John Gitau: Veteran investor who never gave up on education and it paid

John Gitau, the proprietor of the Rift Valley Institute of Business Studies. [Paul Kariuki, Standard]

While still employed, John Gitau, the proprietor of the Rift Valley Institute of Business Studies, a TVET-accredited college that is based in Nakuru town, tried his hand at different businesses with varied outcomes.

His investment journey has been a long one starting with failure but is now paying dividends. Mr Gitau is an education investor with his college having two branches in Gilgil and Njoro.

It has not been a smooth walk, and today he gives his take on what it takes to flourish in business.

Avoid employing relatives

This should be the cardinal rule in business. Although we take comfort that relatives are better than that stranger employee you may have trust issues with, believe me employing family members is not a wise business decision.

Back in the 1990s, while still an employee at Unilever Tanzania, I opened a shop business in Kahawa West in Nairobi.

I put a family member to manage it as I was working in another country. However, the shop was badly mismanaged and had to shut down only after a few months of operation.

I then opened another business, this time a hair and beauty salon in a different part of Nairobi, and picked another relative to oversee it. The salon soon followed the path of the first business.

The problem with employing your relatives is that you feel obligated and can't sue them the same way you can do other hires or part with them in an amicable way.

When family wrangles play out in your business, consider it as good as gone. There are always those who will side with a relative against you in the family and this can be a recipe for a conflicted relationship.

Remember, the same relatives are the ones you'll be sitting with at the same table during family gatherings and it makes for a bad spectacle in case bad blood had developed between you and your relatives over a business fallout.

Failure is never final

Following the failure of my early businesses, I decided to concentrate on employment as I re-strategised on a business concept to explore on the side.

It was something I had to grow with or be hands-on, and when if it picked up, I would leave employment.

As you may know, you cannot grow in employment but in business - anyway, you can be one pay slip away out of that job.

The opportunity came around 2006 when I was transferred to work in Kericho and I saw business opportunities here.

I revisited the second collapsed business and opened a hair and beauty one and it began doing well. As it picked up, I saw the need to diversify and opened a cyber cafe.

The first business was generating more income and seeing its services were being sought after, an idea came to me to convert the cyber cafe business into a class to offer courses in hair and beauty.

I even quit formal employment to concentrate on business and all was well going before 2007 post-election violence happened and all investments went up in smoke.

You can always pick yourself up again

They say when you stumble and fall down you can always rise up. Dust yourself off and keep on walking. Literally, that was where I was - in the dust.

When political temperatures cooled and peace prevailed after the 2007 post-election violence, I decided to pick up from where I left off, this time in Nakuru town.

The idea was to begin a college business offering a range of technical courses apart from hair and beauty. Since I had some savings, I started afresh.

It did not pick up immediately especially at a time the country was healing and enrolment numbers were low to sustain operations.

Don't quit employment for business without a plan

Unless you have a fallback plan in place in case of business failure, don't leave employment immediately. The majority make this mistake when their side business has started to show signs of growth.

For startups, it may be difficult to get loans to shore up operations as a financial lender may be sceptical if the business will be off the ground on a growth trajectory in a short moment.

Ensure you've saved adequately before leaving employment for business, and leave when business growth is assured, otherwise, you may seek employment again if things go contrary to plans.

Some will seek to derail your vision

If you broach a business idea to family and friends, you're likely to get opposition with some terming it unworkable because there are similar businesses doing well or others that closed doors.

The people you're looking for to support your vision both financially, morally or materially are likely ones in opposition to it as you walk the path alone.

They'll be watching from the sidelines expecting to see you fail and be the first to tell you that they warned against pursuing that idea. But in case of success, they'll be the ones who'll want to be the first to toast that success.

I was in a similar catch-22 situation but with the vision of a college already set, I'd seek employment as a contracted employee with a big company for three years with the pay serving to shore up the business.

Be prepared for anything

Business is different from employment and you must be there for it. Whereas you can give your employees time off, you hardly have much time unless you've delegated duties.

The walk is not smooth and along the way, disruptions and setbacks can happen. Take the example of the Covid-19 pandemic. Nobody saw that coming. Similar to the way the political climate can see investors closing down and adopting a wait-and-see attitude or relocating elsewhere altogether.

And speaking of politics, your business can be dragged in the mud not because you support a politician or a political faction but because some politicians can take the heat on you in cutting down a rival.

Take the example of a sitting legislator who sponsors some youths for some courses and the opponent wages claims that taxpayers' money in the form of bursaries is being misused and questioning why such youths were not sponsored in government-run institutions.

This happens during the electioneering period but the circus continues as any elected leader can elect where to sponsor youths as government-run vocational institutions in villages suffer.

Keep a competitive advantage

Competition is healthy and helps organisations to come up with innovative products and services, and also as a way of having a market advantage over a competing business.

You cannot have a monopoly in a given market segment, and also take note there are market disruptors that can affect your business and eat at your customer base if you fail to innovate or keep up with market trends.

One of the ways to stay ahead of the pack is by offering a free short course in a related field where a learner is pursuing expertise. For example, if one is studying a course in tea and beverages, we offer a free barista course to those who register early, say the first fifty or one hundred students, and so on.