We are battered but adjusting to the uncertainty

The Covid-19 pandemic pummelling the globe has brought on its wake seemingly insurmountable challenges to businesses. In Kenya, many have closed shop –at least during the current pandemic – while others have tried to maintain a semblance of sanity. Some have adjusted their sails to face the wind and remain afloat while others take cover until the storm passes. Five entrepreneurs share their experiences.

We have had to further automate the business

**Harrison Muiru, general manager of Smart Applications.**

Smart Applications is a secure ICT solutions provider that uses biometrically controlled smart card technology mainly in healthcare management. With this technology, individuals can relay medical cover information to respective insurance companies, scheme administrators and employers. In addition, we provide customized biometric and workflow automation solutions.

The Covid-19 pandemic has defined new norms such as social distancing, factors that call for further automation. For example, healthcare providers can digitally relay claims information without sending papers thus eliminating the human touch aspect. Remote work productivity monitoring solutions allow managers to monitor the required output from their staff without walking around the workplace.

The kind of businesses that will survive are those swift in adapting to the new norms and adapting new business models of delivery or move to new market segments. As a team leader at Smart, I must keep pushing beyond the boundaries and define new ones to achieve progress. Thanks to digital innovations, we are surviving the Covid-19 wave and have not had to lay off any of our 100 workers.

I have had to change strategy

**Charity Katago, founder of Riverwood Communications.**

As a public relations company, we have leveraged on the current modes of communication – Zoom meetings, phone and Whatsapp conversations. Raising my game on technology was the only way out since I live in Murang’a country with an office in Nairobi, a city currently inaccessible from my residential area. Rather than shut down, I have learned to delegate while taking advantage of delivery services.

Is there anything that would have prepared me for such a disruption? Not really. But then again, the pandemic has taught and exposed me to lots of online solutions that help me with day to day operations. It has also broken myths that a business can only operate in a certain way. In any case, it has exposed me to the inherent risks of not having a plan B and not thinking through the "what ifs" of what we consider normal. Who would have thought that you would rent an office and due to factors beyond your means fail to access it for over a month but still pay rent and utilities? Or having to pay employees who cannot come to work due to factors beyond them, make statutory payments whether you have business or not?

I think the bigger challenge for me right now is to adjust to the fact that public relations might be considered as a support and not a core function for most businesses. That means companies have to slash budgets and redirect funds to functions that are deemed more essential than what we provide.

Post Covid-19, I don’t expect things to be the same again. From how businesses run operations, to how they consume communication and media. I will also have to change with my clients and provide services that suit the changes their businesses are going through.

From pretty great commissions to a trickle

Moureen Nyagah, beautician, 5th Avenue Hair and Beauty Salon

Our business relies heavily on walk-in customers. These constituted 50 per cent of the business. Since the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak, these have fizzled out. People’s priorities have changed and spending money on a beauty regime is not among the essentials. With people staying home, enhancing one’s image has been put on the backburners. Our business is located within a top city hotel and relied on the daily footprint. Like many others, the hotel is closed.

On a good month, it was possible to make at least Sh150,000 through commissions. This is now down to a trickle. We had a choice of throwing in the towel and close like many other businesses. However, we had to come up with new strategies that allowed us to work on selected clients while complying with current health guidelines on social distancing. For example, we now work in shifts rather than having the whole workforce of about 20 at the salon showing up together.

At the barber shop, we can only work on two customers at a time instead of the usual six. The salon could hold about 12 to 18 customers at any given time but now holds about six. We now concentrate on pre-booked clients only.

Can’t keep paying salaries from my savings

Becky Ndegwa-Latif, owner of Indigo6

My small-scale business was born out of my quest to fight the chilly July weather. On a cold afternoon in 2013, I watched as raindrops pounded the fresh flowers outside our house. Shivering from the cold, I picked a Masai shuka, wrapped it around myself to ward off the cold but barely got warm. I had to come up with another plan. What if I stitched a blanket around the shuka to make a fleece blanket? The idea worked. I made one for my husband and that is when the idea clicked that I could do these to my friends who in turn would spread the word to even more people. All I had to do was stitch a personalized message including an individual’s name and a small message if one so wished. Indigo6, my fleece blanket business, was born out a modest capital of Sh5,000.

From President Kenyatta, his deputy, to musician Yvonne Chakachaka and media personality Caroline Mutoko, my fleece blankets had become a hit. Another highlight was in November 2014 when I received a request to decorate a fleece blanket for the queen of talk shows, Oprah Winfrey during one of her visits to South Africa.

Then Covid-19 hit and dealt a blow to my operations. We have moved from selling quite a number per day (at Sh4,000 a piece) to closing our workshop in Westlands. First, I did not want to endanger the lives of my five employees who rely on public transport. Then you have to remember that these fleece blankets are gift items whose sale depends on people having more disposable income. There is little or none of that now.

Unfortunately, I still have to pay rent, at least so that my equipment can be safe. How long will I do this? I am not sure but I know my landlord too relies on such rental income. I am still paying the tailors though there is nothing coming in. If the current situation persists, I will have to make a tough call as I cannot use all my personal savings on salaries. When things open up, as I believe they will, I will go back to my workshop. I have no plan B.

I have retreated upcountry

I got the full blunt of the Covid-19 pandemic while on a tour of the US. An airline cancelled my booking but was rescued by a Kenya Airways flight from New York. As was expected, I had to quarantine myself for 14 days upon arrival. This was a real test as I could not even see my child. Besides that, work as DJ has come to a halt. We play in clubs, hotels, corporate or family gatherings. These are closed at the moment.

Previously, I would have shows every weekend and a few events during the week. While I can put up some live streams, this is nothing compared to meeting real people out there. You see, it is through such live performances that one gets noticed by top brands. After such encounters, you are likely to get contracted to push some brands and add to your earnings. For now though, I have retreated to Meru but hope to have some shows on television soon as we await things getting back to “normal.”