 True. So joining me is Emma Misharia, founder of EM Consulting and Lead Consultant. She'll be taking us through all matters pertaining branding when it comes to beer, when it comes to marketing, when it comes to communication consultant. We will know all about those stuffs and differences and how effective they are. So hi, Emma. Hi. Allow me to call you by your first name if that's allowed. That's allowed. Thank you for creating time to be with us. Thank you. All right. I hope I've not missed any of your titles. No, they're not that many. Are you sure? I'm a consultant. All right. That's it. Okay. So, Emma, follow me to go back to some of the things that I've read from your website that is EM Consulting. One thing that came across to me is that you love to turn ideas into very good businesses. Yes. I love that. Can you tell us more about that? So basically, how even the business started was I was still employed, but after work in my free time, I'd spend a lot of time in entrepreneurship spaces and I'd end up having conversations with my friends who were running businesses. So you'd find someone has just launched a new app, but it's a cool idea. They developed it and then. So that's sort of how the business was born. So we take your ideas and we grow them. We get more people to see them because the big belief that I have as someone in communications and marketing is that the reason a lot of our businesses don't grow is because of marketing because when you ask a lot of entrepreneurs, they have the products, they have the ideas, they can tell you what money they spent on what. But the one thing they all miss is marketing. And it's very important because if you don't market, you don't get sales. So we started the business with just how can we fix that for entrepreneurs. So prior to EM consulting, what was Emma doing? I was on the career ladder, still within PR. I had worked in PR in USIU. So I was in that department. After that, I worked in an agency for two years. So that's why I got a lot of my hands on experience about digital marketing with some of the big brands across East Africa, actually across Africa. So merge all those together in my love of business. So we know how to take your business from just an idea that you are within your bedroom to everyone knowing about it and eventually converting that into sales. All right. So here comes EM Consulting now. How long have you guys been into the market? And I like to find out during the earlier stages or during the earlier years of the company, I would like to find out the experience, the made you feel like this is it. This is the business I want to venture into. So we've been in business for four, going five years, but it honestly feels like I was selling you a late feels like one. It feels like a flash because the madness of running a business. You don't notice five years going by. So I sort of understand when you hear companies are 100 years old goes by very fast. But the experience that made me realize that maybe I was onto something was actually my very first client. So when they came to me, they were fun enough, they were also in PR themselves, but they were venturing out into their own business. So they had an idea and they were struggling with it. At that time, it was just a blog that they were writing, trying to see how can I turn this into a business that supports itself. So with that, we went through some business coaching with them. And we also came up with a marketing campaign. So after we understood, we actually defined what the business is, and now turned that into a marketing campaign. And from the time it's launched up until now, I wouldn't say the name of the campaign, but it's still viral until now. They got partnerships with some of the biggest firms across the world. Just fantastic. So when that happened, when I saw it go live and the partnerships come and just the client, you know, from the first time we had a coffee to now running this big corporation now is when I was like, okay, maybe, maybe I know what I'm doing. Maybe there's something that can work here. All right. So you mentioned something about the fact that during that stage, you realized that this is it. And the excitement from the other side, if I was sitting on the other side, I'll be like, oh, this is so easy. Like, you know, so like, so most people look at it at the glamorous side of it. Like it's so easy to just to do what you guys do. I'd like to find out the work balance, because I'm not sure if you guys have like a few work hours time frame, because if I'm in a crisis and I'm your client, I believe I'm obliged to call you at any time when things go wrong. So I'd like to find out more about the work balance. So I'll answer that maybe in two parts. One, as an entrepreneur, I honestly don't think there's anything like balance. It's funny because a lot of a lot of us, you know, quit our job saying that I want to be my own boss. And I don't want, you know, I don't want age to five or, you know, from seven until 9 p.m. But when you're an entrepreneur, you spend you literally have maybe the time you're sleeping is the only time you're not working. So that's first I like. But in terms of even PR and what we do, especially handling a lot of clients, these days, there's something called online PR. I don't know if people are really big on it. Canyons are big on it, but they don't really know what it is. So especially with that, you know, one day, a brand you're working with goes viral on Twitter, not for good reasons. So when you merge PR and the digital space, you have to be on your toes. But one thing that I can say has really helped us are things we call monitoring tools and listening tools. So for example, actually on my phone, I have alerts for most of my clients. So if the name, if let's say I'm working with, let's say Unilever, for example, I will have alerts on my phone across that. So anytime that name pops up on the internet, I know if there's a bad hashtag trending, I know every day you're monitoring. Did we have a good day in terms of what people talking more positively or negatively about us? So with that, it sort of helped us balance life. But of course, the moment we start seeing something happening, you get on it and you try and manage it before it gets to a crisis. Okay, we have mentioned a couple of vocabularies there. They shifted our viewers. So I would like to find out, so EM Consulting offers so many services, we have the business coaching, we have the strategy, then we have, which one am I missing? Digital marketing. Digital marketing. So most people will know better about PR, what a PR does. But about communication consultants, I think people may not know the difference. Yeah, so just to remove their confusion there, maybe you could tell us the difference. So basically, communications is the bigger picture. And to just put it in a way an entrepreneur can understand, communications basically is when you, and that's why we call ourselves a communications agency, by the way, and not really marketing and all of that. Because when you say, I'm not selling or my business something is not going right, as a communications professional, we come into the business and look at everything. How are you communicating? What are the words you're using? Because for example, if you're trying to sell a phone to me, maybe it's the words you're using that are wrong. Maybe it's not Facebook, that's the problem. But you see, when you go to an advertising agency, a marketing agency, they'll tell you, oh, let's just do more marketing. Let's just put in more money for advertising. But as a communications professional, we go back and ask, one, who's your consumer? Two, do we have something we call a profile of that customer to say, my typical customer is someone who is 16 years old. They live in Jamuhuri. They wake up at 10 a.m., you know, you break it down so that when you're then marketing to this person, it's in a way that when they read it, they relate and they can then buy. So that's basically what communication is. And it's way effective for the business because you're target market. It's actually, I'll say the biggest market. Within marketing, when clients come to us, we always go back to communications because that's where the problem is. A lot of them will come and say, Facebook isn't working for me. Or I've tried the newspaper or I've tried billboards. Nothing is working. So we go back to, did you define who your customer is? And then what is the messaging around that? There's a difference between take this phone and would you like to have this phone? That's communication. Hey, okay. I like that example. It really does sound the second, the second version. Yeah, it makes you okay. Why? But the first one, it's why are you forcing me? So that's usually the marketing problems. A lot of businesses, especially startups, SMEs, that's usually a lot. Who makes a good PR practitioner? I'd have to say the one thing is first of all, we are a slandered profession. Everyone thinks that we are just lying and covering lies, but that's not. In fact, I'd say truth is the first thing. Even when a client comes to us, we say, the person you should be the most honest with is your PR person because we're the only ones who can then go back to all your stakeholders and communicate to them. We don't lie. We communicate. That's it. All right. So when it comes to PR and brand and marketing, it's a field where it entails social relation. It's a field where it's definitely relationship driven. So how did you from ground zero enable to have a network of a clientele and actually even maintain them? Okay. That's a good question. Like any other business, I usually say for service business, because you know it's different for a product. You can use it for market and buy or not. But with service business, I strongly believe in networking. Yes. So you have to put yourself in the right rooms. Once you know who your customer is, go to where they are and speak network. It's the best way because if you think about it, if you sell, for example, you're a barber, who are you targeting? You're targeting someone who's working the office who can only has time to come to your shop. Let's say on the weekend. So you need to be, you shouldn't be, let me say you should be marketing where that person is. You should be networking there. So for example, if it's if this person is a HR person who works in Upper Hill, it means when HR, you know, when the HR events there, that's where you should be, you know, not coming to market in town because your client doesn't sit in town. So networking is the number one for me. And it's how we've been able to maintain entire relationship. It's not, especially now during COVID. Let me add, a lot of people, it's something I say even on my social media that a lot of people are quiet, you know, because when you're saying things are quiet, clients don't spend money. But then after six months, you want to pick up the phone and call that same client and say, oh, hi, how are you? So can we go back to business? And they're wondering, is it that it's only money you want from me? You couldn't even send a text and ask me, how are you outside of? So that's the main thing that keeps businesses going, relationships. You have to maintain that. It's not always about the money. Okay, all right. That's a good perspective that you brought up. I now consider that most businesses have been shut down due to this pandemic. But let's talk about the fact that PR World, for the longest period of time, it has been termed like the big boys club. How are you able to just break through these markets and just go past the stereotype mentality? Okay. Well, first, when I started my company, I didn't particularly want to work with corporates. Because again, like I said, I'd been in agency. And with corporates, it's just a lot of get stuff done. So I think the way I've been able to get through the years is with the clientele that I have, which is a lot of small and growing businesses. Because with them, first of all, they come with a set budget. It's not like corporate will tell you, we have 10 million to spend a year in a campaign. So an SME will tell you, we have 200,000 shillings. How can we make this work? So even as a business, we then go back and find the most innovative way to make that 200,000 work for you. And clients appreciate that because you're not spending a lot of money, but you're getting the same impact. In fact, you're competing with the big boys. So we are people, agency. You've mentioned something that I didn't get clear. I didn't get it clear. The fact that you didn't want to work with corporates. Why? Because I think most businesses want to work with corporates because they see there is actually where the money is. Two things. One, like I said, because there's not a lot of room for creativity. And again, in our industry, it's very competitive with corporate. You find that there are 50 agencies going for that one big client. And what happens is that in any industry where there are 50 of you going for one client, the price goes down. So the client now says, I will pay you this for the work. So that's one reason. And also because there's no room for creativity, if I'm being honest with corporates. But also the second thing is because in the research and I was starting my business, over 70% of businesses in this country are SMEs. So I don't understand why we should be going in fighting for 1%. When there's 70%, it's just no one has figured out how to talk to them. Okay, so for every entrepreneur, there's always that break or make moment. When it comes, things are really, really tough. So I would like to find out your story. I would like to find out AM consulting story and how you guys, you know, propel and pull out from that. Make or break. Again, I don't know if there's a moment because I think what I'm coming to learn because I've not been in business that long. And being again, the lead consultant in the founder of the business, what I'm coming to learn is that business has seasons. You just need to understand your season as a business. I don't think there's that one moment where you know, you will maybe reach 10 million and then now from there it's just upwards. I don't think there's a moment like that. There's ups and downs because if you look at it like right now, businesses that were very successful right now, they're not. And you see in business again, it's not a feeling. It's based on what the numbers say. It's what the accounts say. So when the numbers are high, you say, ah, having a good time. When the numbers are down, you know, we're not doing so well. So it's not, it's not a moment. Okay. Let's look at startups now. So what are your thoughts on the Kenyan startup ecosystem? Amazing. Amazing. Just amazing. There's a lot of, we're very creative and we're very entrepreneurial. As, as, as an entrepreneur myself, I've had the pleasure of meeting entrepreneurs from different parts of, especially the continent. And they always say that the Kenyan spirit is just, is this something, it's something else. Other places pull out ideas, you know, they sit on them. But Kenyans, you will think of something today, that thing by next month, it will be there. If it fails, that's not your problem. So I think we're very, very creative, innovative. What would be your advice for any entrepreneur? Like, like a couple of, for any entrepreneur is starting off, like the startups, so what would be your advice on towards that particular person? As they're starting the business now. Maybe overall, like generally, in terms of the, the, the, an advice, like tips, just, you know, behind the hands, like they should have. This is no bias to the fact that I'm in marketing, but marketing. I feel like every entrepreneur forgets that. And even when they're starting businesses, we plan for everything else, apart from getting it out there. So I'll say, if there's something even myself, because remember I, I market for our clients. Sometimes I would, last year I would forget to market my own business. Then I'd wonder, why aren't I having sales? And then I remember when you look at our social media, when you look at one of the last thing we just called our clients. So I'll say keep marketing. Don't go, if you go a month and you've not picked up the phone to call anyone new, to call any client, you're going to have a bad next month. So you feel like businesses are failing on the marketing side? Yes, communicate, communicate, especially right now when businesses are down. I keep saying shameless plug-in, but I run a YouTube channel and on that channel, I remember for the last like four videos, I keep saying, This is the time to give us your YouTube channel. Oh, it's called the Millennial CEO KE. Okay, what's all about it? We'll tell us more about it. Yeah. But like I keep saying right now is it's a time to communicate. Because imagine, for example, you've been trying to reach the CEO of SafariCon. Okay, he's probably busy. But whichever person you've been trying to reach, whichever CEO, right now they're at home. They're forced to be home most of the time. Before their schedule was busy, eight to eight. But now they're home. They're probably on social media more. Meaning, maybe if you send them a message on LinkedIn, they'll see it. Maybe if you commented on their Facebook post and told them, you know how this idea I've been trying to reach you. Maybe this is the time that assistant you've been trying to call to get a meeting with the CEO. Now she can pick up because there's no pressure. Are you sure they will see these text messages? Because there's always on the back of the mind that is like a PA who's handling their social accounts. But now there's less pressure. Please remember, let's say for example, I'm a PA. I have from six in the morning. I don't have time to squeeze my meeting for you. But remember, right now, please remember, all these big businesses right now, they need something new to do. Because they are not selling. Remember, they're not selling. They're not marketing. They're stuck also. So they need someone who's going to come and say, Hi, excuse me, my name is so and so. I've been having this idea. I've been trying to talk to you about, oh, okay, now we can meet. In fact, now you can even come to the office because it's only four of you allowed compared to before. Hit on those CEOs and all companies that you've tried to reach out to. This is the time because they are the comforts of their home probably and their easy access on their smartphones. And let me add, if you're trying to reach someone, you can't find them. All the CEOs are now doing Zoom meetings. Please just go on this webinar. I tend webinars, please. And I keep saying, it's a great place to network. You go on that on a webinar that has a hundred people, you just write their bio of your company and your dad, if you do one webinar day. So let's look at how can brands handle their peer and marketing efforts during this time of COVID-19 crisis. The one rule that I've been telling everyone right now is be helpful. Be helpful because the customer you're trying to sell to, let's say a lot of people try to sell to, let's say, moms and all of that. That's usually a very big demographic. That mother right now is homeschooling, is cooking, is cleaning, is washing clothes, is what. So right now they don't need you trying to advertise and tell them bye, bye, bye, bye, bye. Go and ask them instead, post on your Facebook page to that customer, to your 1000 followers. Ask them, how can we help you today? As a business actually on our Facebook page, that's what we've been doing. We've been, we shifted from advertising and all of that. And now we just, we educate purely. Right now we're running a series on how to start email marketing on our Facebook page. Because we realized you already have so many things to think about. Maybe you want to get started on digital marketing as a business, but you can't afford. Because we also understand that you, that I'm trying to sell to, also think about do marketing or do I pay a salary? So we said why not teach you and at least help you start. By the time business picks up and you're ready to come and pay us to do it for you professionally. I see you ever. That's the way of watching and lowering your clients in futures. To help them, because the honest truth is I can't take on one million clients. You see, maybe I don't have one million, I can get a hundred, but all about the rest and they all need to be on social media. So why not teach you how to do it? I can see it from your, from your point. Absolutely. So just be helpful. That's the thing. So how can brands ensure that, you know, they succeed after COVID-19, not COVID-19. I believe like their businesses, which are not explored and actually spread their wings to a digital marketing, they trusted their clientele. Yes. And now COVID-19 came and businesses have been shut down and the only platform is digital. Okay. Before even looking at how brands can succeed, let's go back and look at the fact that these businesses now they don't have a digital presence. How can they go about that? So the first thing, when it comes to digital marketing, choose one platform you can commit to. You don't have to be everywhere. Let's be honest. These days when you think about social media, someone tell you, I want to be on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter. Why? And you can't even post every day on all of them. See, they tell us like the more you are on these social accounts, the more your brands are accessible. The thing with social media that people get wrong is, let's say Facebook, for example, as a platform, the way it works for you as a user and as a business are completely different. And that's why there's the profession that I have because they are very different. If you actually just go on Google and search Facebook business, you'll see a whole new guideline on how to use Facebook. Here's a consumer used to just going on it, posting your pictures, talking to your friend, messenger, that's it. As a business, I have insights. I have monitoring. I have, like even Facebook will tell me, you've not talked to your customers today. You get. So they're completely different. Okay, now let's look at some of the ways brands can succeed after COVID-19. Post COVID-19 now. Things have been slow. Now we are hiking up. So post COVID-19. I'll say that the success of your business post COVID is based on what you're doing now. If I'm being very honest, there's no, like I said, you can't, you can't go quiet now for even though your business is struggling, you can't disappear for three to six months as you're facing COVID. And then you surface after six months and say, okay, now we are back to it. Your customer will have moved on, will have forgotten you, or when you come back, they'll be asking you, where were you the whole time when I was struggling? Please look at, if you, if you're, let's say for example, Instagram or YouTube, look at what these big brands are doing. They're trying to stay relevant. They're trying to help people. Yeah. So it's based on what you will do right now. There are small things, pick up the phone and call a customer, continue to talk to them via social media platforms, find new offers that you can give, and also strongly believe for businesses. It's a good time to look at your business and ask, what else can we offer? Even though you are selling bananas, people don't want bananas now, for example. Ask yourself, okay, the point was that they need a fruit. Okay, what else can we add? Is it that they didn't want bananas in this season? You know, it's a good time to go back to your business and find something new to offer. So by the time COVID is ending or we are into our new normal, then you'll, you'll actually have come out a better business, a stronger business. All right. Yeah. One thing, Emma, is that you're very passionate when it comes to mentoring, like young people getting into business. So let's find out about EM training services. So what we do is if you're looking to get into business, what I do is I offer business coaching. So that means why it differs from... If you want me to just come and speak to a group of you, I can definitely do that and come and teach you about just the basics of getting into business and things to think about. But other than that, if you're seriously getting into it, I do one-on-one coaching with you. So that means we sit down, we figure out, we understand who's your customer, what business model can work for us, how can we make money off of this one-on-one. It's a very in-depth session. Okay. All right. So probably for my viewer back at you, we'll be wondering, these services are they, of course they're not fee, because it's a business on the other end of your side. But during this time, do you offer... Are there fee, what am I saying? Free. Free. Free. Teaching services that maybe you can actually help out young guys back at home who are watching and actually looking forward to start up a business. So in terms of fee, what we've been doing is again, go to our Facebook page, emconsulting.ea. There you'll find our WhatsApp number. And from there, we're actually helping a lot of businesses just by WhatsApp. Just ask us whatever question you have and we'll answer it for you simply. You want to start a business, just chat us on WhatsApp and we'll give you, we'll help you from there. If you want you to go further, then we can go into coaching. All right. So there is Emma. Emma, you mentor other young people into business and everything else. Where does Emma get the mentorship? You want to find out where do you get your mentorship to have the energy to mentor people who are getting into business? Every coach needs a coach. Absolutely. That's what I would say. Emma, you're not going to leave. Okay. There it is. Yeah. Finally. So basically for me, what I do, which is something by the way, if you're in business, I usually say, when you hear the word consultant, I don't know why people run away from it. It's just that title, like any other. But one thing that I've done is within my own networks, I've built networks of pull I can ask. I have a friend, for a lot of us, you have a friend who does finance. You have a friend who knows marketing. You have a friend who knows social media. You have a friend who knows things about careray. All those people, by the way, can teach you something. And that's exactly what I've done for myself. So I don't know everything. I learn a lot. So putting a position where you can learn a bit of everything and everything from people from different careers. Because when I started, I did not know a thing about finance in careray. And you'll be shocked that if you ask your friend, can I have five minutes of your time tomorrow? I ask you just about. They'll give it to you. It's just we don't want to ask to learn. Now we know. That is very important. For young people back at home, you have to be humble, be ready to learn. Expose yourself to a situation where you actually can learn from friends. And everyone we meet who is giving you credible advice. So if people back at home would like to keep this conversation going, how can they reach out to you? You can find me on Twitter, of course, at Emma Macharia. You can also find me on YouTube. I share videos every week about my journey in running my business in being an entrepreneur. My YouTube channel is called the Millennial CEO KE. All right. Do you host any webinar Zoom meetings where we can? I'm about to get into that, actually. But yeah, I think you'll get into training on that. If you're interested, you can let me know. Let's say on my YouTube channel. Okay. And I could do a training. All right. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you for having me. All right. So I try to put my channel as though you can find us across all our social media platforms. At Michelle Ashira Izwa, you can reach out to Ms. Serena. We're going for a musical break and we'll be right back with another interview.