 Tuesday morning to you as you know it's Entrepreneurship Tuesday here on Why in the Morning and as much as it's the festive season we have a very special feature for you today. With me in studio is someone who's going to be letting us know how to manage our events this festive season. Do you have a passion for event planning? Have you ever attended an event and thought wow this has been well done? I'd like to take you through the process and they are here with us to take you through the process of how this is done especially this festive season. It's all mambuzis or mabash graduations get together all those events how are they put together and if you do have an interest in this particular field of work this is the place to be this morning. My name is Hilda Wadidhi and if you do have any questions make sure you slide into our dm we're at Y254 channel on twitter the hashtag is why in the morning hashtag why killisha on facebook we're at Y254 on youtube in case you miss any of the valuable insights here we're at Y254 channel and on instagram at Y254 underscore channel so you can also slide into our dm and let us know and ask the questions that you'd like to ask so make sure you do keep it here so with me in studio I would like to introduce Anne and Jerry who is the communications and marketing manager at divine schools africa which has been around for the past 14 years and this school in particular offers training in event management wedding planning flower arrangement and deco amongst other things so we'll allow her to say good morning to you hello good morning my name as you say this i'm jerry nyambuda i'm the communication and marketing manager at divine schools africa and yes we've been here for 14 years and still going on strong yeah we would like to understand what gap did you identify in the market of events that you that that divine schools africa thought we should have a school entirely dedicated to event management and events planning well uh back in 2007 when the director madam su murio ke came back from the us she was in the industry back in the us she had studied wedding planning and events management back in the us when she relocated back home and uh she uh tried to you know analyze because that's what there's a passion that she has that's what she wants she wanted to do and so she wanted to start her own company actually she wanted to start her own company a wedding planning company kind of thing because she started with gowns all right so uh she decided to uh a few of her friends approached her and asked can you please train us there was no training back then there was nothing in the events industry people just used to wake up one morning and decided you know what why don't i be a wedding planner why don't i be an event manager and so she did some training to some of the friends and over time the demand grew and many more people kept coming back to her for training and she thought oh my goodness why don't i just start a school instead of me starting my own company why don't i just start a school and train people because there's a lot of there's a need for training in this country in this sector so yeah that's how she decided to start a school for events for events planning and wedding planning as well you said that there's a need for people to learn how to to plan events and what have you so i'd like to understand your first event because i know you've planned an event before your first event can you tell us some of the pitfalls that you saw anyway we need training for some of these things can you please let us know some of the pitfalls that you encountered or are you so happening with uh with other people that you so bias no no no we need to we need people to go to school for this well um there are so many pitfalls that comes with planning an event because an event coming up in an event is a very very complex thing to do it involves a lot of you trying a lot of coordinating these very small but very very important aspects of our of our event so it's big so it needs you to be very well organized and to be to tell it's not easy to be organized it's an individual as well oh it's not easy it is it is not easy to be organized i know you're organizing other people that you don't even have like full control over like if it's the catering you're organizing them but they have their own structure if it's the pa if it's the k k if it's all these service providers you're organizing them and you have to balance them and every one of those aspects is very important we always say none of them is more important than the other they are all important i always say the an event is like a puzzle if one piece is missing or if one piece is misplaced then the whole picture doesn't it doesn't come out clear isn't it and and so it's it's been there there was people are not very well organized they were not able to coordinate all these things together if you have in everything else done you realize the cake is missing if you do this the music the music that there's you know the cd that you told the people to play is not playing you know they are waiting for the song to start it's not starting you know all of this and there was a lot of these organizations in events you know and it's really and and actually the clients were the ones that were suffering but so speaking the clients also didn't know their rights people didn't know their rights i mean the clients also don't know their rights we don't know their rights you know you are paying for something you should get that and that's why we even train people to do contracts yeah it's it's a legal binding document we do a contract you do this i pay you this so that you know everything is done correctly so that you don't disappoint one other okay yeah i like the fact that you said that managing events is like putting very many different puzzle pieces together so i'd like you to take us through the catalog of the courses that you offer because i noticed the courses that you offer both tie into all those different service providers even so deejaying somewhere there so i'd like to understand how you guys narrow down to this particular uh fields of concentration well uh when we started we basically did events management wedding planning events decor we know flower arrangement and gripping and all that but then over the years due to the market need and because we wanted to graduate entrepreneurs we decided to incorporate some of these courses like the small business course so that if you're training you in events management then how can you turn that that knowledge into a business all right so we we incorporated other courses to help you you know to graduate people who cause most of our graduates actually entrepreneurs out there so uh we also uh thought how else can we train people who are involved in the events so that whatever whenever an event happens divine schools if we were to go out and have an event as divine schools we will have everything we'll have a dj we'll have an mc we'll have you get it right so yeah we introduce courses like mc yes mc needs training you know very interesting most of us don't know that i know but but the basic of all this is passion we always tell you you're coming okay the first requirement is passion if you read our website the first need is a passion you have to have passion for that because you can give up any time because it's not that easy it's quite stressful exactly it's quite stressful so that's why we decided to come up with all these other courses like we have the dj we have mc we have the small business we introduced just the other day it's called the high school exit course it's like we train the young people on life skills things to do with decision making skills so you tell you the school tend to just diversify we just diversify as the market leads as the need arises we look around and think where else can we tap in since we're a vocational training college where else do we tap in how else do we help because we are trying to you know impact the society and that's why we're giving these courses that will give you hands on skills you can start your own business you know and most of our students usually unless the younger generation the 20s to the 25 we give them employment because we offer placements we help with job placements but most of our like i would say 75 percent of our students are people who are the working generation there are people who are already working someplace and so what they want is to have a plan b oh yes exactly they want to have a plan b so yeah and and that's why i feel like we need to talk to the young people to venture into this industry yeah you can start your business as young as 22 and you never know you you're creative because this industry is about creativity so if you tap in when you still young and creative and vibrant and energy needs a lot of energy if you tap in then you'll be able to grow because there's a lot of learning you know that happens in the if you don't learn you'll be left out which is interesting because i'd like to understand are you put people from different disciplines together what is it what is some unique information you can tell us as divine schools africa on the importance of teamwork what is it that you teach about teamwork in your school that we might we might not find anywhere else well uh being an event based uh called uh in school teamwork is essential i mean for you to come up with an event you have to have a spirit of teamwork otherwise if one person is lagging behind i mean you better drop that person and pick another one that will go with you because by the end of the day you've been there the probably the manager you are accountable to the client you know and so you have to always figure out a way on how to bring all those people together and also for the students because we have lawyers coming in we have doctors coming in we have marketers coming in all those people what the desire that brings them together the common denominator is they want to be entrepreneurs they have a passion they want to they have a passion for events and so that brings them together and so they leave their lawyers behind there they leave their doctor wherever behind and they come in as people who want to learn and and you know pursue the passion in events management and i can tell you for a fact that the events industry has a lot of money running and circulating around also there's a lot of money that's very important it's a multi-billion dollar i mean industry and that's why i would want to encourage the young people could you know tap into this tap into just position yourself in the right place and you will you will you will earn good money by the way interesting now we know we can earn some good money all right all right i'd like to understand doing event event management is a very stressful process so when it comes to dealing with pressure the pressure of meeting deadlines and what what words can you give to those who are already doing it out there and those who intend to join in and they are not prepared for the amount of pressure how do they deal how do you deal with the pressure what what what do you tell your students when it comes to handling the pressure oh well um yes you are very right but the events industry is a high pressure job i mean pressure for you know attaining your expectations of the client there's a pressure of coordinating and all that and actually sometimes you know sometimes the client will go and google something what's trending in the events you know and and get something from the us of a wedding that happened of some song called somewhere and they bring me that photo on their on their phone and they tell me you know what this is the theme i want this is the color i want this is the texture you know the texture you have to to check out so that you tell what texture it's on the phone and then like this is the texture i want so there's all those things and by the end of the day it's for you to satisfy this client it doesn't matter what you know the expectations it's it's up to you to satisfy those it's always we train them on how to bring down the client's expectations and yes that is beautiful but we can also do it this way and this will also be equally beautiful and all that so basically uh we we teach them how to also uh giving in because it's very time consuming i mean it takes around 200 hours on average to come up with an event and i'd have success for one for that matter so give it enough time and then sit down and organize yourself as in what sit down and what do i need for this event who do i need to bring on board all right and who you want to bring on board should be a person who you know will deliver because if they don't deliver then that means you're also losing because if the cake person will deliver the cake this client won't go to the cake person the person the you know the client will come to you and ask you why is my cake so it's all in the organization if you're organized you'll you'll take a lot out of that pressure plan plan plan plan plan plan plan that's not what i say yeah okay very interesting um now this is the season when people tend to have a lot of events and a lot of functions it's christmas time new year's is still is pipping we're almost in 2019 and for example i'm at home and i want to have a small get together of about maybe 15 to to 10 people just in my place can you take us through the process if i hire you as an event planner for that event what will you what will we do first we'll we start with a budget how will we start first of all uh what happens is you first of all have to have a meeting with the client i need to come to you guys and ask you what do you have in mind what do you want what what what picture do you have in mind for the event all right and then now we go to the logistics we now look at if it's a cake what kind of cake do you want if it's the theme do you need to decorate if it's the house do you need decorated and i will show you probably because some of the clients are blank they don't know what they want so for such clients you go with like a catalog of options yes options so that they able to select and say this is what i want this and then you advise them oh baby because of your wall color and now this one won't work you know you also advise this client let them know let give them the best you know let them look and say this is the best that i've ever heard so it's basically first of all understanding what you want from me and then i tell you what i can offer and i also tell we also tell our students if you cannot do it say you cannot ah don't go and pretend that please if you cannot if you if you cannot do it just say plainly with your health health high i cannot do it thank you so much for wanting to give but i cannot do it because you don't disappoint it's better be honest than disappointing a client because i'm telling you they will go to social media and put you in bias be aware it's crazy so it's good to just sit back and say you know what that i cannot handle don't bite more than you can chew right just do things that you're able to so it'll be understanding what you want and then we walk every step of that event with you all right this is what we want this is the cake this is the decor that you want and now we go to the budgeting and the budget is always good to ask the client what's your budget like what's your budget like and then you're able to now go backwards and see now if you budget like this we are open for this cake then is it okay if you go for this other cake it's not a bad cake it's just that it's this and this and it's according to your budget exactly exactly exactly but i have come to with the growth in the industry people are willing to pay more i'm telling you people are willing to pay the ever-increasing fee as long as you deliver will you deliver that's the question it will you deliver very interesting i like the fact that you said there are people who are very willing to pay but at the same time the individuals most of the individuals that are willing to pay very high backs are very demanding clients very demanding so how do you deal with a very difficult client for example like i've seen i've been seeing some shows like bright zilla and we have these brides who want their things done in a specific way and they can be bullies and the pressure also gets to them so how do you deal with a very difficult client well um i would say uh it's it's first of all before you determine whether clients is difficult the difficulty comes when they're given so hard like some of those things some of these things you even need to import them i mean they are not even available locally and that's why for an event planner you have to be well connected know your market nowhere to get what you know so that you don't find so many because you find if you know well connected all your customers will be difficult customers because you don't know where to get what they want you get it so all your clients will be difficult you don't know where yes if i come and say i want this thing and you don't know where to get it from i mean i'll be a difficult customer isn't it yes yeah so um it's about also knowing where to get things for the clients but as i said before if you know at the top of it i cannot do this watch another client or refer them refer them to yes refer them to another person they oh you know what i cannot do it but hey i can refer you to this and this person i know they can do it all right so um difficult clients are always there all right and that's why we train customer care and how stress management emotional intelligence those are the kind of small things that we teach our our students oh eq you also have to do that yeah we help because we want because we we've been in the market we understand you know what what happens so when we want to send you out we don't want you to get them you know you're shocked oh my goodness everything you know it's hitting you like yeah you thought you knew what you were doing but then the emotional part just takes itself i'm telling you i'm telling you it becomes too much so i think it's about understanding the client and being very honest to the client this is what you want i understand but this and this and this cannot be done but we can offer this and this and but if you can do it tell them well it will be your budget will have to increase if i am to do this for you if i'm to give you this texture your budget has to increase because i'll have to impart them you know i have to import them or have to probably buy them at a higher price and so on and so just it's about making the reason why the customer is difficult because you guys have not understood each other oh yes there's chemistry there's some chemistry there's still some gaps but if you're able to know how to fill in those gaps they will not be as difficult as but if you cannot do it as i say just don't do it don't disappoint a client you know in events we say there's never a second chance to if it's a person's wedding i mean that's the first time that we're going to and the last time they're going to have that wedding exactly yeah so it's not flawless it's a failure i mean if you don't if you don't deliver in the first place we would never get a second chance so if you cannot do it same i cannot do it refer them to someone else or if you need extra you know don't and again i say in events in that you cannot be it's not a one-man show you have to work with other people if you feel this i cannot do along it's okay for you to reach out to your competitor yes your competitor and ask them to come on board there's this big event that i have and i don't think i have the capacity to do it so would you mind coming on board and us doing it together as long as you have a contract definitely contracts are important yes they might have some things in paper the legal framework i'm telling you if you don't do that and you have used your money and all sorts of things and your time and your time and telling me so you you have to as long as there's an agreement and of course maybe a past you know a working experience with them you ask them to come on board and help you because by the end of the day if the client is happy when they have another event who they come to that's true exactly they'll still come to you so you should have continued business so it's about delivering i like the fact that you've said that so long as the job is done you don't even fear approaching your competitor so long as you do a good job interesting so how do you measure the success of an event how do you say this event was a success and this one was not really a success what are some of the aspects that you look for when it comes to measuring the success well i would say if for an event to be a success it means you translated you very well translated the customer's expectations into the event so if i if a client says i like this if you see a bright smiling or a long you know that's a wedding plan i would know that the client is happy but also there's something we encourage after the event always go back to the client ask them what did you think do an assessment yes i do an assessment what do you think um did i do a good job and so on and so forth i would recommend and so on and so forth so it's always good to do that so for for an event to be called success it's about is the client happy because by the end of the day you gave me the job you know and you came with your expectations why expectations met you know are you happy that's how you tell it but and even it was well if it's for example big events where you having people coming on board and so on are they contented and if they are then your event was a success because i see even some events i see there's a book where they allow people to write comments of what they thought about the event so i think you're right maybe the assessments do come through okay when it lets me go to something a bit more general when it comes to the government and the support for this particular industry what more can be done when it comes to event is it whether it's legally what more can the government do to make it easier for people to get into event planning well i think the events industry is one of those industries where the government has has put like no hand in exactly its freelance kind of and i think especially for the training part of the of the events industry the government should come in and help in curriculum development and invest in that so that we because if you go to other countries i mean it's a serious it's a serious industry i'm telling you it's a profession just like a lawyer doctor events management and wedding planner it's a profession all right and so the government should come in and help with the curriculum development and all that and the resources but another thing is also for us people in the industry is about mentorship i mean there's no there's lack of mentorship and that's where you see the young people are not so and if the young people in the industry they're employed you know they are the errands people you know running up and down right and center of the people who young people who are in the industry work as business owners but most of them are employed and so we need mentorship so that i always say you if you're working for in an event company all right maybe you're the one who's been in the tense i mean it's a pity five years and you're still there man say move save move out start your own company and off a tent you're already a profession in that i mean you will not get comfortable don't get comfortable i mean the the cake is big everyone will get to share and it's expanding the industry is how many events do you know are happening this weekend for example so many so many and i know people just wake up and decide uh let me start an event and call it and dab it you know da da da da da da you know you you give it a funny name and then you you give it to a particular hotel and you tell them i'll have this event i'll charge five g's you know for every you make money that's true yes you just need to get personal influence to come over and give us talk you know and and people make money out of that so the event industry has a lot of money and it has a lot of money and a lot of potential young people to come on board and tap because they have the energy and very creative interesting i like that so um if they want to find you on social media if they would like to find more of divine schools africa where can they get you online well we are on facebook divine schools africa the same for twitter the same for instagram divine schools africa schools with an s yeah divine schools africa on all our handles yeah so if i plan to join this school in 2019 which when is your intakes and uh yes so uh we already receiving applications for the january 2019 uh enrollment so uh you can visit our website you can also do registration on our website uh you can also uh you know we have numbers you can also call you can come visit us we are at westlands or mini house second floor west wing so yeah great thank you so much for coming to studio today thank you so much for having me yes thank you so much for giving us that vast knowledge when it comes to event planning yeah you guys don't wake up in the morning and just plan events and now when you see events happening you know a lot of work has gone into it so let us know about how you're celebrating your events this festive season and make sure you let us know and if you do if you have an interest in going to school and getting some training make sure you do catch up with them so and i'd be very unfair if i did not allow you to wish the white to five four family a merry christmas okay um to all our viewers that are trained thank you for tuning in to my two five four and i want to wish you a merry christmas and a fabulous successful 2019 and may you pursue your dreams and your visions in 2019 hey interesting however i have been so restricted instructions further instructions have come in and they said you must sing for me sing that one okay uh i don't have a great voice like the best like me we wish you a merry christmas we wish you a merry christmas we wish you a merry christmas and a happy new year you said you have a bad version but you sound so good all right don't go anywhere very most of us is coming up with some more of why in the morning my name is hill da wa baby don't go anywhere