The trio who are turning around how marketers work

A view into their office at Vision Plaza on Mombasa Road gives the impression of a centre where big deals are made.

However, Mr Don Nyangoya, 28, is fast to explain that the setup is a call centre where his employees are busy receiving calls from both students and universities across the country for placement.

“We handle thousands of people, we make calls, receive them, checkup the history of a caller and generally engage with Form Four graduates on free career guidance as we as influence where they study,” he said.

Together with his two colleagues — Mr Robert Okello and Mr Erick Chomba — they run Think Tank International, a start-up that is helping prospective students make career choices.

They have been successful in helping Form Four graduates, who did not make it to public universities, make informed career choices in private schools of higher learning.

At the moment, Think Tank International has contracts with Vision Institute of Professional Studies, the Catholic University of Eastern Africa, Marist International University College and Kenya College of Accountancy (KCA).

FIND PLACEMENT

KCA and Vision Institute of Professional Studies outsourced their services in a deal where the trio set up the call centre infrastructure at the institutions. They periodically conduct maintenance for the system at a fee. From the set up, they were paid Sh90,000.

As for the other schools, they entered into a deal where they find placement and are paid Sh5,000 per student. The call centre works throughout the year but the prime time is May, September and December when many institutions carry out intakes.

They also benefit from Certified Public Accountant (CPA) intakes in June. July and October. The team has big dreams — to market their business system across Africa. From the placements, they get Sh1 million in three months as a total pay from the universities.

SALES PERSON'S LOCATION

And that’s not all. They are eyeing brisk business in working with big companies selling consumer goods. The trio have just released into the market what could turn out to be a groundbreaking sales reporting tool for marketers.

Their system, Front Row Sales Solution, is web based and it notifies a firm’s manager on their sales person’s location. It also allows the sales person to send a report in five minutes of meeting a prospective customer.

For Mr Nyangoya, the innovation will see their start-up tap into the East African market.

“Front Row Sales Solutions has the potential to produce a 10 per cent increase in business sales, it offers easy management and quick returns on sales,” Mr Nyangoya told Money.

Already, they have partnered with a Nigerian company — 3C Networks — to drive the uptake of the system in West Africa.

“I was amazed that the system gave us all the activity details, allowing us to know what was happening in real time. Our top sales people need to see 300-400 businesses per year, and the bottom line was that our sales people were in front of more people giving us better sales results,” said a customer who has used the innovation where it was integrated in South Africa, Mr Gary Campbell, President CanWest Directories.

The team has marketed the application using their online portals mainly Facebook and Twitter attracting successful users from different regions.

Though not quite a smooth journey, their entrepreneurial story started Mr Nyangoya was just 18.

Together with one of his partners, they ran a courier firm connecting Nairobi to remote parts of Kenya. They, however, cut shot the business as soon as they realised where their exact interests were.

Technology and innovations were their new venture, the three enrolled in universities knowing well that they would require the knowledge later. Mr Nyangoya acquired a degree in Engineering at the University of Nairobi, his colleague, Mr Okello, studied Industrial Chemistry while Mr Chomba took Business Administration at Makerere University.

GREAT CHALLENGE
Prepared for the market, the three joined hands immediately after graduating in 2011 though their company was registered in 2010.

The firm now deals with business software such as call centre set ups, sales reporting tools and bulk SMS handling.

A great challenge in their growth journey was coming up with start-up capital.

They resorted to walking around with a detailed business plan, which they could discuss especially during corporate cocktails in Nairobi.

While on one such event, they met an investor, who signed an agreement with them putting in Sh3 million seed capital. And that’s when their success story started unravelling.