 This is the way to do it. This is the way to do it. Welcome to Youth in Action, where young people are taking initiative to create impactful change in society. In today's program we have Belinda Adik, the founder of Meliki Custry Group Limited. Belinda, Karibusana. So what can you tell us about Belinda Adik? Who are you? Belinda Adik is the founder and the CEO of Meliki Custry Group Limited. Belinda Adik is a mother of four and a wife. Belinda Adik is a lawyer by profession. Belinda Adik is an entrepreneur. That is what I am. So a lawyer, a mother, an entrepreneur, all these things. What kind of law do you do? I am not practicing. I would say for me law was not really a passion. It was a course I found myself doing. So entrepreneurship is something I love doing. I would work up in the middle of the night for it. So how did Meliki Custry Group Limited begin? Having worked in a law firm that was dealing in conveyance, I found myself dealing so much with properties, buying and selling of properties. And that is how my interest for properties was born. So I started Meliki Custry as a properties kind of business, but that did not pick up well, especially because the properties was born right in the beginning of COVID. And we all know that during COVID nobody wanted to deal with properties in terms of you have to do the rent collection and that was the greatest challenge for people that this rent was not there and everybody was moving out and all that. So properties did not pick up well. We had to find a business that complimented properties. Cleaning became our next go-to business because it was a business that was booming during COVID when you talk about sanitizing and all that. It was all about being clean. That is how cleaning picked up. And it did well, especially on the first year. And during our cleaning business was used to offer both commercial and residential, mostly residential. You would find that guys had the need to move and they would always tell us to source for them, move us, companies to come and move them. And well, most of them would come back with complaints. You gave us these movers, they didn't do well and all that and they thought well, there is a gap in this particular industry and we jumped well into it and that is how our movers and relocation was born. So you do moving and relocating? Yes. And you talked about cleaning. What kind of cleaning are we speaking? We talk about the residential kind of cleaning whereby we have people who want their seats and their mattresses cleaned. We have people who want their houses cleaned. We have offices that want to be cleaned. So that is what we talk about the residential and the commercial. The commercial is where we do the offices, the schools, the fumigation and all that. So that is basically what we do in terms of cleaning. You have told us about starting your company around the corona time and you identified this gap. What made it possible for you to just dive right into the industry? Well, I am a risk taker. I take risks in terms of everything. Once I have an idea formulated, once I have a gap identified for example, when we were doing the conveyancing you would have clients coming into the law firm and they are like, I am so tired of managing this property. Can I get someone to manage it for me? And that is how we got into now the properties kind of business. So all my business I would say they have been a need, you identify a gap and a need from within the clients and you really get into it. You started your company as a real estate business. I am curious to know how did you go about the licensing, maybe the name changing because you started real estate now you are moving and relocating. So how did you go about that as a lawyer yourself? The name remained the same. I love the name. Basically the name means owning your castle. I believe in royalty and all that. So we felt really even as we delved into other forms of services we were still dealing with your castle. We wanted to have a clean castle we wanted to have a royalty form of movement. So the name remained the same. When we registered our company it was registered as a service company. So still in everything that we do we just ensure that it is a service based company. Yes. You changed trajectory. What lies for real estate? Do you still do real estate or you just decided let the real estate agents do what they do and let me do what I do? I don't do real estate. I don't do real estate. I just found it was a little bit hectic for me I would say, a little bit crazy. You know having to do this. No, I don't do real estate. Basically when we got into real estate and it never really picked so when we left it we left it for good. I thought you were a risk taker. We took the risk. It didn't work. You jump on to the next thing. So Miliki Kasri group limited. What activities do you engage in that? In Miliki we have the cleaning service. We have the moving and the location. We have storage. So we have a warehouse somewhere in Likoni Road, in Dastaluri and Nairobi. So what I shall tell people is what we do is we sell convenience. For people who want the convenient kind of living you want them to come and clean your house, we will do it for you. You want to move. Because when you are moving you don't do anything. Your work is to just be there and we come and we do everything for you. We pack your house, we transport, we go the other side, we unpack. So it is convenient. You can wake up, go to work and come back into the new house. So those are the kind of activities that we engage in. So is there a way you package your services maybe in terms of pricing or something like that? Our service, our kind of pricing is actually based on the need of the client. So we won't say that we really have a rate card for our moving services. It is on need to need basis because sometimes especially in terms of move us when you doing the quotation we have to go for the survey. So you will not move a one bedroom maybe you have a one bedroom that is on fifth floor and someone has a one bedroom that is on third floor or fast floor. The price can't be the same. Then you have the distance. So apart from the house size we have the distance. So you have the extra services you require. Do you want TV mounting? Do you want your DCS TV mounted? Do you want your electronics fixed? So it is on need to need basis that we offer our quotation. And so how do you get your clientele? Seventy percent of our clientele has been through social media. Social media has been really impactful for our business. We also depend on referrals. I think the first client was the hardest. It took us a whole year to get our first client in terms of move us and the first client was a friend. So it was a bit of a hard nut to crack but once we cracked it we were in there. So from that first client you get referrals they refer you based on the kind of service that you offer. So the referrals have been important. Then networking events. We've had a lot of networking events you go and meet people and you sell your service out there. So that has also been impactful for our business. Interesting. So this one year where you didn't have a client what was going through the business like did you want to give up or what was going through your mind as a CEO and founder? Almost. Yes. Though we still had the cleaning company running but at some point we actually thought this was really a crazy idea because when you're not in Tweet everybody is asking you to move us people can help you move then you get into it and now all the services stop and you're like what happened? I thought you guys wanted move us. So it got to that point where we thought maybe this time we outdid ourselves in terms of risk taking we almost gave up but immediately after the first year it was paid back everything just came off it just picked up from there and we've never looked back. So your business is entirely customer service. How do you ensure that your customers are happy? Well it's really about number one the attitude of your workers because you'll find that most of the time you're not even on the ground. What kind of workers are you sending to the people? What is their attitude? Ni watu ako nungunika? Those guys were like move this time they're like I'm not doing it. So number one you have training for our workers your attitude has to be top notch. Number two you have to have integrity because we get into those big big houses and I think I would thank my parents so much because growing up my mother never allowed us to touch anybody's I grew up in Dandora estate and I went to those schools that are considered big schools I went to Pangani girls and of course when you went to Pangani you'll find that the whos and who were there and coming from that such a humble background you would be really interested in maybe getting what they have and what my mother always said is don't forget where you come from to shekana vituzako and I think that has been an impactful thing for me because mimi na to shekana vituzako I would not go to somebody's house and wish this was mine and that is what we ensure even our people they integrate you will not go to somebody's house and want to pick something we've gone to houses where you even meet money on the table and you know you are tempted to take it wuno anbiya pese wo kipata monewa na pata pesayaki you don't pick anything from anybody's house so that has really been the honesty bit has been something for us speaking of honesty what criteria do you use to get help from movers or the people you work with how do you choose them that is also through referrals I rarely just pick someone from the street it has to be you have to have been brought by someone else who knows you very very well because as we say it's a risky business to move someone to the and tomorrow the people you move of course they know what is in there so they can easily send someone so for picking of our employees has mostly been also through referrals you have to be referred by someone to us we have to go through your system you have to have your good conduct certificate you have to have your IDs you have to have everything this seems like a lot so how much work is required for getting as well as to region housing well it is something tell us that something moving is not easy and I think if you even as a child or growing up you have moved without us even having the movers company because moving is it's a new concept in this country though not very very new but it's quite a new concept and all of us growing up when you moved we didn't see movers you know it was you starting to pack your things and you would pack for a whole week and move and pack for another month and you would have clothes all over it was quite some hectic so moving is still hectic only that now we choose to do it professionally that makes it easier for the client you know you would move somebody from 7th floor to the next house to 6th floor and there is no elevator it is a heavy kind of work here so it is not easy but it is doable especially when you love what you are doing you spoke about identifying a gap so how competitive is this market it is competitive it is in a labour it has competition a lot of competition you have to sell yourself apart for you to be able to get the clientele but the business is there people move every day every year I have had clients that have moved thrice in a year people get transferred to different towns and they have to move people get new jobs you upgrade, you downgrade so people move every single day so it is a competitive kind of industry and what kind of challenges do you meet doing this job well number one for me as a person I found this being a male dominated industry to be quite hard to crack at first because everyone you are dealing with you meet very few women in terms of the trucks in terms of the employees in terms of the partners so even these male employees taking orders from a female and I was small I was quite small and you are there dealing with Maweida it will get scary some of them will not listen they are like even the trucks it was really frustrating at first until we got to a work balance that I am not here as a woman I am here as your boss I am paying you so we got to a respectful balance whereby they can take instructions and even the way even you give instructions it has to be respectful because some of these men are the patria can I say patria? is that English? yes in nature they just don't know how to so we had to find a work balance even in terms of truck I also had to draw myself from some of the day to day running like for example having to directly deal with the truck drivers that was a headache so you just have to find a balance in between but it was challenging especially at first so speaking as a woman who has navigated the male dominated space what tips can you give another young lady who is also in the same shoes? I would say number one be firm let them not see a woman let them respect you because you see as even sometimes you like pulling out the woman card keep that card be a person when you go out there be firm in how you are dealing with them don't look for pity just be strong you know what you do and all those males at the end of the day you are paying them so they are your employees so be firm that is all I would say and being a young person who founded your own business and it took off what are your greatest achievements in this journey? well surviving this far is an achievement they say businesses don't last over three years so doing the first year successfully even as we were not having any work doing the first year surviving that one then now getting to that point the learning process because movas is also a lot of skill work and sometimes you will find that of course the skills you don't have so navigating through I don't know this one I am learning this one and we are still learning I think those are achievements just surviving this far speaking of surviving this far there is towards making something of your own and just flourishing or having fulfillment from it number one patience the problem with most of us is we want to start a business today and tomorrow we want to see it up there it doesn't happen so patience keeps you then consistency you have to be consistent even if it's in terms of marketing you will talk to a hundred people maybe only two in the century but you have to be consistent you keep pushing those tools then at the end of the day you get that you spoke about networking and going to events how did that impact your work your network is your network we will talk about attending expos we will talk about attending dinas we will talk about general networking meeting someone and just creating a rapport because for me I don't believe networking is all about going to an event and dishing out cards it's about talking to someone and creating an impact I am looking at can I add two people to my circle those two people when you really talk you get interested in what they do then that is a client because you don't have to serve them directly but they know what you do the word goes out there so you have a lot to give you are doing a great job in terms of entrepreneurship and management in the work you do how can we get you we are on social media we are on Facebook as Miliki Kastri Cleaners and Movers we are on Instagram as Miliki Kastri Cleaners and Movers we are on Tik Tok as Miliki Kastri Cleaners and Movers our mobile number is 0727976661 so that is where you will get us I like having a one on one with my clients as much as I delegate some duties I don't delegate my interaction with the clients I like having a personal touch to the service I give and so how does the future look like for Miliki Kastri Movers and relocators the future is amazing the future is bright I don't believe it's localizing my trades so far we've had two out of the country and we're really looking at setting up our services over and beyond our borders the future is bright that's quite ambitious but knowing that you're a risk taker it is very much possible and so what can you advise a young person out there who has an idea but maybe they're struggling seeking for a job employment, such things what can you advise such a young person number one monetize your ideas number two you don't need a lot of capital you know most people will tell you I want to do this one but I don't have capital you don't need a lot of capital just put your idea out there although it's not a business just believe in your idea monetize it and it will work number two, risk taker jump once you jump you will get wings or someone will hold you or something but jump yes you've spoken about someone holding your hands was there someone who held your hand or it's been you and you alone it is important to have mentors I always say have somebody who's better than you and also have somebody who you're mentoring behind you so that you're learning you can't say that you know everything or you learn everything by yourself you have to have someone who's mentoring you towards the industry, I've had mentors I still have mentors who have been there for years we've been at it for three years so of course mentorship, collaborations business collaborations are important let us just not look at business as competition you can also collaborate with industry players in the same industry and make something for yourself wow that has been nice and productive interaction I am a young woman I aspire to be like you how can I get to that point where I'm proud of what I'm doing I'm an entrepreneur, I'm a founder I'm a CEO most of us when we reach that level we tend to go back down maybe because of family you said you're a mother a wife how can I do all those and still do my work you find a balance because it is not easy I've had two of my children running miliki and we had to also delegate how people you trust around you so that you know that even if I'm not here today miliki will still run find a work balance get help also because if you say that I'm a 100% mother I have to do everything myself no you will crash find help thank you so much Belinda I have loved what you have to offer I am sure you've loved it too find a work balance find help do not wave that I'm a woman for the young ladies we are all in the same space man or woman go for what you're doing go for your idea monetize it find mentors success will be knocking at your doors this has been youth in action I am Nyangwesa Grenis see you next time