Caroline Muthoga an entrepreneur and the founder Consumerline products. PHOTO | CHARLES KAMAU
When Caroline first walked into her master’s degree class at
Daystar University four-and-a-half years ago, she was dreaming of a
bigger job in the corporate world. Her economics and sociology degree
was beginning to feel outdated. This class however altered the course of
her life. Instead of making her a highly-paid employee, it turned her
into an entrepreneur.
“At the time, I
had been working in insurance marketing for 10 years and I had risen to
management level. I dreamed of an even bigger job with more perks,” she
recalls.
She was studying marketing
and strategic management. The more she studied, the more she wondered
why she had to wait to scale the corporate ladder so that she could put
these skills into action. Slowly, the idea of running her own business
started taking root.
She would think
of a business idea, weigh it in her head and then discard it. Then, one
weekend as she was going about the chores at home, a viable idea dawned
on her.
“Detergents are the first
thing that we wake up to in the morning and they are the last things we
use at night. This to me, meant that there was already demand. All that I
needed was to acquire my own market share,” she says.
SMALL START
She toyed with this idea for weeks before finally walking out of her job exactly a year into her master’s course.
Her
husband was supportive. She however knew that her parents, who are from
a generation where stability meant a monthly salary, were going to be
worried and she kept this fact a secret until much later.
“When
you think about running a business, the first thing that crosses your
mind is starting capital. When I decided I wanted to run a business, I
began actively reading entrepreneurial magazines and newspaper stories
about business owners and what struck me the most was how small some of
them started. I knew that as long as I kept at it, money wasn’t going to
hold me back,” she says.
For skills,
she went to a friend who manufactured shampoos. This friend also taught
her the ins and outs of sourcing for the chemicals and packaging. She
used Sh5, 000 to buy chemicals and packaging for her first batch of
products.
On February 2013, Caroline
took to various homes and offices to market her first product, a
multi-purpose detergent. On her first day, she sold a hundred litres.
“It was exciting. It was like birthing a baby,” she recalls.
While
the products were moving, Caroline realised that some prospective
customers were reluctant because her products had no name. She needed to
brand her products so as to win their confidence. Consumer Line
products was promptly born. It brought about her first business hurdle.
Having a brand meant paying for branding and also paying the Kenya
Bureau of Standards to vet her products.
“I had to sell shares I had bought earlier to cover for these costs,” she says.
To
grow her company, Caroline paid attention to the products that the
clients asked after. This has seen her company grow two brands: the
Sparkleen brand that produces household hygiene products including
disinfectants, degreasers, antiseptics and bleaches, and Marina
comprises of personal care products including body washes, gels and
lotions.
“I am in the process of coming up with a fabric softener,” she speaks of her current pursuit.
HANDY MARKETING SKILLS
What
she was to learn months after starting her business was that in the
industry she had ventured into, having a good product was not enough.
The big stores prefer to have the fast-moving international brands on
their shelves. Her marketing skills have come in handy in her quest to
get her products out there. From the Sh20, 000 that she made that first
month, two years later, her business is making so much more. The only
glitch is the fact that she has to extend credit services to some of her
clients meaning there is always money lying out there. She has learnt
to plough back some of the money she pays herself to keep the business
growing.
From the one-man show that
she ran from her home, Caroline now employs a team of seven. Her dream
is that she will be able to make her brands household names. But she
says that growing a business isn’t her biggest achievement.
“The
thing I am happiest about is being a present mother and wife. I am able
to be there for my family something I am sure I never would have been
able to do were I still employed.”
HOW SHE DID IT:
- She refused to let lack of finances be a problem and she started very small.
- All through, she makes a conscious effort to listen to her clients. This way, she knows which products are on demand.
- She isn’t afraid to admit that there is still a lot that needs to be done to get her where she wants to be.
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