From fashion to furniture

Yasmin Mwawasi-Russell started out modelling and ended up as the founder and chief interior designer at Ayanah Furniture & Interiors. PHOTO | COURTESY

“If I could pick just one person whose life has had the greatest impact on mine, it would be Richard Branson. He didn’t exactly thrive academically, and I relate to that. Like him, I started out with just a business mind, a pen and a notebook.

“My path to finding my passion wasn’t straightforward. In fact, I ignored it and tried to run from it. Growing up, my father had a furniture shop in Nairobi. But my younger self wanted something flashier and more exciting, like a career on television or in fashion where I would be in front of cameras. As a child, I would tear my clothes up (much to my mother’s chagrin), and turn them into new outfits which I would then model for my siblings. After high school, a career in modelling came as a natural choice.

“I spent most of my 20s doing fashion shows and commercials for products. It was a thrilling experience. In between these, I would work at my father’s shop for the extra money but I never really thought much of the business.

“It was after I got married and had my first child that I started wanting more from life. I wanted to start a business. People buy food in all seasons so that was my first choice of business. But I couldn’t find a good location for it and as a young mother, I was unsure of the long hours that a start-up restaurant would demand. I then thought of starting a salon but the market seemed too saturated.

CUSTOMISED FURNITURE

“Frustration was what led me to start thinking about my passion, which had been within me all along. What if I could set up a furniture shop? After all, I had seen first-hand how a furniture business was built and run. While I had no skills in furniture making, I had an interest in interior design and could help with the shapes, textures and colour aspect of it. I didn’t need to do much soul-searching to know this was a valid idea. This was in 2009.

“I immediately enrolled for an online course in interior design and set about looking for a good location. I found an unfinished building in Karen. I have now learnt a few things about running a business but at the time, I was scared of starting a business with debt. I wanted to start with the savings I already had, which were not even nearly enough to start the small furniture store I envisioned. So I borrowed from the family kitty.

“The doors of Ayana Furniture finally opened in April 2010. We were a very small team. I hired a carpenter, an upholsterer and my two sisters came in to help. When you are starting a business, you have to wear many hats. It can be overwhelming, my husband stepped in the gap many times.

“I never got to see the start-up stage of my father’s business, so the beginning for me was a bit of an anti-climax. The furniture did not move as fast as I had imagined it would. In fact, some days, the phone did not ring at all. But I had invested too much time and effort to quit, so I kept going.

The initial idea was to sell ready-made furniture but the clients we got had such varied tastes that we began customising furniture. About two years in, clients were asking about interior design services and I tapped into the skills I had acquired from my course and began providing this service.

“Six years in, we have carved out a niche for ourselves as customised furniture manufacturers. Instead of aggressive marketing, we opted to grow the business through repeat customers, referrals as well as through internet campaigns. I was aware of the dangers of growing too big too fast. 

“In 2014, we opened our second store in Westlands, Nairobi. Our staff has also grown to 20, and sometimes 30 depending on how busy we are.

“It has been hard to gain respect in a field with a predominantly male workforce. Respect, I quickly learnt, is gained by giving it. This has proven to be true for me. I speak with rather than speak at my employees. We hold each other in high regard and when I am not at the workshop, I trust that they are nurturing my dream.

“I hope I have put strong enough structures in place to be able to keep this business afloat so that we can pass it on to the next generation. Then, I will have made a mark.”

*****

  Yasmin’s entrepreneurial nuggets

  • I have learnt that a spouse is not just a life choice. How supportive your spouse is determines whether or not you succeed in business.

  • In this line of business, you have to deal with a drop in sales during election years and over long holidays. This means learning early on to spread your earnings through to these months.
  • Your staff needs to be motivated to work without supervision. That one is on you as an employer.
  • The golden rule of customer service from my experience is efficient communication. This one will cut out unnecessary errors, miscommunication and disappointment.