Kenya's Ken Oyaya on making money from doing what you love
Investing in and empowering his employees has allowed this entrepreneur to focus on growing his business.
Growing up in rural Kenya, Ken Oyaya was actively involved in helping his mother run her part-time tailoring business. By the time he was in high school, Oyaya was convinced that entrepreneurship would be his chosen career.
When he started university, Oyaya changed from the engineering course to which he had been admitted and instead studied business management. For the next four years, he dabbled in almost every kind of business. His first, at age 21, was distributing paintings made in India to hawkers in Nairobi.
“I saw the potential in business at a young age. My mum was a teacher but she was making more money from business,” says the founder and CEO of Blackrose Limited.
Although he later joined the workforce and was employed at East African Breweries Limited (EABL) for seven years, Oyaya’s interest in entrepreneurship never faded.
In 2011, Oyaya quit his well-paying job shortly after being promoted to a managerial position to start his own business in the entertainment industry.
“I have always had a passion for events. Even in university I was a hustler: showing movies, hiring out sound equipment, organising birthday parties and even renting out pay TV to other houses,” says Oyaya. “But when I decided to start my own business I did not want to continue hustling. I wanted something more formal and organised. I decided to open a club first.”
In the last two and a half years, he has started about a half a dozen businesses in the entertainment, retail and construction sectors under his company Blackrose. Oyaya owns five clubs and restaurants, a DJ outfit, a furniture manufacturing firm and an interior design company.
Management style
Oyaya says he chooses to empower his 12 managers to run the businesses and devotes his time to coming up with new ideas. He argues that micromanaging a business can stifle growth and limit its expansion.
“If you never give the people you employ ownership, you will never make money. When I go to my clubs the waiters don’t even know I am the owner because the managers are in charge of everything from hiring to stocking. That gives me the time to do other things, innovate and start new businesses. Giving people responsibilities and giving them room to execute is something I learnt at EABL.”
Looking back, Oyaya says he is glad he followed his passion for business. However, making that step to quit his job was not an easy one.
“I was in charge of events at EABL and I had been thinking about starting my own business, but I always felt that I wasn’t ready.”
At the time, Oyaya’s wife was enrolled in university, they were building their home, his children were going to an expensive private school and he had just bought his wife a new car on loan.
“The thing I worried about the most was losing the medical cover my family enjoyed. I was scared. I was praying that no one would get sick after I quit my job,” says Oyaya, adding that he finally took out medical cover for his family and all his employees five months ago.
The 35-year-old entrepreneur explains that after quitting his job, he went through a stage of confusion, finding himself free all day and even began applying for employment. It took him six months to make his first cheque running his own business.
“I was getting very worried. I was now thinking of things I could sell to get by. It was very hard. The reason why it took me so long to settle was because licensing a business in Kenya takes so long. There were so many licences we needed and no one advised us. There is a cartel that harasses entrepreneurs and takes full advantage of their lack of information.”
Expanding his business
Having overcome many challenges along the way, Oyaya is keen on expanding his business. His next venture? Setting up canteens in informal settlements in Nairobi. Oyaya outlines why this venture will work.
“In the CBD people go to supermarkets but in the slums it is the kiosks that sell everything. You only need one employee and one licence for one shop and there are no electricity or water expenses. You require very little money to open one canteen and you can make KSh. 500 (US$5.82) as profit per day. Now, what if you opened 100? In Kibera slum alone you can have 1,000 shops and they still won’t be enough. How many slums do we have in Nairobi?”
Oyaya believes the retail sector is the low hanging fruit as Africa’s middle class expands and low income-earners struggle to fend for themselves and climb up the social ladder.
His biggest lesson in business has been investing in human resources and ensuring professionalism in all his businesses.
“You will find someone operating a bar with one or two waiters and a barman who also serves as the manager because the owner wants to make 90% profits which is never long lived. You have to invest in people and motivate them to perform efficiently. If you try cutting costs by compromising on human resources you will run one shop until the day you die. If you want to expand, you have to embrace professionalism and hire good talent.”
Embracing failure
Oyaya reckons that entrepreneurs should also embrace and learn from their mistakes as well as attend professional courses to improve their capabilities.
“I have started businesses that have failed. I choose to look at failure as a learning process,” he says. “Our education system is wrong. It teaches kids to never fail. The focus is on being number one and nothing else.”
This best or nothing mentality, Oyaya warns, makes people afraid of failure and taking risks, and formal employment with a monthly salary is considered a safer option.
“I have a friend who sells sweets and makes over KSh. 500,000 ($5,824) a month and another friend who wears a suit and tie every day, drives a company car but takes home KSh. 30,000 ($350) a month. When we sit down, it is the guy in the tie and suit who will brag the most because he works for a big company and drives a company car. Meanwhile, the guy who sells sweets and wears jeans all day is quietly thinking of where he will open the next shop.”
Oyaya warns young entrepreneurs not to focus too much on image but rather start businesses that actually make money. He adds that most young people would not want their peers to know they sell mandazi (Kenyan doughnut) for a living and would prefer to be software entrepreneurs for instance.
“Do what you really love and start small. Let the business grow gradually. Be proud of what you do and do it well,” he advises. “I see most young people eager to make money overnight. You have to patient and put in the hard work.”
While he has no regrets about venturing into business, Oyaya cautions that it has its downside, citing an event last December in which he lost KSh. 600,000 ($6,989). Such unexpected losses, he adds, can have serious repercussions on his entire portfolio.
“As an entrepreneur I am not just responsible for my family, I am responsible for my employees. It’s like having more than 100 dependents,” he says Oyaya. “But I enjoy this. I wake up at 9 o’clock and eat breakfast as I watch TV. No one asks me why I am late for work.”