Stories: Harnessing motivation to strengthen refugee-led initiatives

lice Mugisha, 35yrs old, came to Kenya in 2017 and is married with five children. She was highly motivated to earn an income for herself but found doing odd jobs didn’t provide enough stability, and the businesses she started didn’t grow.

“I didn’t know what factors to consider before starting a business,” she said, mentioning that there were too many options to choose from. “I followed peer pressure. I would start one business, and before it would pick up, I would close and start another one. Among the businesses I have tried are secondhand clothes, smokies and boiled eggs.”

Eventually, she found a job working in a salon. Although she had many clients, the money she earned there didn’t seem to add up, and Alice couldn’t account for any profit she had made.

Alice had joined a Kenyan church where she sang and became a praise and worship leader. She gained a substantial audience and was asked to attend more events outside of Nairobi. She used a third party to manage her events and accounts and found the process wasn’t working. “I was shortchanged a lot when it came to payment since I didn’t know what or how a contract works. My producer opened a Gmail account and YouTube channel for me since I didn’t know how to and retained the passwords. He requested an amount of money I could not raise to get the rights to run the channel, and I ended up giving up.”

She started the training project and was interested in learning how savings and investments could be used. “I realized I had to change my mindset,” she said. “I always thought I needed a lot of money to set up my own salon. I started setting goals whereby I would buy one piece of salon equipment monthly. I now have a blow dry, rollers, dryer, combs and mannequins.”

After learning more about digital marketing, she opened her own YouTube Alice Mugisha channel, where she had all the rights. “I was taught how to upload videos, and I have five videos up with a total of 1062 views and 132 subscribers,” she said proudly. “Anywhere I perform, I make sure to tell the church members to subscribe, like and share. We were also taught the importance of a contract, and I am now able to negotiate before any performance and always go home a happy artist.”

She has also been able to expand to new platforms such as TikTok. She uses the short video format to post clients’ videos when she does their hair, which has brought her even more business.

Alice has combined all these skills to make her business ventures flourish. “Through saving, I was able to buy secondhand clothes, which I also sell. I normally dress the mannequins and take pictures or make videos to post on Instagram and Tiktok. This marketing strategy has really helped me get clients.”

She is using her position at a salon to learn more about the Kenyan styles and market and discover how she can make her designs unique to get ahead and open her own salon one day.

“[CAPYEI’s training] has been an eye-opener as an artist and a businesswoman, and I am sure of a bright future ahead.”

Like Alice, Beatrice Umwiza turned to self-employment to support her two children but faced challenges to have her business ventures grow and thrive in the Kenyan market.

“I was born and raised in Congo and moved to Kenya in 2008 when there were clashes in my country,” she said. “Adapting to Kenya wasn’t easy. I couldn’t blend with the residents well because of cultural differences and the feeling of being a foreigner.”

After the initial struggle to survive in a new country, Beatrice started selling eggs and smoked sausages by the roadside. “I worked really hard and saved the little I earned. After a year of saving, I ventured into the secondhand clothes business, and Betty Boutique was born.” She started selling children’s clothes, but every time a mother came in, they would ask where they could get clothes for themselves. She could leverage into selling ladies’ clothes in higher demand and began to specialize in all types of women’s secondhand clothes.

Before attending classes at the CAPYEI centre, she relied on walk-in businesses and word of mouth. Then, having learned more about digital marketing, Beatrice started to sell her clothes online through Facebook and Instagram and began to market on other platforms like TikTok. “The first week that I posted my product on TikTok I got a client from Rwanda that purchased all the dresses I had posted that day,” she said. “I have since then gotten a lot of customers through social media platforms, and my business has significantly grown.”

Beatrice says her improved marketing and consumer need strategies and learning how to be more effective with bookkeeping have grown her income from a gross of ksh 15000 to ksh 25 000. She has also been able to use her new analysis skills to spot gaps in the market and started renting out clothes for special occasions such as birthdays, weddings, bridal showers, baby showers.

“I am really grateful for this project that has helped me grow my business.”