 na ubebema na wenda. Sii na matafuza niwsika wneufa niwsika, niwafuza niwsika, na auditu kwa mwadutu ailia wana mwadu baka nyimai ya mwati. Nisha konu sei wo yaka mwadi r maybe niwangi, misi kwase maide nilijata wa mwenimana humaya huna maida kwa nga kufa wo kwa kubi kira mwera niwa kama kwa mwura, maide, waka mwadi kama kwa mwye matafuza iya kama matafuza niw 할게요 mweni waja nilijata wa wanda kufa niwangi Pastia interacted, I know you have smartphones and you're wondering, do I need a watch really? Because there's a whole business aspect of it when it comes to watches and they're still popular. Right into the studio I'm joined by the owner of March for tea and Makenzi Enterprise. Mark Mackenzie. Mak Rules maka serve We've been in there for four years so far and I can see so far so good I mean, they are smart phones and guys are asking, I'm pretty sure guys are asking at home why should I need a watch? Why should I wear a watch? Why should I wear a watch? I see it as a fashion statement if you walk in and you have a nice watch I have a nice suit, I have a nice watch so when you walk in, you walk in with some presence the same way people walk around with iPhones but they never tend to stay in their pockets they're always in their hands so that it acts as a symbol of status so that people notice you when you're walking and ask as watch detailers try and give the guys who prefer smart phones the value proposition to why they need to wear a watch Alright, it goes back to a personal decision on a personal level and as you just said people will have different tastes in everything I want to have this particular watch someone wants a particular watch someone doesn't want a watch they'll still be thinking about smart phones it goes back to a statement again fashion statement Mark, you fell in love with watches when we were back in high school so at what particular point did you decide I'm actually going to do this I'm actually going to start a business out of something that I love I can say it's out of the group of friends that I had then in campus like a small tight family 11 guys so when we got into university we realised that we can't stop we need to stop depending on our parents for money so we decided how will we make money so we all decided to start small businesses and we just started there wasn't any business plan I like doing this let me start then we realised we needed a business plan when we started and that's how it's been four years down the line just because we started okay and when we look at this particular space of watches I believe in every sort of business when it comes to product every services you have to be very much acquainted with what you do the knowledge aspect of it keeping tabs on the industry in this particular situation the watch industry so at what point were you like very much comfortable and confident that I have enough knowledge on different types of watches that actually are there in the market space the industry if a client approaches me that I can actually give good recommendation one I can say that there's never enough information in any industry or any business that you do you are always learning every single day every single day when it comes to watches the first thing that draws a customer or a client is the appearance and us being online then we take a lot of time in our in the types of photos we take the lighting even the phone or camera that we use so that we can best show the product to the client because we are online when it comes to now dealing with the customer of course we need information are you looking for ladies watch are you looking for men's watch what's your budget because as Mackenzie our value proposition is maximum quality for pocket friendly prices what was your first watch brand that you wore first brand watch I wore I still have it at home it was a Bevel Garry it was a black chronometer automatic with a skeleton face I got it as a gift just for starting my mother was like ok as you're trying to be independent ok take let's see how long you're going to stay with it and till today I still have it so when you get your deals when your source when it comes to getting the good quality of watches I can say generally for online businesses your biggest asset yes is in the sourcing but it's also in how you source so you have to broke a lot you need to create a network of suppliers to you and clients to sell to you so when I first started I had a small budget think of 3000 went downtown got a few pieces went to took photos and started when it comes now to sourcing it's a gambo it's a gambo a supplier will give you good stock today and cause it's a chain the supplier here gets from a supplier abroad the supplier abroad gets it from now the factory so if the factory decides we're going to make watches this way then the whole chain is affected and speaking about quality and sourcing is the company in a position to buy for clients to purchase you and they want a particular watch probably Rolex or Daytona so are you guys in a position to actually get what the client wants and actually the original yes the original watch but if the price is right if the price is right we shall do it for you my approach to business is never know it is never know we can do it we can do it now it is for us as a service provider or the loosely loosely used consultant for us to join the dots to get the desired effect because when it comes to online businesses people tend to focus on the product of the service but it's largely on the delivery to the customer we always say the customer is king and online one bad review can can close your business so when you're in the online space clients and their service to them is very very important alright allow me to take you back when you mentioned about your value proposition and let's look at what gap did you see in the in our local watch industry that you saw that you can actually come in and solve a particular problem okay when I started I can say I'm still very ambitious I like people to wear watches so if you don't have a watch then that's an opportunity for me to sell my belief that you should be wearing a watch if I may ask are you wearing a watch no I'm not guys we have a customer okay so I'll come and get a watch recommend a couple of them lady designed watches probably if you didn't come with a sample though we check out on social media guys wait I think this is the right moment to take us to a social media so that guys can actually go through it as we have this competition you can log into your Instagram app and search mc n mc n mknt enterprises because it was quite hard for me also to find the accounts I think I went for the mknt the whole the whole name of it so what type of skills does one require when it comes to if I'm interested I love watches and I want to get into this sort of kind of a business so what do I need to do what are the requirements the good thing about online businesses is there are no hard and fast rules to it it's passion you need this passion then you calculate with confidence because if you're passionate about something you can easily walk up to someone and say this is what I'm doing and this is what I'd like you to do for me of course that doesn't take away doing your due diligence or market research because you need to see the gap in the market a bit of accounting bookkeeping is very, very important because yes I can sell a watch get my 5000 I got it for 2 or even 3k but now the profit that's where the success or the failure of a business matters a lot I recently enrolled to one of my friends she's an online entrepreneur online marketing influencer stroke entrepreneur in one of the discussions she was saying that specifically for the Kenyan market your margins should be about 30 to 40% for you to survive just a year in business and it's a good range for you to save get more capital and build your business let's speak about grooming is there any form of color coordination when it comes to putting on the right watch as a gentleman yes very wide question but simply put always try much color coordination probably let me specify the easy to go to run match your watch, your belt and your shoes perfect, I think that's the simplest rule just keep it that way and for the gentleman who didn't know that now we are safe, we are good match your belts your watch and shoes it's easier but if you're very daring you can go with the subtle elements of your watch to now your belt or shoes okay think that's way easier so you have a background in low so how has that been any benefit when it comes to your business when I started to be very honest when I started I was like yes I'm going to get this degree I'm going to apply it and everything was just seamlessly fit well it hasn't been that way that's a beauty about business we start thinking it's going to go this way and then it's a whole beautiful journey but so far it's in the small small aspects of it in understanding what customer protection is understanding that if I tell you or if I show you a certain watch looks like this then it is a burden on me to provide what I have shown you if not then I am exposed as a business to liability so as a consumer or as a consumer of marketing if I sell you a watch that didn't fit the description of what you saw then you as a consumer has a right to reject reject the watch or demand that you be delivered with the watch that you have requested for and for someone who is watching this conversation and they are wondering when it comes to outsourcing your product and you are at the negotiation table what are your couple tips, couple of your tips when you go around just negotiating with the watchdivers top 3 smile always put your best foot forward come and buy in bulk when you are dealing with a new supplier always come and buy in bulk because that shows faith and trust and 3 just be honest I think honesty has gotten us so far especially on the supplier's end because as much as people say that is not good for business I believe that is good there is a healthy debt and the toxic one you borrow and you don't know how you are going to get it back so when it comes to suppliers I personally I have got into arrangements with some of my suppliers where I can pick and pay later type of agreement which provides us with cash flows to enable us to grow and what are the costs involved in opening a watch business looking back at it 4 years ago I thought actually needed a lot of money you didn't not really it was there were 4 zeros involved I can see yes because you need to buy the watches for you to take photos of and then put them on social media any other ongoing expenses now that depends with your business model it really depends on your business model because we are dealing in products there is the logistics aspect of it which can easily be outsourced just to in the chambers or the inner workings of the market what we what we do specifically or what we have concentrated on is in the supplying and the marketing when it comes to logistics packaging it's all outsourced and if I may we've outsourced to another business it's called drop and pick packaging solutions to us so we find it very easy so what is your price range for your watches and what type of watches usually particular brand or type of a watch that is always on high demand it's seasonal let me just say it has been very seasonal for us when we started started with Daniel Wellington which really sold which really really really sold and then we moved now to Patex which really really sold then we moved to Cublos which really really sold but now the direction that we are taking to is more the automatic watches automatic watches one that does not need a battery so by by your mechanical movement that collects your kinetic energy and then that's used to power your watch so just wake up, wear and move very convenient very easy as a food yes and now because I don't have a watch I will go with that one think I've already found me a watch the type that I would like because I'm saving on expenses also no batteries so how can one increase the profit margins when it comes to this space of it is it is aren't surprising but it's more in value value and what people what people I'm looking for the word it's not inspire but the qualities people attribute your business to people say keep your margins low keep your prices low but I feel and I think that the key is in the value or the experience you provides to your customer because if I would sell your watch for let's say 10k and you want it in the next two hours then if I brought it under now with a very exquisite box packaging and packs are not just thanking you for supporting us and branding one I have I have hit the timeline you given me I have halved it the packaging is good the customer service that you've received since from the point of your request to delivery has been seamless there's been good communication from start to end you will not feel the pinch of giving me your 10k yes and actually referrals and will probably come back so you take me through your when it comes to financial aspect of it what is the financial strategy that ensures that the business stays afloat one is savings and one is savings sell, save whatever you have left now now you are portion and for you to be able to save and still keep enough to keep your business afloat then of course you need targets you need weekly targets you need your monthly targets you need yearly targets so it still boils down to now your goes down to goal setting what you want to do for the year like this year we are planning to open now an independent physical store so that requires a certain amount of money so for me to achieve that certain amount of money I need to sell this amount of watches in a month and out of the watches that I sell this is the revenue I expect to create so as much as our watches have different pricing the collective kitty we have a goal for it apart from actually we commend you guys we are happy for you that you are actually getting a physical shop but apart from that what a couple of measures that you guys are taking up to scale up the business in this particular year I'm sorry can I just take you back to the pic of course it's an independent physical shop we have a physical store in town where is it located it's at what's the name of the guy what happened so Nalax building on where the opposite optica we are on the 7th floor shop number 6B so what are the other measures that you guys are taking up to just scale up the business this year of course we always negotiate for better prices both from our suppliers and the businesses that support us because in as much as we are selling we are always trying to reduce expenses and by reducing our expenses then we are able to gain more passive in terms of profit because also the aspect of thinking about the client also yes couple of challenges that you are facing supply chains because of corona the lead time between restocks has gotten a bit larger granted everyone shut down because of covid well I can say that has been a blessing in disguise because it showed us a weakness in our business which is we had gotten a custom to a certain lead time and we foreseen the impact of covid on us and now we stock more than we used to just in case now you guys are prepared we used to deal on it just in time business model and what is the future looking like when you talk about the mark and tea enterprise 2021 we woke up we woke up from 2020 which was a very bit earlier we would like to venture out of out of the watch space a bit so that we can we can focus on other businesses I am trying to set up multilevel marketing business as we speak and I am looking to use those customers in increasing our sales alright and how can you guys find your social media handles if they want to be part of the team that will be the distributors at the mark and tea and give us the social media handles the most interesting thing about me is that I am not on instagram other than my business so if you want to find me on instagram you will just have to go to the same page mc underscore n underscore t if you want to find me on twitter my handle is mck at mutisya no mck mutisya alright thank you very much Mark for creating time to be with us and talking about all matters pertaining watch simply you get so much to take care of our time oh well I was watching the time give me a watch though ok thank you thank you for creating time to be with us alright so that is Mark mck mutisya who is the founder of mc and tea enterprises talking about all matters pertaining the watch business industry at y2fa for channel as you can find us across all our social media handles at michela shira as you can find me across all my social so make sure you don't have that doubt we'll be right back