The lessons I picked after my e-commerce platform failed
I started the Kushop platform with about Sh100,000. Kushop App was an e-commerce platform that deals with FMCGs. After getting started, I took 18 months to understand the e-commerce processes. People did not fully embrace the idea of ‘pay on delivery’. We faced a lot of logistical challenges that we did not anticipate and the business didn’t show signs of becoming sustainable. We had to innovate to stay afloat. We branched into marketing in 2020 by utilising traffic from social media. This became the focus of the business and we actively started sourcing for marketing clients.
I have never been formally employed. I started selling building materials in Form three. I was a broker. When I cleared Form 4, I got fully engaged in brokering hustles. Marketing has always been a part of me. However, my journey has not been without challenges. After starting my business, I trusted someone who had made a huge promise to make our brand grow. He wanted cash to help us go global and access markets like Nigeria and Ghana. I had the pressure to get an office, thinking it was the way to grow. Then he disappeared leaving me to hang dry. This experience taught me the importance of doing due diligence when choosing business and investment partners.
Venturing into outdoor marketing has been my biggest business breakthrough so far. I had tried social media advertising but it wasn’t as effective. The idea to do trailers for on-the-road marketing was a genius innovation. Apart from adding customers and revenue, it has enabled us to negotiate and get into business with clients for B2B and social media marketing such as KIPS, Olive Limited, Achelis and many others.
If I could start all over again, I would try to keep the right perception of our brand. I would project it as the ideal outdoor marketer. I have learned that doing too many things simultaneously is not very progressive. As a business, we would be more aggressive as marketers, launch in a bigger manner and bring quality partners on board.
When it comes to saving, I try to set aside as much as I can. It is difficult to save because most of what the client pays goes back into logistics and customer experience. We work with targets and are required to fulfil certain obligations including with NEMA, KENHA, and the county governments.
Entrepreneurship gives you the freedom to experiment with ideas and still earn. I would not have gained exposure to e-commerce if I hadn’t tried out the Kushop App. And if it had worked, I wouldn’t have known that marketing is what I am good at. Sometimes, it doesn’t require capital at all; it is simply all about taking a step into that client’s office, pitching and getting a deposit.
Building a marketing business takes time. It’s not even possible to have a perfect start. It’s better to constantly improve everything a little bit at a time than to try and build all the best solutions at once. It doesn’t matter how you feel about something; you should constantly make improvements. That’s what keeps you in business; that’s what keeps your revenue streams open. BY DAILY NATION
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