In 2017, Caroline Kasyoka Munyoki made a decision that would completely change the direction of her career.
After years in banking, she walked away from the predictability of a formal job and ventured into a business where success would depend less on a monthly salary but more on her ability to understand customers, manage people, navigate supply chains and withstand the uncertainties of the market.
Her first step was not a factory or a large manufacturing plant but a small hardware business. At the time, the idea was to sell construction materials to homeowners, contractors and developers. But the hardware shop soon became a classroom.
As Ms Munyoki interacted with customers, she began noticing a recurring problem.
Some buyers were choosing roofing materials primarily because they were cheap, only to return later with complaints about rusting sheets, leaking roofs or products that had failed much earlier than expected.
For her, this was more than a customer-service problem. It was a business opportunity.
“Homeowners, contractors and developers were spending their hard-earned money, but they were not getting real value,” she says.
She realised that while Kenya had no shortage of companies selling roofing materials, the market still had room for products that placed greater emphasis on durability, reliability and design.
That observation would eventually push her to move from simply selling roofing materials to making them. It was a significant leap for an entrepreneur who had started with a small retail outlet.
Today, she is the founder and chief executive officer of Fahari Roofings, a roofing sheets manufacturing and supply company that has grown from its modest beginnings into a business serving customers in different parts of the country.
The journey, however, has not been straightforward. For Ms Munyoki, moving from banking to entrepreneurship was one challenge.
Moving from retail into manufacturing was another, and doing so in an industry largely dominated by men presented an additional test.
Leaving the comfort of banking
Banking offered her a structured career and a level of stability that many professionals work hard to achieve. But entrepreneurship offered none of those guarantees.
Yet she had become increasingly interested in building something that could have a direct and lasting impact. In 2017, she took the plunge.
The early days were spent learning the realities of running a business: from dealing with customers and suppliers to understanding pricing, stock management and the pressures of cash flow.
Unlike employment, where responsibilities can be defined by a job description, business requires an entrepreneur to wear several hats at once.
Fahari Roofings Ltd is involved in the manufacturing and supply of different gauges, colours and sizes of roofing sheets.
Photo credit: Pool
A business owner can be a salesperson in the morning, a procurement officer in the afternoon and a problem-solver late into the evening.
Ms Munyoki’s experience in banking gave her useful skills, particularly in understanding numbers, managing finances and dealing with clients. But the hardware business exposed her to a different side of commerce.
She had to understand what customers actually wanted and, perhaps more importantly, why they made certain purchasing decisions. That is where she identified the gap in roofing materials.
Cheap products were attractive to buyers operating on tight budgets, but the initial price did not always tell the full story.
A homeowner who bought cheaper sheets and later had to replace them because of rust or leaks could ultimately spend more than someone who had invested in better-quality material from the beginning. She saw an opportunity to build a business around that long-term value.
Instead of competing only on price, she wanted Fahari Roofings to compete on quality, reliability and service. That meant changing the business model.
Moving into manufacturing required Ms Munyoki to learn an entirely new side of the industry. Selling construction materials and producing them are two very different businesses.
Manufacturing involves machinery, raw materials, production standards, quality control, logistics, skilled workers and substantial working capital.
As a woman entering a sector traditionally dominated by men, she says she also encountered skepticism.
There were expectations about who belonged on factory floors, in technical conversations and in negotiations involving large construction projects.
Rather than allowing those perceptions to discourage her, Ms Munyoki treated them as another reason to learn.
She immersed herself in the business, gradually understanding how steel products are manufactured, how different customers make purchasing decisions, how logistics affect costs and how procurement processes work. The learning did not stop at the factory.
A homeowner putting up a modest family house does not necessarily have the same requirements as a contractor handling several projects or an institution roofing dozens of buildings.
Today, the company has a workforce of about 40 people working in production, sales, logistics and product installation.
Caroline Munyoki (right) explains to a customer the available product offerings.
Its factory produces roofing sheets in different gauges, colours and sizes, allowing customers to choose products according to their construction needs.
For Ms Munyoki, however, having machinery and employees is only one part of building a sustainable enterprise. The other is earning the trust of customers.
Why customer service matters
One of the lessons she learnt early in business was that a sale should not be viewed as the end of a transaction. It can be the beginning of a relationship.
In construction, a contractor who receives the wrong materials, experiences delays or finds that products do not meet expectations can quickly lose confidence in a supplier.
Conversely, a supplier that delivers what was promised and responds when problems arise can earn repeat business.
“By prioritising client satisfaction and delivering exactly what was promised, we have built a bedrock of loyal customers who fuel the business through repeat contracts and referrals,” she says.
For a growing SME, referrals can be particularly valuable.
Unlike large companies with substantial advertising budgets, small and medium-sized businesses often depend heavily on reputation.
One satisfied customer can recommend a company to another contractor, developer, institution or homeowner.
That can gradually create a network of business that is difficult to build through advertising alone. Fahari Roofings has also moved into larger projects.
The company is currently involved in a project in Nyaribari Masaba, where it is supplying roofing for schools under the constituency’s development programme. It has also participated in projects linked to the government’s Affordable Housing Agenda.
Such projects represent an important transition for a business that began as a small hardware shop. But they also bring new responsibilities.
Large contracts require the capacity to deliver consistently, meet deadlines and manage logistics. They also expose an SME to the consequences of a single mistake on a much larger scale.
For Ms Munyoki, the answer is preparation, quality control and maintaining strong relationships with clients.
Building a business in a difficult market
While Fahari Roofings has expanded, Ms Munyoki says the local manufacturing environment remains challenging.
One of the biggest threats, in her view, is competition from cheap, substandard and counterfeit roofing materials.
The problem is particularly difficult for legitimate manufacturers because a product that costs less at the point of purchase can appear more attractive to a customer who may not immediately understand the difference in quality.
“The biggest challenge we face in this industry is competition from traders selling counterfeit, substandard imports at absurdly low costs,” she says.
She argues that some of these products get into the country despite quality-control requirements, leaving consumers to deal with the consequences.
For manufacturers that invest in proper production processes and standards, the competition can feel unfair.
A legitimate manufacturer must account for raw materials, employees, machinery, energy, transport, taxes and compliance costs.
A trader selling an inferior product at a much lower price does not necessarily face the same cost structure. The result is a difficult balancing act.
Manufacturers must keep prices competitive while maintaining the quality that distinguishes their products.
For Fahari Roofings, the situation is further complicated by taxes and duties that Ms Munyoki says increase the cost of production.
This can make locally manufactured products more expensive than imported alternatives, even when the local company is trying to build a competitive business.
Ms Munyoki believes Kenya needs a stronger ecosystem for manufacturers if the country is to create sustainable jobs and reduce dependence on imported products.
She wants regulators such as the Kenya Bureau of Standards to strengthen enforcement against substandard products.
In her view, regulations are only effective when they are properly enforced. She also advocates for tax incentives that would enable local manufacturers to reduce production costs and compete more effectively.
Government and private-sector construction projects, she argues, should also create greater opportunities for locally manufactured products.
A woman in a man’s industry
For her, supporting local manufacturers is not simply about patriotism. It is also about building businesses that employ people, develop technical skills and retain more value within the economy.
She believes Kenya must go further by developing the capacity to process more raw materials locally.
At present, much of the steel used by manufacturers is processed from imported materials.
Increasing local processing, she argues, could help reduce production costs and strengthen the country’s industrial base.
However, she acknowledges that this will require significant investment and a competitive raw-material market.
Ms Munyoki’s journey also shows a broader challenge facing women entrepreneurs who enter sectors traditionally associated with men.
Manufacturing, construction and steel are often perceived as technical, physically demanding industries where men dominate decision-making.
For women entering these spaces, competence alone may not always be enough to overcome assumptions.
She learnt to understand the products she was selling, the machinery used to produce them, the economics of the steel trade and the requirements of large customers.
The lesson is one she believes applies beyond roofing. Entrepreneurs cannot afford to remain spectators in their own businesses. They must understand the details of what they sell and the industry in which they operate.
That knowledge becomes particularly important when negotiating with suppliers, contractors, financial institutions and large clients.
Her efforts have also earned recognition. Ms Munyoki has been featured among Top 40 Under 40 Women in Business and on Mwanamke Bomba.
For her, such recognition is useful not only as personal acknowledgement but because it creates opportunities to enter networks and meet potential partners and clients.
In business, visibility can sometimes open a door, but performance determines whether that relationship lasts.
Despite the challenges at home, Ms Munyoki’s ambitions extend beyond Kenya.
With Fahari Roofings having established a national presence, she wants to take the company into other East African markets. The plan is not simply to sell more roofing sheets.
She sees regional expansion as an opportunity to build a larger manufacturing enterprise while creating employment, particularly for young people.
Entering another country means understanding its regulations, construction market, customer preferences, competition, taxes and distribution networks.
For an SME, expanding too quickly can also create pressure on cash flow and management.
For her, the focus remains on building a strong foundation before taking the next major step.
