Winnie Maina: Gap in beauty market saw me start a cosmetic clinic

Winnie Maina, founder of Jalad Aestheic Clinic. [Awuor Odongo, Standard]

Away from societal beliefs, did you know that aesthetic medicine is a branch of modern medicine that focuses on medical procedures aimed at improving physical appearance?

To do this, experts in the field use non-invasive to minimally invasive cosmetic procedures. In Kenya, it is emerging as a trend as more and more people look to improve their appearance.

People not only want to be in good health, but they also want to improve their appearance through the treatment of conditions such as scars, skin laxity, wrinkles, moles, liver spots, excess fat, cellulite, unwanted hair and baldness among other bodily problems.

This writer found Winnie Maina, the founder of Jalad Aesthetic Clinic, concluding a hair restoration procedure for a 32-year-old man who has suffered baldness since his teenage years.

Having started the clinic with no expert skills in the aesthetic field, Ms Maina revealed the secrets behind her growing business.

Conduct market research

According to Ms Maina, market research is as crucial as it sounds. Starting a business in the aesthetic industry is not a walk in the park.

First, it's fairly new in the market and therefore most people are not even aware that it can be done locally, and secondly, some people are still very sceptical of the results.

But market research will definitely help you figure out the needs of different people and the aid you can bring in by opening a clinic.

It will also help you in finding out whether you'll have clients at all. Furthermore, it will give you insight into the product and services you intend to offer.

"You need to know where your product or service is going to fit within the population, because as you know, you're not the only one in the market, so, is your approach viable?" says Ms Maina.

Develop a brilliant business plan

When starting a business, you are the vision bearer of your idea and therefore you must develop a unique strategy for the start-up.

Ask questions like what exactly do you want to do, who are going to be your clients and where are they, what is their disposable income and which is the best location for your type of business?

Last but not least, how about financial capability - do you have the starting capital?

Ms Maina's starting capital for Jalad Clinic was a little over Sh1 million and this enabled her to pay for six months' rent, buy a few basic but essential equipment and pay her employees' salaries within a certain period of time.

Developing a business plan helps you strategise how at the beginning and helps you start running your business to success.

Recruiting

Ms Maina's major secret of trade is that she started off with hiring skills. She was only a clinical officer when she started and that meant that she did not entirely have the skills to perform the procedures herself.

However, she knew her heart was in the right place and for her instead of choosing school first, she designed a perfect strategy to help her start before enrolling in a school to study dermatology.

From her networks, she knew an aesthetic surgeon, some nurses and dermatologists.

So, she decided to merely be a businesswoman first and hired experts to take care of the handy work.

This proved to be a success to date. As you may realize, at some point in your business even if you have the skills yourself, you may need an extra hand, so why not make that happen now as you work on your skills while already making money, instead of waiting for later?

Consider industry challenges

At any step of the way, there are always challenges and it's important to keep this in mind and tackle them head-on.

While the aesthetic industry is just beginning to be adapted in the Kenyan markets, the rest of the world has been doing in for years.

Therefore, the industry is evolving every other day due to continuous research in the field. Technology is paramount in this field and while you may be familiar with a certain innovation today, a year from now, it might evolve into something else even more sophisticated and so are the personnel of practice who continue to research and learn about the emerging trends.

This means that the biggest challenge may as well be competition in this case. So keep your eyes and ears out, read as much as you can and research on a daily basis to ensure you're not left behind.

"Aesthetic expertise was previously cut out for dermatologists and cosmetic surgeons but now it has really evolved because you find that dentists can do it, nurses can do it and recently even beauticians. So you see it's growing, it's evolving and it's a big thing now," says Ms Maina.

Keep your eye on the prize

Once you are as competitive as anyone else in the industry, you now stand a chance to be at the same level as the rest of the medical world.

According to Ms Maina, about 10 years ago, Kenya probably had only ten cosmetic surgeons.

"This number is growing according to recent surveys because now we have around nineteen cosmetic surgeons," she said.

The other thing is as I've already mentioned, technology has remarkably improved and people are now willing to pay for aesthetic services whether it's due to an underlying genetic problem, an acquired problem or an influence from social media influencers.

Therefore, keeping your eye on the prize would mean working toward growing your business to a refutable success by establishing a reputation with every one of your procedures.

The major lesson from Ms Maina was that one does not necessarily need to have the skill set of a certain field to start a business.

Instead, just prepare your business plan to help you strategize, then hire experts and keep up with trends.