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This month’s Eve Sisters event aimed to teach women how to change their side hustle into a profitable business. They left inspired, having learned more about life than they expected, writes GARDY CHACHA
Last Saturday, the monthly Eve Sisters Event, as always, was the place to be. The Hilton Hotel’s Tsavo Ballroom was nearly full – not only with ladies but with expectations as well.
An array of women were present; bloggers, lawyers, managing directors, business women, medical specialists, artistes as well as an ambassador.
The event opened up with prayer before one lady, Benda Kithaka of Women4Cancer, got a chance to enlighten the ladies about cervical and breast cancer.
“All women of child-bearing age are at great risk of contracting breast and cervical cancer. Any change in texture, colour, size and shape of the breast should not be taken lightly. As for cervical cancer, precancerous cells may have already formed, waiting for as long as ten years to progress into full blown cancer,” Benda told her fellow womenfolk.
She proceeded to quote statistics that were obviously alarming enough to provoke many in the audience to think better about the status of their health. “Don’t take it for granted; get checked and seek regular medical attention,” she advised in her closing remarks.
Her talk served better than dessert. The main course was yet to come – in the name of Tabitha Karanja, Farzana Khubchandani and Patricia Mbatia.
This month’s main theme was ‘How to change your side-hustle into profitable business’. And who else was better placed to grace the occasion than Tabitha, whose Keroche idea epitomises growing a business. It started as an idea, morphed into a small venture, became a side hustle and blew into a multi-million shilling company.
As she took to the podium, Tabitha is a down-to-earth figure. Her confidence and poise is expected of a heavyweight of her calibre. She is a woman of substance whose life story has impacted and inspired many.
A powerhouse
“She is a powerhouse on her own,” Njoki Karuoya, Eve Sisters’ moderator said while introducing her. “She started her business with little money and today, she can walk into a bank and get a billion shillings in a single withdrawal.”
Keroche Breweries, a company that has been under Tabitha’s stewardship, grew from a small venture. She began by telling her own story: “I left my job as a civil servant in government and joined my husband in his hardware business. For ten years I sold materials that I knew not how they came into being. But I realised they were manufactured by somebody... which meant I could manufacture if I wanted to.”
It was around that same time that Tabitha identified a gap in the liquor business. Every time she wanted to buy a friend a drink, her choice of beer was limited to a few brands.
Despite being neither a food scientist nor a manufacturing engineer, Tabitha was upbeat and raring to go with the business idea. She contracted professionals to do chemical analysis and design processes.
Tabitha’s rise at Keroche was never without hurdles however. She met criticism, threats, financial hurdles, disenfranchisement by competition, among a plethora of other issues. However, “every time I encountered a challenge I emerged stronger and ready to prove that I can do it,” she says.
Applause after applause is how Tabitha’s talk went down to the end.
There were more lessons from Farzana, Head of Marketing at Google Kenya, and Patricia, the proprietor of Game Changer Co. Ltd.Patricia stressed the need to create working relationships with potential customers, individuals, as well as partners. She said: “Relationships are about frank conversations. They are about showing up, sitting down with the person and discussing hard issues for the benefit of all.”
Creating relationships
Asked by a member of the audience how to go about building a client base, Patricia simply said, “Open your eyes”. The idea being that whichever space one occupies at any particular time, has people that can create business. “It is upon you to decide which horse you are racing. A go-getter, can do, and hungry attitude is enough impetus for one to see an opportunity and grab it. If you look around, people are everywhere,” she continued.
But even more important, according to Patricia, is the capacity to determine that an idea is not working out; at which time one should pick another. Never be afraid to try out. The only mistake would be to fail and remain tethered onto the failure. Plus, added Patricia, the best strategy is to “put your best foot forward – one that will work out for you.”
Did you know that Google, the global Internet giant, was once a side hustle? Farzana brought with her the story of two young men, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who set up the first Google shop inside an old garage. She highlighted five tenets that the two men believed in; focusing on the user (customer), working really well, fast is better than slow, be serious even without a suit, and Great isn’t good enough.
In this age of information technology, Farzana challenged her listeners to grab opportunities available at their disposal through online platforms. “Be authentic, consistent, diverse, and focus on your target group with a long term agenda. Use social media to attract clients. Services such as ‘Google my business’ are free. Such tools help you manage and conduct business online. Engage with your customers virtually to attract them for business. It is a chance to appeal to a unique target audience,” she said.
Through illustrative clips, Farzana managed to demonstrate that doing business online offers an edge to entrepreneurs. Take the case of Sitawa Wafula, a Kenyan who created a blog that provided a resource centre where people with mental disorders can find relevant information and help. Through the blog and her YouTube channel, she makes money by selling space on her pages.
Online tools
As the women sat through different speakers, it was hard to miss distinct faces such as Yvonne Wamalwa and Maggie Ireri sitting among others who came to gain a lesson or two and perhaps share their experiences too.
Maggie, the CEO of Ipsos Synnovate, reiterated to the packed room that using online tools makes for good business. “Using social media is not really a decision but a necessity for those in business,” she stated.
When the chance for the audience to interact and share came, Lilian Atwenga, who braved a five-hour journey from Eldoret to attend the event at Hilton Hotel, called for sisterhood. An ardent fan of The Standard newspaper, she learnt of Eve Sisters in this pull-out and vowed to attend – for a dose of wisdom and inspiration – distance notwithstanding.
In her closing remarks, Tabitha advised the women not to be comfortable with a certain level. “Seek for improvement always. You can do better. If you have a C-class don’t forget there is an E-class and an S-class; as long as you are able to, create more opportunities and improve your business at all times.” She also demystified the notion that women can’t have it all. Giving her example, Tabitha explained that she has time for her husband, for her children, for herself and for her job as the CEO of Keroche Breweries.
Photo: Fidelis Kabunyi
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