About 15 years ago, at a time when very few women worked in the IT industry, Brendah Mwirichia took a leap of faith to start Peak and Dale, a business that would specialise in the provision of digital services.
Her journey towards entrepreneurship began at the University of Nairobi, where she opted to pursue a competency in Computer Science, against the expectations of many in her inner circle.
Soon after graduating, she managed to secure a job at an international organisation where she worked as a software developer for one year, until, unfortunately, the company she worked for went under.
“When this happened, I remember sitting at the public benches near Hilton, thinking that I would never want to go back to employment, but I wasn’t sure where to start in business either,” said Brendah in an interview with Powering SMEs.
It was during this time that businesses had developed some interest around IT and interestingly, as she was contemplating her next move, an old friend reached out to her in need of web hosting services.
“I agreed to do it for him and so he asked me at how much. I got an arbitrary figure from my head and told him Sh10, 000. When he quickly agreed to pay, that is when I knew that I was onto something,” she recalls.
Excited, she went home and told her parents that she would want to start a business, however, the parents were not so convinced that this was the best option for her at that moment.
“I did not have capital and I did not have any way to raise it, so the only way I could make this work was to actually make people believe in my dream,” said Brendah.
As the sole employee at the time, she began marketing her business to potential clients, informing them of the services it provided and how these could help them advance their businesses onto the next level.
Brendah Mwirichia, the founder and CEO of Peak and Dale Solutions Limited, at her office in Mitsumi Business Park, Nairobi.
Photo credit: Pool
Gradually, she began to get clients, whose assignments she would execute on an old desktop computer in a small office space near Jeevanjee Gardens in Nairobi.
“I remember at that time, I did not want my clients to come to my office because they could not fit. I would tell them let’s meet at a Java in town so that we can work from there,” remarked Brendah.
As the workload increased, she moved into a larger office and on-boarded two more staff, mostly to help her with the marketing, as she concentrated on the coding work.
Over time, the business transitioned from a tech agency into a digital marketing and communication firm, delivering services to clients including SMEs, corporate organisations, government parastatals and occasionally, individuals such as politicians.
“I have boot strapped Peak and Dale to where we are today, that means we have not gotten external debt to finance the business, that is a statement that says that if you know what you are doing and are able to sell your vision to people, the people will buy it,” says Brendah.
From being the sole employee overseeing office administration, accounts, human resource and coding, Brendah now works with 46 staff skilled in different aspects of the business.
“I have now gotten to a point where I cannot remember the last time I coded because I have a team that does that and they are really good,” says Brendah.
The Peak and Dale staff also vary in terms of language and nationality, which enables the company to tackle projects beyond Kenya.
“I believe that it is very important to blend your workforce in terms of composition because the way I think is not the way you think, the way you see things is not the way I see things, that diversity is crucial,” says Brendah.
Recently, the company acquired another agency known as Bean Interactive, under an agreement that will see them take full control of all their internal resources.
Through this acquisition, Brendah says that they will be able to deliver on larger projects and potentially expand their operations further into the regional market.
“We are an independent agency that has acquired another independent agency, which is quite significant. Most agencies in the country have international affiliations,” posed Brendah.
Eventually, Brendah says that they would want to get to a place where they are big enough for local agencies to want to be affiliated with them as opposed to the international organisations, which has been the norm.
“We are proud that we are local because I believe that the best talent comes from here. Our people have the best that we can offer. We understand the African market, we are the ones who can give solutions to this African market,” said Brendah.
For their efforts, they have been feted as the e-commerce agency of the year three times in a row. The company also won the Marketing Society of Kenya (MSK) product relaunch of the year award as well as the digital solutions provider of the year award in 2023.
Despite the significant progress, Brendah admits that like any other business, Peak and Dale still faces its fair share of challenges and that there are times when things just do not go as planned.
However, how a business is able to navigate through such challenges is what determines whether that business will come out stronger, or whether it will be affected negatively.
She also says that consistency, grit and discipline are key, because without that, then it can be very difficult to manage a business, which is always bound to be affected by some external force.
“You cannot say that I am doing this today, tomorrow I will do another thing. That will not work. Choose one struggle and stay on it, go the full path,” says Brendah.
As a trailblazer, the entrepreneur encourages more women to get involved in the IT industry, which has huge potential because in future, many things will be done digitally.
“Back in the day, there were very few women in IT. In my Computer Science class for instance, there were only two women. Even when I started Peak and Dale, we would go for pitches and it was mostly male dominated, but now things are changing,” remarked Brendah.
