Mark Steve Nuguti, founder of Spoton Vacation, a tour management company. FILE PHOTO | POO
Mark Nuguti, a 33-year-old running a tours and travel business says he is yet to “experience failure but has suffered a few setbacks.”
“I know it’s common for entrepreneurs to experience failures especially when starting. Many successful entrepreneurs attribute their success to the lessons learned from their failures, but I guess I learned from some of them and have been lucky to avoid that path,” he says.
One of the setbacks he is talking about is he did not know how important a finance department is in any start-up. He was handling the finance all alone, in addition to being the CEO of Spoton Vacations.
“Soon I realised that I needed someone with financial expertise because there was so much I did not know, like the balance sheet,” he says.
He started with one employee – himself, but now he has 15 employees.
“The majority of my workforce are women. That’s my intention, to empower as many women as I can,” he says, adding that their oldest employee is 35 years old.
Industry experience
Understanding an industry before starting a business helps. Mr Nuguti has been in the tourism industry for 15 years, rising through the ranks before he decided to make himself a CEO.
“I started early even before I graduated in 2010 with a Bachelor’s degree in Tours and Travel from Mount Kenya University. My first job was as a tour consultant (salesperson). I shifted to marketing then branding rising to the highest ranks of a manager,” he says.
He worked for tour companies such as TravelMat Tours, Edemat Safaris before joining Bonfire Adventures then quit after five years to set up Spoton Vacation in 2019.
“It was easy to set up the basic structures because I had an idea of what was needed having spent all those years working for other companies,” he says.
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Being a new venture, he experienced many setbacks but the capital was not one of them. He had devised a plan since his days as an employee.
“I had embraced the culture of saving. Even when my salary rose to Sh70,000, I continued living in an informal settlement where my rent was Sh7,000. That helped me grow my savings,” he says.
How much did he need to start Spoton Vacation?
“About Sh5 million to secure the office, lease agreement, redesign it, buy computers... I could have started with a small office but that wasn’t what I envisioned. It’s either you dream big or go home. Dreaming big will force you to work hard,” he says,
His first employee was an IT person.
“I am a marketer, I had built a clientele database and was selling from my bedroom even before launching Spoton and as the business came about and demanded more attention, I hired more people. My dream is to employ as many as 3,000 youths someday,” he says.
For the few years Spoton has existed, the business has realised a turnover running into millions of shillings. Last year, his company won Kenya’s Leading Travel Management Company award at the coveted World Travel Awards.
Seizing opportunity
“We are a Covid-19 baby and so when the pandemic hit, I saw a rare opportunity to make money. There was a lockdown, movements had been restricted, there was no travel and so I became among the first people to do Nairobi National Park tours before copy-cats followed suit,” he says.
His strategy to partner with celebrities paid off.
“We did good business because in a day I could do 40 cars, 100 to 150 land cruisers. It was like a matatu businessman just ferrying people to the park. That’s how we became popular,” he chuckles.
A game drive to Nairobi National Park would range between Sh7,000 to Sh10,000 or more for personal game drives. The cost often comes down to as low as Sh3,000 when travelling in a group.
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Curated packages
Another strategy that Spoton has employed to ensure its success, is curating family packages during holidays. There are also Valentine’s Day and wedding packages. He also introduced helicopter safaris.
“You can do a city tour. If you go to New York, a city tour will cost you around $100 (Sh12,490) per person but in Kenya, it will cost you Sh300,000 because there is no demand, it’s a relatively new experience but with time I am sure Kenyans will embrace it and it will be affordable,” he says.
Does he count himself successful?
“It’s too early to say we are successful. For any new business, the first two, or three years is the most crucial phase. It’s the make-or-break chapter. I’m focusing on building a brand,” he says.
→tmatiko@ke.nationmedia.com
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