I started my Sh20m venture from home

Taking into account the series of tough challenges he faced at the beginning of his fascinating business journey, Mr Ken Kogei now believes nothing is impossible if you belief in yourself and remain firmly focused on the ultimate prize.
He quit employment in 2011 to launch Kaileys Consortium, a firm that mainly trains on occupational safety.

His employer did not take kindly his departure from the company and refused to pay him for the last month he had worked for him. Yet this was the money he was banking on to lift his start-up off the ground.
Mr Kogei, who studied Environmental Health at Kenyatta University and graduated in 2009, also had no savings as his salary was too little to enable him put aside anything for a rainy day.

BUSINESS JOURNEY

Thus, he set off on his business journey with almost empty pockets. The only saving grace was that his business was service-oriented and did not need massive capital outlay.
But even the little money needed to enable him move around to meet his prospective clients was hard to come by.

For lack of cash to rent an office space, he converted a section of his house in Kitengela, Kajiado County, into his business premises.
At some point his financial status was so dire that he was compelled to go back to employment.

He got a job with a shipping company in Mombasa where he worked for more than a year.

Meanwhile his company, manned by a single staff, was doggedly trudging on braving the searing heat of Kajiado.
Being far removed from his venture, Mr Kogei encountered a set of challenges managing the fledgling firm.

Running an established company, let alone a nascent start-up, from far is by no means an easy feat.

However, his steely determination proved a key asset. Despite numerous hurdles from the word go, it was not all doom and gloom for Mr Kogei.

IMPECCABLE CREDENTIALS

He had a potent weapon in his arsenal; the quality of work he had done for the clients of his former employment.

He had built impeccable credentials which earned him the first customer, the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (Kari). Kari awarded him a contract to train its health committees.

The money that the research institute paid him essentially set the foundation for Kogei’s firm whose turnover last year was Sh15 million. This is a massive figure taking into account where he came from. “When Kari paid us, we did not even have fare to go for the cheque,” he says.
Kaileys targets to double this figure this year. “All indications are that we will hit the target having already gone past the Sh20 million mark,” he says.
After landing Kari, it was not long before the entrepreneur netted two other big clients; tea multinational firm, Finlays and flower farm, Sian Roses.

TURNING POINT
Mr Kogei says Kari, Sian and Finlays came on board when his venture was wrestling with teething woes. But from then on, there was no looking back for Kaileys.

Now the firm boasts an impressive roster of customers who include parastatals, corporates, several flower firms in Kajiado and Naivasha as well as a number of apparel firms in the Athi River-based Export Processing Zone (EPZ).
Currently its core business is occupational safety. It trains on safety at construction sites and in farms where variety of chemicals are used as well as in factories where staff operate various machines.

It also focuses on fire-fighting and fire safety. Furthermore, it treats effluent and audits the level of safety and health measures in companies.
Although Kaileys has been recording a healthy growth from the moment it gained momentum in 2013, it is this year that it has witnessed unprecedented upturn.

“We have had a rapid increase in the number of clients this year,” beams the 29-year-old entrepreneur adding that this has stretched the capacity of his firm to the limits.

This, he says, has necessitated an urgent need to expand the company which has 10 permanent staff and 12 on temporary contract.

“We are seriously thinking of expansion strategies to serve our clients better. We should not be found wanting on any front,” he says.

BUSINESS EXPANSION
The company is also looking into diversifying the scope of its work.

It plans to venture into construction of greenhouses and play a more prominent role in overall set-up of buildings to ensure that safety and quality standards are adhered to at every stage of construction.
“The potential in this industry is immense. We have vast ground to cover,” Mr Kogei says.
His goal is to take the firm to all the East African member countries in the near future.

He says economies in the region are integrating fast presenting an array of opportunists that entrepreneurs can tap and grow their ventures manifold. The firm has already bagged jobs, mainly through subcontracting, in Uganda and Tanzania.
What makes him tick? He says passion for his work has seen him through thick and thin.

“We literally started from zero and to reach where we are, we have gone through a baptism of fire of sorts. There was a time we needed to travel but we had no money yet our client was expecting us,” he reminiscences.
The entrepreneur says the initial phase of a venture is the most turbulent.

“The level of your resilience, astuteness and ingenuity will determine whether you sink or stay afloat,” says the eloquent entrepreneur, “In the face of challenges, never allow a sense of defeat to blur or sweep away your vision.”
CREDIT WOES
He said he was rebuffed by banks when he applied for credit to prop up his start-up.

“No one listened to us because we had no collateral worth talking about. But it is interesting that the same banks that gave us a cold shoulder are now knocking on our doors loudly and incessantly offering us a menu of credit facilities. However, we can’t take it now because we are able to stand on our two feet,” he says.
Being denied credit by the financial institutions has been a blessing in disguise for Mr Kogei: “We learnt that you can start small and slowly build your own capital,” says the indefatigable but unassuming businessman whose slight frame belies the gigantic challenges he has overcome to build a thriving firm.
Mr Kogei says employers and employees ought to give safety and health issues at work the seriousness they deserve. “Safety and health at the workplace is critical.
It is unfortunate many companies and even employees do not appreciate the gravity of the situation,” he says adding that the fact that this has not been taken seriously speaks volumes on the huge potential there is in this area for entrepreneurs.

“We have merely scratched the surface of an area that sometimes could be a matter of life and death. There are some basic things that are taken for granted at the workplace yet they are critical to our health,” he says adding that even the sitting position has a huge bearing on our overall health.

RESILIENCE

Mr Kogei says his passion fuelled his resilience and stubborn belief that what he was doing was right and held great promise.
“I never at any single moment doubted myself or questioned the viability of what I was on to. This unshakable belief was one of the driving forces that saw me weather many a storm and surmount numerous hurdles strewn my way. The more challenges I overcame the more my confidence level rose,” Mr Kogei asserts.

Another factor that has underpinned Mr Kogei’s success is the quality of work his firm does.

This has seen him get many clients through referrals.
“We never compromise on quality and this has been at the heart of our growth,” he says adding that there is no shortcut to success but the long, winding and slippery path.
His advice to potential entrepreneurs who have viable ideas is just to act on them.

“If you wait for an ideal moment, when all elements will neatly and perfectly fall in place before you start it will never come and your idea will be stillborn. Start with the little resources that you have and gradually scale the greasy pole of business,” he says.
Another ingredient to his success is his employees. He says he does not treat them as his workers but colleagues.

MANAGEMENT

Conversely, he also tells them to treat him as one of them and not their boss.
“Whenever we go to the field for an assignment there is neither a boss nor an employee. We work as colleagues,” says the unassuming and affable businessman whose slight frame belies the fact at he is battle-hardened having surmounted huge challenges to build a multimillion company.

Many a times, his clients have asked where the boss is yet he is right there standing among his colleagues (read employees).
Another powerful arrow in his quiver is incredible hard work. He says when there is urgent work, he goes to work on Saturday and Sunday.

“When I have a full in-tray, weekends find me unawares. Sometimes I go to the office only to find it empty, that’s when I know it is weekend,” says Kogei.
He never went for Christmas last December thanks to a demanding schedule. And for the four years since he started the company, he has not taken a holiday.

At the moment he is increasingly delegating duties to his staff so that when he goes on “a major holiday soon”, work will flow.