 I am joined in studio with none other than the beautiful, clearly, wait a little bit, Wanjiku Wairia, she's a strategic advisor in both end of organization. Yes, so stay tuned for this conversation of so much coming your way. If you're in business, if you want to start a business, this is the conversation for you. So stay tuned and thank you very much for creating time to be with us, Miss Wanjiku. Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to be here. All right, you really look nice. Oh, look who's talking. You're too kind to me. Thank you for starting us off because you wear so many hats. Yes, I do. Just tell us who you are and what you do in details. And what I do in details, okay, who am I? All right, let me start by one. On a day-to-day basis, the reason why I get up every morning is I'm a strategic advisor. All right. So I work with leaders and organizations to equip them towards agile business transformation. So what does this entail? This entail, how do you design your business? How do you think through end-to-end, whether you're starting with respect of where the curve of your business is, whether you're right as a startup or right towards the end, where you're wondering whether do you close it down? I mean, do you sell it out? Do you reiterate? Did you create new set of products? Energize your business? So my role primarily is to advise through the process. The other aspect that comes in highly is how you do your leadership mapping. So who do you have on your team or who do you need to get on your team or who do you need to ensure is on the right seat, on the right bus to be able to get you to where you're going? To allow you to dream as a lot of the people around you be able then to pick up and do the work with you. So that's what I do for a living. All right. And for how long have you been doing this? That's not a question to ask. So first we must agree. You must first agree. I'm 21. Can we agree with, but age is 21. It's loud. It's loud darling. You're 21. I'm 21. I never agreed. We have agreed. All right. So this is my 23rd year doing this. Yes, I've been doing this for 23 years. Nice. When did the journey all began from? The journey began from the point to and every single time I'd have a conversation over a drink or over a meal or I mean, I love sports. So when I was watching a game and it always came back to that is such solid advice. And I remembered going for this Rora shows so many, many, many, many years ago. And I sat next to this very elderly gentleman at the end of the day. So he asked me what you do. So of course I told him what I did then. And then we talked a bit and he told me, you know, when you go, I need you to call me on Monday. My business needs what you have. And of course I had no idea. So I didn't think he was serious game, his number. And I said, you know, when you go, really, how bad can it get? Give the gentleman a call. And truly that's how my journey began. He's like, I need you to sit with my team. I need to advise them. I need to help them think through them. I want you to help them create a framework for critical thinking and analyzing problems to find solutions that are practical, sustainable, and most importantly, profitable. And that's how my journey began. So from then I've never turned back. Yes. All right. And take us to now your company. What does it deal with before you get into the topic of discussion? Fantastic. So I'm the group chief regional officer at the Seville Group. So the Seville Group is a management company that holds three businesses. And I run one of the arms, which is a strategic business arm of it. And what we do on that is we provide leadership training. We also do agile leadership training, coaching as well. Most importantly, we also work on a transformative style of leadership that ensures that the leaders that we get, the leaders that we work with, the leaders we're interested with, begin first and foremost to understand who they are, understand the strengths, their limitations, and most importantly, how they can leverage what they're bringing to their business over and above the skills experience and the visions that they have for themselves and for the business. So those are the three arms that we do. And we do this across the board, whether it is from what you call emerging leaders. Emerging leaders are the talent that an organization has that identifies. They say, hey, when Jico has some potential, I think she can grow into one, two, three, four. All those are emerging leaders. All the way to middle level managers who are saying, you've been at this for this long. This is your skill set. These are the opportunities. How do you transition? How do we grow you? All the way to C-suite to be able to navigate C-suite politics in the market, in the boardroom. Most importantly, how do you grow both vertically and naturally as you grow your teams? How do you ensure that that gap is not so big that if you are only for two days at the business halts, because we can't make decisions, the matrix doesn't work the way it should, because we have to keep coming back to you. How do you reduce that gap? And most importantly, how do you map you outward? What more can you give? Clearly, you're qualified for this conversation. Overqualified, so qualified. Guys, back at home, make sure you have your pen and paper if you're in business. So this is the conversation for you. So today we are looking at strategic entrepreneurial design and how SMEs can position themselves in their different market space to be successful. Getting into our topic, what is strategic entrepreneurial design? So strategic entrepreneurial design is all about choices. It's about every entrepreneur is a dreamer at heart. So what is that? How do you bring that dream from something that feels like it's a cloud and air that looks beautiful to something that's down on paper? How do you map it? What is the actual vision? What is that thing that you see? Because visions are tangible. So what is it that you see? And ultimately what value are you bringing? What gap are you meeting? That is actually where it all begins. Then how are you going to do this? What is the process? So that means what's your mission? How do I get there? What is that thing that I'm going to wake up to do every day? And then to your objectives, what are the steps I must take in the short term, in the mid-range and the long term? Now this is very different from a business plan because a business plan is on it addresses the first two that I talked about which is your short time to mid-range. A strategic vision actually ultimately is about what you want to, how do you want to where do you want to be in your next 10, 15, 20 years. And a lot of times when we talk about 10, 15, 20 years it looks like it's really far away. But ask yourself 15 years ago where was I? Did I think I'd be here today? At that time probably being at some point being 30 looked old. At some point being 40 looked old. At some point being 50 looked old. But when you are at that age you just you don't feel old. So the thing is time really goes fast really quickly. So the mapping of that and being able to put in what you need to do, the resources that you require, who you need to work with and what are those milestones that will show you that you're on the right road. Entrepreneurs are a lot like taking a drive. Before the airlines were lifted that we could actually start flying during COVID a lot of us did do a lot of drives. I personally did a drive to Mombasa and it's surely if at some point you don't seem to wonder you know you're lost. You've taken the wrong road or in the wrong place. So that is also those are the other things the milestones, the flagships on the side of the road that you'll be able to know if I get here I'm in the right way. And just because you're off track doesn't mean that it's a bad thing. It means that could be that could that be what the market is requiring? Could that be what your heart is driving towards? Does it mean that you do need more resources or do the resources that you have at hand are the ones that are informing that same direction that you're taking? So when you look at it from end to end that is actually what that strategic design will look like an entrepreneurial journey. It's like a map. Yes certainly. It's like a map yes. So for someone let's say I put a given example for instance someone who has been running a business for like five years and things are not really going as they had planned because everyone you know they tell us have a business plan write it down everything objectives that you guys are all about. So five years down the road things are not going as I had planned nothing on there back on the drawing board things are not adding up. So what are the basic rules to design a great entrepreneurial strategy? Okay first things first if things are not working is to actually acknowledge that they are not because it's only at that point that your mind shifts from I must get to point B to I must stop and look at my vehicle and wonder why aren't we moving do I have a flat is my is my fuel pump leaking do I have enough water so that's the first place come back and ask yourself look at the three segments of your business first and foremost numbers don't lie are you bleeding anywhere in terms of your finances are you spending more than you are making and if that is so and it's been five years has the economic environment changed has the market that you're that you're playing in changed have your customers needs changed has the focus of the industry you're playing in changed what is it are you do you have too many boots on the ground and probably you're not applying tech or are you applying to tech too much tech tech with very little boots on the ground where is the gap in terms of your numbers where you bleeding that is one and the moment you look at your numbers they will always tell you which are the places that need most of your attention to your market before you look at your market you must identify what the needs of the market are you do go back and have a look at what are the things that you should be addressing right now is a need that you are dressing five years ago the same as the one you're addressing now I'd like to use masks as an example at the beginning at the beginning of I believe that was last year 2020 yes I mean really we had all kinds of masks basic blue disposable masks but that industry another another I'm playing in it but it's one industry that have have studied quite a bit and you find then cloth masks came then face shields came then funky face shield came so there's so many things that are changing but still the basics remain then the colors of the masks began to change of the disposable mask now you have blue you have pink you have black you have all kinds of masks so if you're playing in that field and a different kind of segments are actually appearing different needs are appearing because then I would then anticipate that the person who developed a shape face shield probably understood that this particular segment of the market would still want to be protected but probably either they were either allergic to the disposable masks or maybe they're beautiful ladies like yourself who want to keep their their makeup in check at the end of the day so what are those things that are happening in your marketing come back and look at your product is your product still lined two did you jump ahead of yourself sorry that's number three did you jump ahead of yourself what are those things that you should have done then that we that you made sure that you took the right step at the right time so those are some of the things that I would look at then when you have all that information come back and ask yourself do I still want to continue with this business and this is usually the hardest part for an entrepreneur because you feel that you failed if you have to put it aside and say no let me close this let me either go back into employment or let me start doing something new but this is what I say every time you get to that point it is a time to put your entrepreneurial brain to work and ask yourself even if I shut this doesn't mean that I have failed just means that I have a whole bag of lessons that I need to apply that's exactly what it means fantastic that brings me back to my next question which is I believe when you mentioned about you know things like changing and you have to adjust to that change brings about the strategic renewal whereby you have to go back and look at what is not working for you so what happens is still in the example that she used on COVID-19 so what happens to someone who is running a business right now and when he or she goes back to you know her resources her you know her profits and everything else from way back a couple of years back before the global pandemic happened and there are things are not adding up that really trying so how can what will be the advice for them not to just be stuck up okay I would go back and say put your business aside for a minute go into the internet and find out what platforms are working currently so a good example I'd like to share is again one of the arms of the business that we are in which my husband runs is building cosmetics and for a long time physical shops are the ones which worked but with the pandemic the virtual market is the one that is now thriving so even not on an e-commerce platform your business is not going to thrive especially if you're doing if you're doing product now I'm a leadership strategist and for a long time the face-to-face engagements were a big deal for us very very big deal because that's how you engage with your customers that's how you engage your clients and that's how you delivered training and that's how you delivered all kinds of engagements for businesses but with the pandemic it's meant a few things today to change one I needed to take my coaching online meaning I'm available virtually and available on all platforms whether it is your zoom your good meetings irrespective of what the client met needed you are available on that but it also meant that as much as I'm a seasoned trainer I've done this for a long time is that I needed to upskill as well and say no get on to an ITU training and ensure that I can be able to design coursework on the net and be able to deliver it on the net as I would in a classroom so that in itself meant that I needed to upskill now the beauty about this COVID times and a lot of the Ivy League universities and a lot of the global organizations working to be able to upskill a lot of a lot of us in the global south and that means a lot of the coursework was free so you'll be able to get in and get a lot of paperwork in a lot of learning in but then you had to be present at that point in time to be able to say that when you get as much as this is working for you right now we need to go online we need to go virtual we need to ensure that we're also engaging with your consumers and or clients virtually doesn't mean that it negated the physical because there's still a big bunch of clients who insist on being physical so what is that thing that is changing in your market for example so tech is one of the things that has shifted I'm not quite sure that we'll ever really go back to 100% physical because tech has has even shown us that we can we can be we can be virtual even for our religious engagements as well yes meetings we're all doing it in a virtual space so be quick on change just accept change and transition your business with what's happening I like to talk about mindful change okay I'd like to talk about mindful change because the question would be if you are selling groceries and you do not have a grocery store how do you still reach me who still needs my fresh vegetables how do you do that so mindful change so if I say I'm going to go virtual is the investment of going virtual for example selling my groceries value to the same as the person who had probably clothes or maybe non-perishable goods so what can I do probably is to say is to send my customers a message and send them and we now deliver at a normal fee you don't need to come to us just send me a list of what you need because I have a store and my food is perishable but you know I'm not going to come to you because I'm afraid of you know I don't want to be in crowds and I'm keeping myself safe and my family safe so if I want I talk about mindful change what is it that will work for you so I've given you an example at the top of the line and bottom of the line okay fantastic all right so let's go back to the first time I the first person to get into you know business the first time my entrepreneur so let's look at business goals yeah so how important is it for a business owner to determine the direction of the company and what are some of the key elements to apply to ensure that you know they stay focused and consistent to just get to to their targets okay business goals are as important as life itself because if you're unsure about what you want to achieve it will be very difficult for you to know when you're getting off track and there can be big hairy audacious goals which is I want to make X amount of money within X amount of time and I want to have reached Z amount of customers within a certain time frame it can be big hairy audacious goals or it could be you know small tangible goals like I want to ensure and that's usually what works when you're starting up I need to have my licenses in and I need to have all my documentation in by this time am I going to start in a physical space am I going to rent it out I'm going to start working from home am I going to be selling out of the boot of my car at the beginning and eventually only until when I get to this level of profitability can I then move to this kind of a space if you're getting into a consultancy do I want to hire an office or do I want to go and be part of a virtual virtual office where a place where I can have my address and everything in and if I have business meetings I can hire the room for an hour three hours and pay for that but I still have a physical address that I can say this is where my office is so those are the smaller those are the smaller goals and it's always a tide to how much revenue you want to turn around I always say numbers don't lie always make sure that you it is whatever it is that you do is tied to a number and every time you have a metric which is a number it makes it very easier for you to see when you're going off track or when you're going on track the other thing is resources versus resourcefulness I talk about this a lot because a lot of us will struggle with starting a business because I do not have the capital I don't have the funding because I don't have collateral the bank wouldn't give me money to start my business it becomes quite a bit of a challenge to get started but this is what I always say resourcefulness is more important than resources so if today assuming you had a little one and their life depended on you getting 5000 shellings I believe all of us will find a way yeah so that is how I say we look at our businesses though if if you're really truly want to go into something and I will move away from the word passion because passion feels like it's a very fluffy world really yes I move away from passion you're breaking so many hearts oh dear me I hope I'll have a few friends later on in the day yes move away from passion okay because I think the buddhists will say you know a light quickly lit that burns so brightly dims very quickly repeat that again a light so quickly lit that burns so brightly is so quickly is so quickly dimmed that's why I say move away from the word passion because the way we understand passion and the actual meaning of passion is very different what's the difference the actual meaning of passion means to suffer for to do what to suffer for to suffer for yes okay it must be something that you must be able to you must be willing to suffer through to suffer for to sacrifice for okay to sacrifice yes it's not it's more than sacrifice because no sacrifice means that um because I needed to get here probably pretty early that means I will sacrifice as an hour of sleep but to suffer for it means that I am willing to walk barefoot across town to get to the studio really putting the work I'm willing to suffer for it okay actual suffering there is you know what you want us to stick with suffer I want us to stick with suffer to suffer for that's actually what passion is okay and how do we like uh you know um define it how would you define it is if you never understand from that business would you still run it would you sell the class clothes on your back your favorite shoes for the ladies gentlemen for whatever you value most whether it's a gadget or a piece of land to keep that business going would you would you be able not to have a meal a day for a week to make sure that you can pay a supplier or you can acquire something that's why I'm sticking with the word suffer for we shall stick with suffer for yes suffer for and that's why I move I move away from the word passion because it's it's a very it's a very energizing word and it's it's a very encouraging word and it's not a bad thing for it to be that way but is it sustainable but it's not no it's not yeah yeah just the same way we talk about love love is a decision not a feeling or an emotion I was not ready for this so anyway so coming back today so that that that is why I move away from from passion I say what is that thing that for sure and this is what I say about business starting a business okay if you never got paid a cent would you still do around that business because with resourcefulness the resources will always for there always be somebody somewhere who will notice who will see the opportunity who will give you a chance and open a door for you that's how some of the most amazing businesses even when you read them all the our business moguls locally in global when you hear their stories how they started their business nobody started it with a cushy you know very well to cross tease cross eyes daughters business plan yeah and I remember when the CEO of KFC he was he was denied like jobs that is for more over a thousand plus times but he believed in his recipe yes so I guess that's true we have to suffer for what we want there you have it so as long as you are willing to what is what's the right word as long as you want something you will always find a way to actually get it I think that's how you submit up if it's important enough to you if the value is high enough for you if you're sold out totally to it the price will always seem minuscule okay oh and now let's go back to now I am in a position that I want to start a business right so how can how can a business cover niche for for themselves I know that's yes in a competitive especially in a competitive market space and let's let's just get to that before I ask another question okay all right businesses that succeeds are businesses that need a need so what is it the world needs that you can provide a solution for that's how to cover to a niche not because everybody else is doing what is it that the business that the world needs that you can provide a solution for this is what I know and this has been said over and over again over the years a lot of the the business moguls have said this that if a man can make a better mouse trap more efficient mouse trap than his neighbor even if he lives in the middle of a forest the world will make a beaten path to his door so what is that need that you're meeting as long as you're meeting a need in the market you will be able to have enough customers to sustain and grow your business the question is where do you want to play do you want to play in whenever we talk about niche a lot of people think about you know top of the line you know very high very high luxury products no that's not necessary yet I want to look give an example of of rodents or or insects in the house there are very many people who do fumigations but you will find there always be that one person who do fumigations that will address a particular line of insects whereas if somebody else was selling a sachet downtown actually the real downtown not just the downtown we call downtown a sachet for 30 bob that if you sprinkle it around your house will either kill and or repel broaches so where do you want to play and you must determine whether whether your product is a luxury product or an everyday product and that determines also your margins meaning an everyday product probably margins are low high volume but it means you probably be in business for a lot longer and you find a lot of the companies look across the board that is how the kado go economy has thrived in in our country and in the african economy but it doesn't mean that the big bulk economy is not working because of those who play there they play who play in very big spaces if you talk about product service as well who are you targeting and that's how to create your niche you must identify what need are you meeting and at what level do you want to meet it okay and let's look at what are some of the money management skills that are vital for the growth of a business oh that's a good one i'll start from the basics you must understand your management style first before you identify what what gaps you have so that's a whole topic on it but the other thing that you also need is to be able to identify the the skills that you do not have like i say in me i've been in business for very long uh numbers and me we're only friends and i'm getting paid and buying shoes that means for me my biggest expense on a normal day will probably be a resource that does my accounting pretty well and tech that supports me pretty well that doesn't mean that i cannot read audited accounts that doesn't mean i don't understand my numbers but it's an area for that for me i don't find joy in so you must first identify what those skills are then the other thing is also ability to net one because people only buy from people they like and people they trust so you must be able to identify what who is your authentic self and when you step out into the market please let us experience you the same way every time if this is who you are don't try to be like Kawanjiko or like somebody else because you feel if you're like that you success best succeed better you know networking is also another thing the other thing is that you want is your bond which which comes down to commitment every commitment you make you must follow through now commitments are driven by your values and all of us have got different sets of values i will go into that because there's no one value which is better than the other there's none which is more important than the other but commitment is one of the most important things that you have that when you give yourself commit that i will do this for you today or i will deliver this by this day please deliver it or please do it and if you can anticipate that you're not going to be able to call ahead of time and say i'm sorry i committed to do one two three four because i'm from for since the circumstances i can only be able to do this and be honest about it and be willing to be agile agility is the other skill that you need because if you're not agile in your decisions agile in in your processes so don't change your goal but be flexible about how you get there okay yes all right so as you wind up what a couple of uh you know tips that you could give when it comes to marketing marketing that requires minimal resources but it is as impactful as marketing all right so i would say all of us i believe have a social social presence at some level depending on where you what you're playing at make sure that your that your social engagement is active for example if your if your target market is as more the younger population spend a time on ig and it's great to post selfies that how about market your products there oh facebook is also another one but even professional services please spend a lot as much time as you can on linkedin all right so speed up social media can people find you all across all social media platforms if they want to keep this conversation going all right um on linkedin i spent a lot of time on linkedin um my name on linkedin is wanjiko area on linkedin i'm on facebook as well which is wanjiko wl on twitter wanjiko wl ig wanjiko wl all right thank you very much and jico for creating time to be with us and taking us through a couple of strategies to hack it in this particular space or in business thank you very much all right so that is wanjiko wl who is a strategic advisor uh boards and organizations so make sure you keep the composition going uh reach out to her across all our social media handles uh that is wanjiko wl and uh she will definitely respond to you at writer for channel as you can find us across all our social media handles at michelashira is where you can find me across all my social be right back with so much more right here in the morning