'When you get into business, you need mentors'

In the streets of Nairobi, almost everyone is always in a hurry. As for Caroline Mutiso, 25, she is no different. Seeing her on the streets, it is easy to dismiss her as a student rushing to class or just a young professional running her errands.

However, when you engage her in a conversation, you get to understand and put her fast pace in perspective.

INDUSTRY LEADERS

Caroline is the founder and owner of Redvyn Events Limited, a company that offers event management services and guest experience executives with a focus on corporate events. Apart from starting the company at just 20 and successfully running it for the last five years, what really sets her apart is what she is doing for young women interested in getting into business or in advancing their careers but are not quite sure of how to do it.

Having started entrepreneurship at a young age and with no college degree at the time, getting the company up and running was a struggle for her. With a first hand experience in the challenges young women go through in order to get a business running or even advance in their careers, she decided to do something to help other young women navigate the murky waters.

That is what motivated her to start Her Hustle, a community for young women looking to scale up their business or careers. In Her Hustle, the young women have access to industry leaders for one-on-one mentorship sessions.

COSTLY MISTAKES

“As a young woman, figuring the right path for yourself is often an uphill task. At times you have these business ideas that you want to pursue but you don’t know how to get started. Even if you start the business, often you end up making costly mistakes that make the business hard to run or bring it down completely. Even with a degree, it doesn’t get any easier. There are career decisions that you need to make and maybe you just don’t have the experience to do so. What you need are mentors who have walked that path before and have the skills and knowledge to offer guidance,” she says.

“When I was in my early 20s, I was pursuing a degree in  Arts at The University of Nairobi and I wasn’t sure where I was going to use it. My heart was not in it. At the same time, I had been spending my free time working on events to earn extra cash. I loved doing it and after some time, I knew I had found my passion. Organising events was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life,” she explains.

FELT EXCLUDED

As she was working on events, she realised something was wrong with how events were being organised. People like her doing the actual work were being exploited by event organisers. Whereas there was a certain amount of money that they had to be paid per day, most of the organisers were paying them half of what they were supposed to earn. Even after raising her concerns, it never changed. That is when she decided to start her company and put her school work on hold.

“When you get into business, you often look for mentors to help you put your feet on the ground. I looked for mentors and found none. I even attended women conferences and seminars to try get mentorship but I often I felt excluded as they celebrated older women who already had made accomplishments,” she says.

WEEKLY SUMMIT

For her, the realisation that there are no platforms tailored towards the needs of young women trying to get into business was her call to action.

“I believe every young woman in business or in a career can change many lives if given the right advice. It is not easy to get mentors. That is where Her Hustle comes in. We bring together professionals and entrepreneurs who sit down with these young women, listen to them and offer them guidance on what they need to do to move forward. We don’t charge these women anything,” she says.

To join Her Hustle and have access to these mentors, all one needs to is visit herhustle.co.ke and register. The applicant then details what stage they’re in business or career wise and the struggles they are facing. After that, she and her panel review the applications and the selected applicants receive an email from her inviting them to their weekly summit.

TOP PERSONALITIES

Her Hustle summit this year has seen personalities such as chief operations officer at Jumia Kenya, Christine Sogomo, address the women on running a digital store. Others are Mwenesi Musalia, an image and personality consultant, Her Hustle in-house mentor George Ikua, Paul Ngugi the CEO of catapult and Alkhemy brands, Priscilla Ng’ethe a broadcast journalist and Eve Mbaluka the assistant procurement manager at Unilever Kenya.