 Yes, welcome back to entrepreneurship Tuesday. This is our second segment of the special. Thanks to Alex for that informative interview With the graffiti art. I go by the name of by Moses or it's by more Navy social media platform And it's always a pleasure It's time for the moment of truth and today I have something special for the Queens out there You know, I have a special spot in my head for the Queens So in studio with me is Meriwambui and she's the chair Huh? Mary with only rather she's the share of women in business All right, I'm so very sorry for that miss But your camera is number four if I missed anything in the intro anything in your credentials I give you a chance to see right. Oh My goodness, you want me to introduce myself? Mary Moudoni I am in business I run a school called St. Petroc premium school. I share the caucus for the women in business Which I'm very passionate about empowering women left right and center I'm the vice chair of Kirinaga investment and development authority Board that deals with Investments I'm the devolution warrior for 2017 voted Through the council Yes, they said voted and awarded I've sat in several boards one in the recent the national Chamber of Commerce board national board the tobacco control board. We are the ones who stopped you from smoking Okay So let me keep that Well, it's a good thing it's a good thing to the side sometimes people need some guidance I'm a mother. I have four children and my very good husband Jason and I love doing business. You love doing business. I love mentoring. I love winning. I Just love success. You love success and you definitely love helping other people to win as well. Yes Yes I Go with the quote that when you work together you go really far all right when you walk alone You get tired along the way and you can almost collapse Now you get my point why I wanted you to introduce yourself. There's no way I could have gotten all of that But anyway, the reason we're here today We're going to be talking about women in business and the women in business in Kenya in particular and the opportunities that life of them After devolution after the promulgation of the new constitution. All right So as a woman in business first, do you think the environment is conducive for a woman today to the business in Hmm Absolutely, we've moved steps and you can see from the items, but you move from Number 156. We are now. It's I think number 50. Hey, you know So globally we have really taken strides Locally, we are taking strides this week. This is the Kenya trade book If you want to you can go to KSA. See there's a lot to learn from there So really the environment is right and We are moving steps every other day Although you will not miss those bottlenecks, but we are human beings. All right, we keep moving we keep changing the Dynamism Kaisen every other what a time to be alive So the women in business is registered as an organization in this country whose brainchild was this this is a brainchild of myself and other women who felt that This needs to have a platform for networking for women. And I say we have a Bible That you carry personally when I speak to the women every now and then and I talk about three m's Triple m's. I talk about money. I talk about markets and I talk about mentorship The other pillar would be policy and advocacy. Why these three? Because any person who is doing business whether it is a passion social Spiritual or inheritance inheritance. It's about money Money is more deep at the end of the day. You want to make some Finances you want to make some little money to ensure that you you're keeping to You have food you have basic needs, you know, even that my mother who is selling She wants to make a hundred two hundred one thousand and grow it tomorrow and grow it more, you see So we have to educate Women the youth or the special groups to ensure that they are taking this to another level You know that you do not start as a name is a me and at the end of the day in After five years, you still there You have to create that impact to ensure that you move to another level then Markets It is the market that you get that brings the money home When you keep expanding your markets, you keep getting more money. You see when you get networked You see when you introduce for instance, you go to the count is introduced the intercounty trade You're introducing greater markets for these people for the women 16.5 million Kenyans are SME's More of them are women. You see So that means of the bigger number of the people percentage of the business people in Kenya today Are women and the youth so you cannot ignore this segment and say that You you do not have the market we have 49 million That is market for your product already already. That's market for your products before you even go to Uganda You have 49 million or Tanzania. Oh Tanzania, huh? And you know, I wish you in Tanzania But yes, I told you a chopper Then after markets you have mentors There are those people you admire Today you have young men and women who follow you Religiously because they believe you have something that gives keeps them moving. They believe in you They have those traits that they have they feel that this guy has I would want to be him So you have those mentors also in business. Yeah, there are those people you look up to, you know, I keep Dreaming also Maybe one day my business will grow to like the bid course, you know, like the carotches Big business billionaires, you know the corporate all we all have those dreams Yeah, even me at my level at my SME level. I'm still dreaming that I'm also going to be there one day The people are the boat of the startups. They are dreaming. They can be me one day Yeah, so there's always somebody to look up to it It is for us now to work on that mentoring line to ensure that our youths and women have risen to that level. Why? Why women and this I'll be very I'm very fond about it Because the challenges Fund are very fun. Oh, that the challenges that women go through in business and the youths are so many vis-a-vis Yeah, any other gender number two most of the businesses that women have started Especially when we didn't have the bill you can bring it register a company alone We start with our partners So you find that when the police there's a policy discussion Me I'll be left in the shop and my husband will go to state house If you sing so so at the end of the day, I will not Network myself or I'll not have that Platform to get to know what happens beyond Yeah, and that's why you realize most businesses collapse when one partner dies They don't Sometimes they don't progress because one was an instruction They were not those too much dependence on one person on one person So we would want to encourage that everybody who is doing business Be at the same playing level playground Playing the same level so that you're able to give your output To give your best, you know Talk about impact Talk about sustainability Talk about visibility Those three things are the key drivers to any woman or any youth who is willing to do business in Kenya today Wonderful. We have Madam Mary in studio with us white firefighter on Twitter, white firefighter on the switch on on Instagram White firefighter on Facebook is a way to interact with us. You've used your comments and your questions are invited. All right, so talking about women in business and One thing that stood out for me was the mentorship part people think mentorship I have to go and listen to a motivational speaker somewhere and they'll have insight What are some of the ways people can get mentored at home? Well I talked about three things let me go back to that impact sustainability and visibility These are critical areas which people look up to People want to impact on whatever business you want it to be big you want people to talk about your business, you know You want to touch lives you want to touch lives You want your business to be sustained? And sustainability goes into financial flows How are you getting money to to to to start up another business or a franchise a branch, you know and Visibility who knows about your business? What are you doing to get your business out? Those three things gets you the mentors Because if you want to look at impact look at somebody who has done a business that has impacted lives Not just anybody because he has millions. I don't know what business he does You must know that business. What how has it impacted lives? So before you look at the money or the net worth look at the business Yeah, before you look at what the kind of money he has I mean a mentor is not just the person who has money A mentor is that one person who can add value to your business. It could even be your peer Yeah, could be your mentor a mentor is that one person who can work with you and tell you Don't go this route Go this route and somebody who is also interested in what you're doing But not very many people will get interested in what you're doing. You have to show them what you can do a Mentor is somebody who can help you see The future in terms of sustainability Out of the SMEs that start businesses today At the birth of the third The third year of their birthdays the business is a collapsing Because of lack of skills on how to move forward You need a mentor that gets to a point where the business has to grow now. It just goes Naturally, yeah, the third year is where you struggle so much because the honeymoon is over Yeah You realize oh have to pay taxes and more taxes Have to pay employees and more have to get a wider market Oh, yes a wider market and you start grumbling with everything and nothing How many people how many youths do you meet in town and they tell you I've heard that so many times Do you say that And then You will never It's about sustainability of your business. What skills you have to ensure that the business is sustainable And that comes through from the main to show this ability I want to finish this because it's very key and I've just said this this point that I have very many of the women Who'll call me up and tell me have the bags now. They've just landed Have the watches they've just landed. I have their shoes. They've just landed. I buy so many of them But how long can I buy from you? I'm your client. How long can you can I sustain you? For a very short time. So you need visibility to ensure that you have a wider market To ensure that you keep net working need more people. That's the only way You can get make it and this is where Policy and advocacy comes in especially the policies that are being formulated at the council level What are the mce's? Formulating what bills are they passing that are going to be pro the woman and the youth in terms of trading Intercounted trading. How can Kirinaga and Yuri trade without a lot of says being collected along Because that kills business. Yeah, a lot of taxes you you you you've just bought a canter. He wants to transport Bananas from eru to Nairobi by the time you get to Nairobi. My friend the cost of that So the counties are also interdependent. Yeah, they depend on each other for business to be should depend on each other For business and the legislation the laws that are being passed must be interlinked into that Yes, so that we as the We become the beneficiaries of this thing of the system and all this devolution thing So for mentorship the three things to look at visibility Impact sustainability and sustainability Visibility impact and sustainability All right, so these things if you look at them These are the best ways to get your mentors if the businesses have These three things and you don't have to get a mentor on one on one I mean, I've told you you could even have a mentor who is your peer The person who you work with on an everyday business. Yeah, those things that they tell you not just somebody who will call you so That you can go and use what you've already made And now you can even get them on Facebook and Instagram and social media and just I mean the world is a global market today. All right. Yes All right moving forward For the Queens, it's very challenging. We are still We're still African. I know this term is cliche, but we are African and cultures still we still bound to culture and women are the most oppressed when it comes to Cultural issues you find that women are scared of getting into business because they have scared It might break the family because men tend to be intimidated of women who are making something of their own How do you manage to empower these women and still not break? Families because you're under risk Two things I lead from the front. I'm a great supporter of Husband children as I've told you So I'm a great supporter of a family unit. That is where your strength comes from every day When I came here, I told my husband. I'm going to the station He was almost telling me, okay, can we discuss what are you going to say? The support system comes from the family unit But the support system has to come for the yes, so you have to agree on On how much you will stretch? Yeah, you agree. This is how much we will stretch, you know And that helps you and gives you the strength because when you move from one step to the other then the encouragement must come number two Our culture our cultural values are anchored in the Constitution It is very hard to do away with it You will not say we are going to change them a size Today we can't say we are going to do that in one day you can't and why am I saying it's anchored in the constitution with the devolved systems of Government devolution you have the one of the most powerful leaders in the in the villages The word who is the mce? Very powerful who is elected from the same community You do not expect this person to change overnight simply because he has become a leader Yeah, so this drives us into legislation of values and also capacity building into the women and the youth and So to speak the special groups If you have to move forward if the constitution Talks about our cultures Then you are the one to go forward and revive all those positions So that you get to the table and change the legislation and represent the people represent the women represent the youth represent the pwgs from inside on the table so otherwise we might We might Complain too much from the periphery and it won't change much because that's our constitution Alright, so we need women in the legislative houses for things to change Women is MPs Mca's I mean women as senators women as governors and maybe even a woman president sometime in the future We have a picture on screen here and maybe you can paint the picture for us in one Okay, it's in the open really This is a part of the women in business We were in support of the beyond zero campaign Simply because of one thing that the initiative Excellency has started really it's something to touch lives in a deeper way One the women in the market are the ones who are suffering from these issues. They are suffering from face They are suffering from February they are suffering from all those kinds of diseases and it'll take one person like her We start the initiative and instead of me starting another one our brother support her, you know with because you're stronger together Yes, we are stronger together. We can walk far together and our promise is because we have women trainers They will give their services for free to train on the women on the cleanliness in the market You know talk to them about health issues because some of these diseases come with issues to do with the And clean environment talk to county governments to ensure that their markets and the environments where most more women are trading are clean and and also to Ensure that they they are taking insurance like NHIR My sister died of cancer She did not even have an insurance that really touched me. You know, it's painful. It's really painful So affordability of the same before we even say it is expensive Can we first start and then we can go to negotiate him on the policy was To ensure that the government Is also a very important pillar when it comes to women in business every sector is Extremely important. Yes. That's why you have decided to partner to work or support. Yes I know most people would wonder, okay What does health have to do with women in business? It is a key factor if I'm sick today I'm not able to go to the market I'm not able to get the money that I buy the milk with Wonderful, so it is a matter of us taking care of ourselves to remain healthy if I was sick today I wouldn't be here this morning. So health is number one key health is key Yes, thank you very much for sharing that with us. I thank this excellency because that's a pillar among the four pillars. All right. Yeah, and yes Thank you very much for whatever you're doing for the women and empowering them and teaching them all these things the next big question is When it comes to procurement or government procurements, we had that 30 percent You had or you know, okay We know it's public knowledge It's public knowledge that 30 percent should be allocated to the women and their youth Yes, and customs with disability and persons with disability. All right So you don't find so many women knowing about this and so many youth youths knowing about this. So maybe before we talk about How the knowledge should be taken to the people. What are some of the procedures? somebody who's watching us right now and has Things or goods they can sell to some of these government organizations and now we have the devolved government as well We have the county governments. They can buy things from their citizens. What are the procedures of getting some of these procurements or tenders? first and foremost We are running a program project right now called Women in Business Machine Learning and basically what I am we are Pushing on is to ensure that women are moving from informal businesses to formal Registering your company or your business is very important for you to benefit for any Anything in the government because how are they going to identify you if you're not registered One of them registering is the first step Thinking of what you want to do you want to supply you want to do construction because all that is there Yeah, so register your businesses know when they that the tenders are out Yeah, keep checking from the offices Then when the tenders are out make sure you buy the tender papers So the tenders will never be given to people without Registered businesses how now to never happen. So the first thing is formalize your business register the business That is when you You you're able that's a rallying call you must formalize your business And if you're not able if you're looking at a Tender worth one million and you know you're a young person or a woman You cannot afford that one million and get into a group Register something when you're a group. Yeah register a company when you're 10 of you Yeah, register when you're 20 of you and make sure that you you you're compliant Compliance is very key Have you been have your tax have your ZR 12 have you have all that Documentation in its construction. Yeah, those documents that you need that like the national construction authority certificates You know The the PWD the ACP or certificate is mandatory if you have to go through the 30% So those are some of the Documentations and compliance certificates that you require then you need to know that the tender is Is out most of the counties and most of the government institutions. They'll always put it in the papers They'll always put it in their website. They'll always so it's up to you Go to their websites go to their papers. Go check Tenders are not going to come even even in some of the organizations like in the groups We have what's up groups for women in business and the youths. We usually post them there The tenders we we are always very keen. They are those people who are actually working hard 24-7 to just ensure the information is out there One key thing when you When you tender Ensure that you take it back in time When the tender is being opened, please be there. Don't say I Pushed my papers and I left them there then you just hear so and so was given the tender then you start complaining So aggression is also another key factor. Where are you? Go and stand there and if you really think that they have unfairly Being awarded that you have the authority to query and you have institutions like PPO in where you can Write to them or go to the institution and and and oppose what has been done and there are also other institutions that that They if you think it is a corruption thing that is the anti-corruption You can't talk to this the police there are enough institutions where you can take your problems Sorry, but when you stand out there and you start shouting who is gonna hear? Yeah, so you have to also play your part play your part and your part is formalizing your business Making sure you look out for the tenders and you apply for them and be there when they're being and I am not saying that The government is a clean slate. They have their shares of Challenges, which we all know So it's also up to us who have who are in organizations like women in business to ensure that we advocate for these issues In a better manner because advocacy does not mean fighting It's about sitting on the table and agreeing and telling them Hey The Constitution says this and this is what you guys done and we should do this Moving forward, that's our advocacy is one of the pillars for women in business Why to fight for channel on Twitter white for for underscore channel on Instagram and why to fight for on Facebook? You've used your comments and your questions are invited. Please direct them to me or a guest madam Mary the chairman of women in business as we wrap this up. Yes, so we have so many motivational speakers Muscarading or moving around and telling people are if you want to make it in business You have to do this do this do that and that's but you don't find them owning even a business But you are different in this case. You run your own school. That is Saint-Petersburg primary school and the motto is character attitude and excellence. So maybe you can tell us How did this start and when did this that well first and foremost, I don't even know whether I'm on motivation But people are they motivated by you And I think people get motivated in process. I I talk from experience I don't talk outside what I have not done and all these things that I'm talking about is what I have gone through I've seen myself going through the procurement procedures. I've seen myself Having not been paid for that job, which is a very that's why I told you the government has its share You had the president the other day giving an order executive order Out the payments for suppliers. I mean, that's that's the thing that has killed the businesses Yeah, and most people have not been paid for what they have already supplied. So I'm back to Saint-Petersburg bringer school It's one of the greatest school in Kenya, too And I tried in saying that we are not shy about Molding the children and bringing them up in the best character the best attitude excellence because those are key We've seen children who are going through trauma because of parents separation kids going through trauma because of upbringing You know and that really can be shaped in school in collaboration Education learning is about being in school and learning your books and Passing your grades, but education is a tripartite. It's about the child a willing child a Supporting parent and a working institution It's a tripartite. It can't work without those three Yeah, we'll be sell supporting child supporting parents and Working institution. All right. So so really Saint-Petersburg stands for that Education we don't just learn we get educated and the starting of that is You have to see that we are compliant with every other section compliant including the Competence-based curriculum our teachers are very compliant that was part of our intro today and Because we are kind of running out of time and we saw the CS of education Professor McGaugh talking to the To to the NAT officials not to politicize this process So you say you're compliant to the to the new system that is trying to be that is being introduced All right. So one of the complains the nuts complains were that the training process or for teachers is not and there's a lot of incompetence when it comes to the training and The government is not is not doing enough as much as they should be doing and I'm guessing you get your teachers from the same Institutions that not got their teachers from so what is different as you take in your teachers? You know as human beings sometimes when you point at somebody you must look at the four fingers pointing at you So what are you doing to ensure that it is working? This is a new system Everybody including the government. So why are you blaming the government and not doing you and we are all about progress And we are all about success. We are all about progress. They are in-house for me. I mean the private sector and Most of the time you find that we have trainings for the teachers Specifically and the government is doing the same by the week. It's not just happening in the private sector We are actually copying from what the government has the government makes the template Yes, and then you and then we push it. It's how fast you do it You see so in in in essence I would really say that this requires for the NAT officials to also show What is it that they are doing to ensure that the teachers are compliant if the government has Created a seminar something and you find some teachers have failed to go. Is it still the government? Yeah, it is you the NAT who should be mobilizing your teachers to get compliant After all this is a personal gain Yeah, when I am compliant or when when I have the skills for the CBC It is me who is getting if I move from one school to the other I don't think I'll leave that so we should not politicize this at the expense of the kid of the children Even anything I have seen it assisting the kids more these days even my children who are in class 3 I do the homework with them because they will come with projects. I had the one projector I was in college I But you agree with this new system for sure All right, so on our Facebook we append a question today What is one of the weirdest things you have seen somebody do to make money something that you saw and said wow How can somebody make money from this? I wish I thought of this I Think I haven't come across Opposting things on Instagram The bloggers I mean, I've just said the world is becoming a global Things are happening so fast and that's where we are moving really if you were a Vlogger or blogger or whatever. Yeah, I mean It's up to you. It's your passion. All right Find women on business on social media is just in case they'd like to be part of the movement Yes, your camera is number four. Sorry. How can they find women? Women in business Kenya on Facebook women in business Kenya on Instagram and at W. I V Kenya on Twitter. All right at mine Morning we appreciate you so much for what you're doing for the women. I've enjoyed to the country at last Yes, you've come to the end of this Alex. Tell us something light up for you. Don't go nowhere. Don't touch that down