By Sara Reeves https://www.instagram.com/loveartisan/?hl=en I have been in the furniture industry in Kenya, in various iterations, for 5 years now: first making pallet furniture with my askari in my living room, then a stint running a project for the World Bank (www.workshopnairobi.com) and now heading up my own successful furniture brand, Love Artisan. But one … Continue reading Finding the Why in What You Do
The life of a small business owner is one that is run on an environment akin to a pressure cooker. There are usually so many dynamics and in most cases all happen at once. Aside from running a business, you are also responsible for your employees, your customers, your suppliers, your family and also your … Continue reading YOUR BUSINESS NEEDS YOU IN TOP MENTAL FORM
The success of your product in the market will greatly be determined by the packaging it comes in. Yes. Just that physical container. There is nothing that cries out “unprofessional” than seeing someone giving absolutely no thought to packaging. Small businesses need to appreciate that investing in packaging isn’t necessarily wasting money. Some interesting numbers … Continue reading Spare a Thought for Packaging
I grew up in a community that gave premium to size, small size that is. We used to say “Kanini Kaseo” small is good. Nowadays that is a classic oxymoron. People shifted focus to the big, the mighty. We have grown to detest and despise the small ones. We have forgotten that even the big … Continue reading Making the Case for the Small Business
One day I asked one of the most inspiring Kenyan entrepreneurs I know what she thought makes it hard to succeed in businesses in Kenya. We do business at all accosts and that is not good, she told me. Now that is deep and confounding. Some branch of entrepreneurship advocates for you to do all … Continue reading Doing Business at All Cost Will Cost You Your Business
Well, its globally recognized that customer is king. Never mind, some customers may not have any sense of royalty in their attitude or behaviours. Some of them are quite rude and uncouth. Others are outright criminals; who do you think is committing all the murders, theft, corruption etc? They are guys who in the next … Continue reading Customer Service 102: How to Care for the King
How is important customer service to you? Funny how everyone of us demands the best possible service yet we hardly offer the same to those whom we serve. There are many dimensions in which your biz can meet and even exceed customer expectations. Every business should aspire to get there. I often like to challenge … Continue reading Customer Service 101: How To Improve Yours
Every small business would also want to be innovative but how does get to be innovative? An innovation ready business will have some of the 1.Deliberate You want to be innovative you must pursue innovation and consciously so. Have a vision and a strategy for innovation which complements with your overall organization strategy. It’s not … Continue reading 8 Characteristics of an Innovative Business
The challenge with innovation is that the “techies” have taken and almost owned it entirely. You mention innovation and the average person immediately envisions digital apps and online capabilities. This piece will seek to expand our appreciation of innovation by exploring a few options on how an ordinary non-tech biz can innovate. While innovation can … Continue reading Innovation 102: How SMEs can innovate
Let’s try this. Can you tell the difference between creativity, Innovation, Invention, discovery, technology? Well, it’s not important that you are able to tell the fine differences, that’s for academics. However, its not bad to also have a basic understand of the same. Creativity for me is a disposition (tendency, character) that precedes and is … Continue reading Innovation 101 for SMEs
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