As a little kid, I used to hear of Santa Claus, and also see him in the movies and on TV shows where he would usually sneak up on roof tops and drop bags of presents inside chimneys of little kids’ homes. This often made me ponder why he never came to drop presents inside my chimney at Christmas time. Now that I am much older, I now know he is a fictional character, just like the Easter Bunny and Big Foot, created to compliment the season at hand. The thought of ever coming face to face with Santa never really occurred to me and I never imagined that something like this can actually happen – until the month of December 2012 when I saw, not one, but several Santas at KuzaBiashara HQ. Continue reading

Abraham Lincoln had once said that “Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.”Given below are the five principles of success, which if followed will put you on the straight but difficult path of success.

1. Be relentless in your pursuit and work hard. Success is a marathon and not a sprint, so never give up. I think every story of success that we read entails long hard hours of work, there is no getting away from this reality. But if you’re working on something you’re really passionate about, something you really love – is that really work?You will love to do something that you really like.
2. Aspire to learn a new thing every day and never stop learning. Go back to school, read books, get trained, and acquire new skills. Becoming a lifelong learner would benefit all of us and it is a quality that we should instill in our kids. Once you’re out of school you realize that school was indeed fun and how enjoyable learning can was. Ask yourself this question everyday -“Did I learn anything new today?”
3. Every person who would like to become something in life should have a dream, and when you have a dream, make it a point to ACT now. Goals are meaningless without action. Be like Nike’s slogan “just do it.” Do something every day, that will take you closer towards your goals. It could be small but it’s still an action. Have you taken any action today towards your goals?
4. Decide upon your dreams and goals. Write down your goals and develop a specific plan to reach them. Has your plan been finalised and have you written down your dreams and goals? What is your plan to achieve your dreams? Your plan should be similar to a project plan? They say that, “A new year’s resolution that is not written down is just a dream, and dreams are not goals.”Goals are measurable stepping stones of success towards the achievement of your dreams.
5. A lot depends on how you think; remember to be positive at all times. Think ‘Success’, not ‘Failure’, and beware of negative environment. This positive trait has to be one of the most important things in the entire list. Your belief that you can accomplish your goals has to be firm and unwavering. When you say to yourself, “I can’t”, it is most that you won’t. I remember my father giving me the advice – “Never say I can’t”. I have taken that advice seriously and I have struck off those words from my dictionary. Positive things can only happen to positive people.

I may not know about your instincts but as for me, I find it disgusting when I want to know more about a given business and then find out that it doesn’t have a website. Although there are a number of online dictionaries and directories in Kenya where you can get your business listed, including your contacts and location, I suppose this is not sufficient and not a true representative of your business online. You need an online presence to succeed in business.

When looking for your business online, consider this: I may be aware of its location, but by the time I search it online I will surely be seeking more than your location. I would probably be interested in knowing what products you have, the sources, credibility, working hours and so on. Unfortunately, even with the availability of cheap domains and free sub domains in the market, it still appears that many small businesses in Kenya have still not yet displayed their product menu online.

In Kenya, Safaricom has come up with a product called Zidisha Biashara – a product that gives you subsidized airtime and data, a website and website management lessons. Although the program was much publicized, the progress in taking up the domains is growing in a slow pace. This clearly indicates that the Kenyan marketers and business people are yet to take their businesses to the next level.

Now, where do you think we are headed? The online platform and social media presence are tools that are set towards propelling our businesses. Any marketer needs to take up these two marketing choices as they are bound to work for anyone.

There are other online business tools that have been created with small businesses in mind as a solution of promoting them online, directly linking them to their customers who can just walk into their shop to do business.

Many articles have been written about social media marketing, advantages of having online presence, and many of the service providers were offering deals to encourage Kenyan business owners to venture into the online market.

It is a high time that business owners and marketers create an online marketing strategy and work towards making the venture a success. Among other alternatives are Blogspots, Facebook pages, Twitter handles and sub domains. You can take advantage of these online tools and make your business a success in the online marketing platform.

Entrepreneurs pick

For you to market your business online, you don’t necessarily have to have that big amount of cash to set up a nice website… you can actually start with Blogspots, Facebook pages among others.

In this brief presentation on ‘The Evolution of the IT industry in India and Opportunities for Africa’ Sriram Bharatam shares some of the key facts about the evolution of the Indian ICT industry and its growth patterns and key learnings. Continue reading

As fingerprints are unique and in themselves can’t have a replica, so is every human being created in a perfect manner and instilled with capabilities beyond man’s ideology. I come from a humble family of eight children – three sisters and four brothers – we are perfectly knit in heart and mind. Genarally my life is a testimony for it is packed with challenges and encounters that has made me the present man I am. Life, generally, is not to anyone’s favour, considering the majority, because in my case my dad was retrenched from work at the least time expected whereby we were proceeding to secondary school. He was crucified by his closet friend, who framed him so that he may be ejected to pave way for a deal he was not in support of. The worst thing is that he used to watch him on news occupying the seat that it was rightfully his.

When I finished my fourth year I had to stay home for four years in order to pave way for my two sisters, who were in university to clear. You can imagine being told to hang on for that while. But because I was considerate I was able to wait for that long. I experienced different challenges to an extent of being asked that since male education is of paramount, my sisters were to allow a way for me. But I considered that too much circulation makes the price go down. The more you are seen and heard from, the more common you appear. If you are already established in a group, temporary withdrawals from it will make you more talked about and even more admired.

In life you must learn how to leave. Create value through society. Don’t listen to passers-by, stick to your principles and keep going. This is the realisation that I had, no matter what people say, I have a dedicated crown ahead and I have to aim at whatever cost.

After the four years, the resources were depleted and I could not join college. I was called in for an interview at NSIS in Nairobi for a job, only to be communicated wrongly whereby I reported to Eldoret for the interview yet it was in Nairobi. I did not loose hope. After a year I was employed at Kenya Power as a casual worker only for the tasks to be so tiresome and hard to top up. The pay was a handout. I forced myself back to school with the hope that where there is a will there is a way.

Joining Mt. Kenya University was a model I was crafting piece by piece. I managed to clear my diploma despite a hefty hurdles.

I am greatful to God for He has brought me this far because He is the beginner and end of every dream. I am now persuing my bachelors at JKUAT and able to finance my fees with my current employer Kuza Biashara.

Guys, if I may borrow Sriram’s words, “If you have never failed you have never lived”, derives the fact that we draw our strengths through failure. It is a matter of picturing it from the point of view as a stepping stone to higher grounds. Let’s go through this story and see the capabilities that are within us and which is upto us to push the realization button, and there it goes.

A young man on his way home decided to take a shortcut through cemetry other than going the long stride. When he was walking he accidentally fell into a fresh grave dug that evening. The grave was so deep in that the guy struggled to make his way out but he could not make it. He shouted for help but no one passed by there at that time of the night. The guy was exhausted and tired, he decided to sit and wait till morning so that he could get help. Coincidentally a young drunkard made his way for the shortcut only to end up falling on the grave. He called for help, tried his way out but he couldn’t.

He didn’t give up. He kept on trying The first guy joked and adviced the guy that he tried but he didn’t make it and that he should stay till morning. The moon wasn’t there and it was totally dark.You can complete the story but from what I know the drunkard slept home.

We have been deposited with capabilities and resources that are untapped and it is upto us to give them life. We have the keys, it’s only for us to make the bold step and keep one foot after the other. How the drunkard did it is what only he can tell us. But for him it was a realization of what he was capable of. Be inspired and groom your abilities to full blown.

Self employment is growing among young people. As interesting as it may look it has its challenges. There has to be something that drives you…much more than finances. The financial benefits come only to complement your efforts.

A lot has to be sacrificed in business but thinking of them as a stage should be motivational enough. Having a clear vision and mission entails keeping focus, discipline and patience to utilize your time and contacts to make ends meet. What you have is way superior and can help you acquire any other need.

Don’t live in the fear of failure any more, fear holds you from your destiny, be more aggressive in all you do. Your vision must be powerful enough to aide put your fears aside. Learn to believe in yourself despite the recurrent challenges as they are everywhere; tailor your vision to connect with personal improvement.

You are bound to enjoy control of your whole being and avoid the monotonous working hours, your mind will be changed from the regular pay-slip and you will create income for your own self.

Is the risk worth? Well, I say YES. This walk can be a long one but it gives you motivation to explore new avenues and opportunities…