Small Business in Kenya Business Ideas in Kenya: Starting and operating a Small Business in Kenya includes a possibility of success as we...
Business Ideas in Kenya: Starting and operating a Small Business in Kenya includes a possibility of success as well as failure. Because of their small size, and newness of the business ideas a simple management mistake is likely to lead to sure death of a small enterprise.
Potential clients perceive small businesses as lacking the ability to provide quality services and are unable to satisfy more than one critical project simultaneously. The challenges of running a Small Business in Kenya include,
- Lack of Education,
- Infrastructure,
- Improper Financing,
- Lack of Experience
- Competition
- Poor Security
- Hawkers
How to Start a Small Business in Kenya
To start a small scale business in Kenya you need to have a nerve of steel because the business environment is very challenging. You have to contend with factors that cause many businesses to fail in addition to stiff competition in the Kenyan business environment. But even at that you still need to arm yourself with the right kind of information that will make it possible for you start a small business.
Small Business Ideas in Kenya – Get the business idea
Do you have the right business idea already? How sure are you of it? Will your business truly make money and what are the odds against you? Whatever business you wish to pursue be sure of one thing, a wrong idea will be a recipe for disaster.
Small Business Ideas in Kenya – Register the business
After getting the idea, the next step is to register your business. This is necessary so that you can have that unique name for yourself because businesses are started everyday and you never know who might have a similar name to your preferred name. So register the business with the registrar of companies and get your certificate which proves that you truly are authorized to transact business in Kenya.
Small Business Ideas in Kenya – Get a business plan
No serious business succeeds without a plan. Knowing this means ultimately a business plan must be prepared to guide the would-be entrepreneur and also get him/her prepared to face investors or lenders when the time to raise capital to execute the business comes. No business plan means huge losses and ultimately failure in business. Therefore get that business plan in place.
Small Business Ideas in Kenya – Find a suitable location
The best location for doing any business is one in which the business man can easily access raw materials and reach his desired market. In other words place which ensures closeness or proximity between suppliers and customers is an ideal location for a business although this may not always be possible. But we can still aspire to something close to the ideal. Although frankly speaking not all businesses require a fixed location. Some businesses can be done on the go. You can do them anywhere other than in a fixed place.
Small Business Ideas in Kenya – Get equipmentand tools for your trade
Once you have a suitable location, now is the time to get the tools, machines and equipment you need to make your business work. If for instance you are into digital photography, after you have situated your business, it will be time for getting your tools (digital camera, computers, photo printers and other relevant gadgets).
Small Business Ideas in Kenya – Start marketing
The last and final stage to starting a business is handling the marketing. That is getting a brand name or trade mark, logo, company slogan and other measures necessary for improving the selling position of the business, its products and services. The marketing aspect also involves meeting and networking with people who are relevant to the business and spreading the word round.
Factors to consider before starting a successful small business in Kenya?
Here are some very critical factors that may make your start-up a success.
Small Business in Kenya – Knowledge of the Business
It is quite hard for you to succeed in a business that you have very little knowledge of. For you to succeed in a business start-up, you should know the ins and outs of the business. You should be able to describe your business in detail to anybody. A good example of a business that you cannot start with sufficient knowledge is a chemist. How would you sell drugs to someone if you don’t know the correct product or dosage? You will lose a lot of customers because of wrong prescriptions. Make sure you learn everything that you need to know about your business before setting it up.
Small Business in Kenya – Capital Required
Capital is essential for all businesses whether small or big. You need to calculate before hand, all the necessary capital that you will require to fully set up your business. After getting to know the required capital, then look for the capital source. It could be your own savings, a loan from friends, or a bank loan.
Small Business in Kenya – Get to know your market
Understanding your market is very important when it comes to setting up a business in Kenya because without a potential market, then your products won’t sell. Are people willing to purchase your product or service? Is the market big enough to sustain your business? These are some of the questions that you should ask yourself before setting up a business, and the best way to answer them would be to conduct a market survey. Conduct a market survey and evaluate the potential of the market.
Small Business in Kenya – Analyze your Competition
Would you set up a barber shop with very few shaving equipment and accessories amidst many other barber shops with state of the art shaving components and expect to get enough customers? Not an easy feat to achieve. To avoid being beaten by your competition it is always advisable to check out your competition first, and then think of a service or product that will beat your competition. There are some instances when you can ignore competition especially when the demand for that product is high but under other circumstances always evaluate your competition.
Small Business in Kenya – Location
When it comes to starting a business, location really matters. Choose a location that is accessible to people, a location that has a high population, a location that will give your business an advantage.
Small Business in Kenya – Rules and regulations
Get to know about any rules or regulations that stipulate ways of conducting businesses in an area so that you are not caught on the wrong side of the law. Different areas have different rules; therefore get to learn those rules. For example if you are selling alcoholic drinks, you should not go against the ‘mututho law” that warns against selling alcoholic drinks at certain times of the day.
Small Business in Kenya – Back-up plan
Not all businesses pick up immediately they are launched; some take a shorter period while others take a longer period. Many business people have given up on their businesses because they have taken a longer time before realizing any profit, yet these businesses had huge potential of becoming successful if they were just given more time. It is advisable to have another source of income apart from your business to act as a contingency plan, just in case your business does not pick up fast enough so as to avoid premature closures.
Small Business Ideas in Kenya and Investment Opportunities
Business Ideas in Kenya: Challenges Facing Small business in Kenya
Here are some of the challenges facing small businesses in Kenya.
Insecurity
Security poses a great challenge to Small scale business owners in Kenya. Many of the businesses suffer loss due to theft or thugs invasion who steal from them or terrorist activities like bombing which cause a great amount of loss in terms of destruction. Various means to help prevent or deter this challenge have been tried like; use of security firms or guards to safeguard their businesses while others opt to sleep in their business premises as a security measure. This therefore implies higher cost of doing business as they respond to security challenges.
Competition
Competitions comes in terms of good customer service followed by discount offers which vary according to clients whereby the use of price as a competitive edge by selling more cheaply than their competitors. Selling of variety of products, selling on credits, selling of quality goods and services and offering customers additional services like free training and transportation.
Using price therefore to compete may mean lower profits, even if it may translate into higher volumes. However this strategy can be employed by every body hence spelling a death knell for the business given the fierce competition in the small business sector.
Debt Collection
Debt collection is among the challenges faced in small scale business. Whereby most of the debts are either gained or lost which depends solely on customers loyalty. They are usually collected at the end of the month. Others avoid giving goods and services on credit and others demand down payment before giving a service. Lack of debt payment means a severe loss to the client and therefore remains a challenge
Hawkers
Hawkers pose a challenge to small scale business because they sell cheaper and their goods are of high quality. Competing with hawkers on price is debatable since hawkers move from one place to another bargaining on price since most of them don’t consider a lot of profits but to see their goods sold out.
Business Opportunities in Kenya – Investment Opportunities in Kenya
Here is a list of the business opportunities in Kenya
- Health Sector in Kenya
- Land Sector in Kenya
- Cooperative Development in Kenya
- Regional Development Projects in Kenya
- Building and Construction in Kenya
- Environment and Mineral Sector
- Education Sector in Kenya
- Water and Irrigation Sector in Kenya
- Trade Sector in Kenya
- Fisheries Sector in Kenya
- Livestock Sector in Kenya
- Agricultural Sector in Kenya
- Nairobi Development
- Transport and Infrastructure Sector in Kenya
- National Heritage and Culture Sector in Kenya
- Tourism Sector in Kenya
- Manufacturing Sector in Kenya
- ICT sector in Kenya
- Privatization Commission in Kenya
Small Business Ideas In Kenya – Best Business to Start in Kenya
Small Business Ideas in Kenya – Cosmetics and Fashion Accessories
Ladies always want to look beautiful, and that is why they invest heavily on their looks. It is hard to come across a woman who doesn’t want to be admired by men and that explains why businesses that cater to the needs of women will continue to do well. Selling body creams, soaps, hand bags, shoes, cosmetics, even jewelery are some examples of business ideas in Kenya one can find in this niche. Just think about satisfying women’s desire to look beautiful.
Small Business Ideas in Kenya – Real Estate Agency
In big towns and cities, there is a heavy demand for apartments by people working and in desperate need for affordable and reliable accommodation. It is not uncommon to find real estate agents that were nobodies becoming rich in a short time. Many people have found this business to be lucrative but be on the look out for scammers who may want to give the profession a bad name.
Small Business Ideas in Kenya – Event Planning
People will always get married, organize social events, launch products, try and promote their products or other ideas. The point is events hold everyday, everywhere and people don’t always have the time to plan and manage a good event that people will speak well of. It surprises me when I see that despite our poverty we spend a lot of money on events no wonder many event planners are smiling to the bank.
Small Business Ideas in Kenya – Smart phones and other portable devices
Blackberry and other smart phones are in high demand in Kenya and a few savvy Kenyan business men are smiling to the bank for doing so. According to one newspaper report I read at least half a million Blackberry and smart phones are being used in Kenya with more and more people wanting to have theirs as well. Smart phones especially Samsung Galaxy is also in high demand.
Labels: Business Ideas in Kenya, Profitable Business Ideas, Small Business Ideas
Small Business Ideas in Kenya – Keep livestock and sell them later
You can buy farm animals young, feed them, take good care of them and sell them for a decent profit when they are a few months to a few years old.
Every time you sell an animal you will use part of the money you get to buy more livestock. This becomes your way of investing money back into your business to ensure that it keeps growing and bringing more profits home.
Another thing you can do is sell their produce – eggs if you keep chicken, or milk, manure or ghee if you keep cows. It is up to you what you do with the produce.
As long as there are people buying these things, there’s always room for you in the market if you have the courage to sell and keep selling.
Small Business Ideas in Kenya – Selling seedlings
Be the guy or lady who people come to when they need seedlings for their new plots or gardens. This is a low-capital business. Think about what people want in flowers, vegetables and trees. Is it fruits, beauty, timber for sale, or a nice shade?
Small Business Ideas in Kenya – Love taking care of pets?
Learn. Start breeding them. Then sell your pets. There is a huge demand for healthy breeds. So, if you have the patience and time it takes to take care of dogs, cats, chameleons or any other pet you think you can lawfully sell to others; this might be the beginning of an idea that leads to the business your clients will be proud of.
Small Business Ideas in Kenya – Buying and selling cereals
Have some money on the side to buy cereals during seasons of plenty – harvest times? Then buy in bulk cheap and sell later at reasonable prices that leave room for profit. You can also decide to process the cereals and sell different types of finished products.
Small Business Ideas in Kenya – Make or buy and sell clothes
You can design your own clothes, sew them yourself or hire more people to help you if you start receiving more orders of your clothes.
Small Business Ideas in Kenya – Restaurant business
if you are able to site this business in a good location with high population, then be ready to pack money.
Small Business Ideas in Kenya – Car wash
If you want to succeed in this business, distinguish your services via free car care services like; vulcanizing, etc, just for a tip off.
Small Business Ideas in Kenya – Home dry cleaning services
Remember, there are lots of dry cleaning outlets existing already, so to stand out, offer a unique ‘home pick up’ service as an addition to beat the existing ones
Small Business Ideas in Kenya – Errand boy
Kenya is fast adopting the western lifestyle, such that people now want most solutions at their doorstops- buying of cooking gas, and other non-consumables. The only thing you need here is to build trust and reputation so that people within your chosen location will trust you with their money.
Small Business Ideas in Kenya – Fruit sales
so many people neglect this business maybe as a result of how the existing ones are being ran, but then, you can set a pace for others to follow, success in life is about creativity and innovation, so be unique in your own service and see how far you can go.
Here is a list of other small scale business Opportunities in Kenya
- Movie Shop Business
- Gym
- Sell Personalized Items
- Start Small With Shares
- Graphic Design and Digital Printing
- Sell Stuff on OLX
- Invest in Unit Trusts
- Start a Butchery
- Making ornaments
- Cyber Café Business in Kenya
- Florist Business
- Bakery in Kenya
- Baby care
- Fish farming in Kenya
- Poultry farming in Kenya
- Farming in Kenya
- Laundry business in Kenya
- Retail Business in Kenya
- Carpet cleaning and seats business in Kenya
- Second hand clothes in Kenya
- Fruits salad kiosk in Nairobi Kenya
- Massage parl0r in Kenya
- Embroidery in Kenya
- Event planner in Kenya
- Making cards for special occasions in Kenya
- Hawking in Kenya
- Interior design in Kenya
- Opening a bar n Kenya
- Shoe shiner in Kenya
- Chapatti masters in Kenya
- Computer Repairs in Kenya
- Start a music or movie library in Kenya
- Videotaping Service in Kenya
- Start a salon in Kenya
- Handmade wooden toys
- Web Design
- Local Tour Guide
- Home Day Care
- Delivery Service
- Pool Cleaner
- House Painter
- Tutorial business
- Poultry business
- Mini-day care centre
- Photography business
- Mobile phone repair business
- M-pesa/ Zap/ Orange Money outlets
- Beauty care salon business
- Pig farming business
- Rabbit rearing business
- Printing business
- Electronics repair business
- Academic/freelance writing
- Car wash business
- Barbing salon business
- Fast food restaurants
- Event organizing business
- Catering business
- Travel agency business
- Computer repair and consulting business
