 We are talking about events management. We are just trying to see probably for people in the events industry how as COVID-19 affected their businesses, how have they still managed to make sure that they are paying their bills, they are taking care of themselves and also taking care of their families. Probably for a future pandemic or a future tough time like today, how are they planning to re-strategize and make sure that they are not as affected as they have been affected. Now we also try to look at the fields and challenges that are in the events industry and to help us talk about this tonight we have Lady Obura who is an events coordinator and founder of the LeJ events. Thank you very much Lady Obura for being with us tonight. Talk to us across our social media platforms, contribute on the discussion that you have in tonight and Y254 channel you can also reach me at Patricia Mugyoki. Welcome Lady Obura. Welcome to Y254. Welcome to business Tuesday. The first question I would like to ask is because as I was interacting with you before the show I noticed that you studied communication and how did you find yourself in the events industry and how long have you been there? Well, as you mentioned, yes I studied communication in Deista and Deista is quite broad so you get to do very many courses. So in my third year I did a course in PR where we were made to do a whole assignment on events. So in my group my group was the best then I noticed maybe I do have something in this. When my son turned one I did his whole event. I coordinated getting things from different people. I never used one company. I would just Google or go on Facebook. I see this one has a castle. This one maybe has this venue. So when all my guests came they asked me who was the planner behind it. Then I realized that actually I didn't have a talent in it. So three months after his party I legally opened a company. So how long have you now been in the events business? I've been in the industry. The company has existed for exactly seven years but has had business for six years. Because the first one year of business I did not have a single client. So when we talk about events management for someone who is watching us tonight all they see is they get to walk into a reception that is very beautiful. The colors and the themes are so well coordinated. What does it entail when we talk about events management? Well events is glamour. You have to have a niche for good things. You have to be very meticulous. By meticulous I mean you have to be detailed. You have to understand that why is this petal sideways? Why is this vase not like the other vases? Apart from all that, are you a people's person? Are you able to walk into a room and relate with people? Are you able to see their energies and feel it? Are you patient? Because as an event planner you really have to be patient because you're dealing with people. It's people who are hiring you for the event. Also you have to have the ability to just be calm because there's a lot of pressure. Clients have a lot of pressure. They want you to do this, do that at this time. So if you're equally a very impatient person and not calm, it can't work because you're going to clash with your client. So even if you have the niche and the eye for good things and you're not a people person, you're not calm, you're not relatable to others, it can't work. You've mentioned that you need to be calm. You also need to be patient. Have you had moments where a client told you, I want this and you can clearly see whatever it is that this client wants and so so much wants does not really work. It's not going to be perfect. So how do you communicate with your clients to try and show them I really appreciate your thoughts and your opinions. But for me to give you the best event, you also have to let me in as an event planner. In 2018 I had a client. I'll never forget her and her husband because they paid me the best. But one they called me last minute, which we do take. And the things she wanted with all due respect had to be imported, some of them. Was she paying well? Yes, but she was not understanding. And the beauty about the event business is that we all work together. That's why you have suppliers, coordinators. Because if I don't have this castle, I'll call this other company. If I don't have this minder, we work together. All of them are telling me I'm sorry, but these things have to come in. So with such clients, you have to reach down below the level, meet with them on a face-to-face level and give them a different alternative that would work as best as what they want. Sometimes even if it means losing a profit margin or a certain amount of money, it's best because you want to stay in the business. But that's why you say you have to be very calm and patient because clients are very demanding. We have had COVID since much, which means we've not been able. People are just starting to have events now. And these events are not events. You can say planning for an event now in 2020 is the same as you were planning for events in 2019. So how has this probably affected your business and how have you managed to still stay afloat with that? Well, in terms of being affected, there's no money. And I think, okay, there's no money for everybody. But you see for us in events, we depend on you people to hire us to feed us. So there's been no money because everybody is very afraid. We have to take care of themselves, their families, no social gatherings and everything. However, we've had to take very, very stern precautions which is even making most of our clients not want to have us. In the sense that now for you to get a venue, before you just go to a restaurant and say, hey, on Saturday I'm having 100 guests birthday party. Now you have to get a permit. Getting a permit is you as the event planner. You get the permit, you go to the station or the chief of that area, it has to be written down. After that we have to list down our suppliers and get permits for them. Before we didn't have to go through all that. Then there's this restriction of number of people. We are Kenyans, we are Africans. A party of 50, everybody wants to bring a plus one. Nowadays there's nothing like plus one. It is like if it's 50, it has to be 50. Maybe it's even tough for you as an event planner to be at the entrance of an event saying, excuse me, your name is not on this list. It gives you a certain image because your clients won't do that. They will make you do that. So you are carrying that image. Apart from that, we've also had to deal with masks which is tough because when people are eating you're just there looking at them. You're always sanitizing people. You go around the whole event you're sanitizing and if it's somebody's house a week before the event they have to sanitize the whole house, fumigate it and then on the day of the event we as the planners have to sanitize the whole house. So for some people as much as they may have the funds to hire you when they think about the whole process they don't think it's worth it. So it has really brought business right behind for us. Okay. When we talk about events we see you go to an event and you're amazed and really you fall in love with how that work has been done and you go to a different event and you're like, okay, what happened here? So what makes a client choose company A and company B and this is for people watching us tonight and they're thinking about starting an events company. When they are planning an event what are they supposed to consider to make sure that every other time they get referrals clients will always keep on knocking at the door. Referrals it all goes to customer service. Do you know there's a reason as to why somebody would rather do KFC and not maybe Galitos yet one is more expensive sometimes it's just the customer service. How you speak to your client how you relate to them if your meeting is at 8 as a planner be there by 7.45 if you tell a client the cake will be there this time let the cake be there if there's going to be a delay communicate do you know I've realized that the clients would rather spend more because of how you communicate to them people really fall in love with personal interpersonal relationships it's always not all about money it's about how you package yourself in this industry packaging is the most is the strongest asset that's what I'll tell anybody who wants to try this just packaging the money will come later and like I said earlier be a people person your attitude, your pain, your drama leave it at home when you're meeting your client paint your face for that 30 minute meeting for the wedding paint your face for the child's birthday paint your face at the end of the day go home and deal with your drama branding in events management what are people supposed to make sure they follow or is in their branding packages I talked about this with three fellow event planners before coming branding is so personal it goes with who you are for instance like for me when I began it was basically children because it's my son who inspired me to be a party planner so for me my branding was themed parties for my clients is themed from everything you eat see like it's beautifully themed for others maybe they want for this wedding and they fell in love with the decor and then they decide for me it's just weddings so when it comes to branding it's all about your ideologies and what you think and feel it's very different so if anybody wants to start and they're thinking about their brand think about when you're thinking about events what do you want are you able to be in the whole field where you can do croreshares and weddings bridal showers bachela parties or are you just into this themed sector so branding really just comes from the heart because it's very personal what has been your lowest moment or your lowest experience or event as for the years that you've been in business my last moment was when usually a client pays you 75% for booking purposes and then we do the setup after the setup there's a difference between planning an event and coordinating basically in my company we plan and coordinate coordinating means I'm there with you from morning to evening I run your errands I make sure food is there on time all that so for this client they basically only wanted planning they gave the 75% well however on the day of the event were very sketchy and I had another setup to go to so because they have guests again you have to be respectful I said okay sir after your event kindly send the balance and until today my client is still sending the balance and you see I have a team and that's none of their business I have to pay them so with that event I had to use money from my pocket to secure my team until date I'm not happy these are some of the challenges that I believe people get to face with work and everything as you wind up would like you to talk about mentorship did you have someone who probably mentored you as you were starting this and have you considered probably mentoring people who are willing of who have shown interest to join the events industry my first mentor fun park event isrini I had her for my son's first birthday like she helped me she was a part of those people I collected but she stood by me that day and we clicked and she took me through everything from event deco she taught me how to arrange everything then three years later I met Clara of dream reality and she taught me how to do the invoices, the crediting the fund so you really need mentors and the beauty about this field is that it's so big there are so many people in this field we all need each other when I one day want to do this yes when I get into weddings I would like to actually have people to mentor thank you very much our time is actually finished but it was a really nice having you and I believe that people have been able to learn something and if you're hoping to start an event an event company I'm sure that you've taken one or two thank you very much for joining us my name is Patricia Moriuki we meet again tomorrow as we talk about gender roles and the society thank you very much have yourselves a very good night