target is our client base, who are businesses from above sectors I mentioned, this are businesses that are struggling with solutions to get them back to the market. We want to ensure we are there for them and assure them that we are solutions partner who they can run whenever they need technology to deliver their strategy.