The worst mistake most entrepreneurs make is that when adversity strikes, it means the end of their business. For instance, the Covid-19 pandemic marked the end of a significant number of businesses, thanks to strict social distancing rules that forced many people to switch to remote working.
But for Kaberia Bariu, founder of SetPace Consultancy, the pandemic was a blessing in disguise. How, you might ask? You see, as business owners scratched their heads, wondering how to keep their businesses afloat, he used the opportunity to rethink his business module strategy and adopt new ideas that would continue to keep him relevant in the industry.
"After Covid-19, the focus shifted to virtual training and meetings, and to some extent, this is still the case today. We were quick to adopt and create a learner management system that could support customised packages," says Bariu, adding that bringing people together through team building activities is easy when it is done in person, but when social gatherings become impossible, it becomes important to create activities with specific themes that fit a particular need. This way, the business was able to achieve this by studying the trends and understanding consumer needs.
Imagine, then, virtual team building, which Bariu says has only been possible through innovation. They have also been able to develop different team-building modules for people with disabilities and different religions, such as the Muslim community. This, says the businessman, is the mission and vision he had when he started the company more than five years ago.
"There is something in the business world called MITB, which simply means money in the bank. So anyone starting a business would have that in mind. But for SetPace, we are changing the meaning of that word to mean making an impact through business. We are about impact and growing the businesses of SMEs," he explains.
Coming from a family whose livelihood depended on the success of his father's retail business, Bariu thought he had some understanding of what it takes to run a business, however, he later realised that he actually had very little information because, he points out, there was no well-thought-out succession plan.
"When my father fell ill, I could not run the business because I realised that growing a business requires more than just making sales. Also, my father never involved us or mentored us in how he ran the business, he always told us to focus on school," says Bariu.
"Although I was young, it hurt me to see my father in hospital and the business that paid for our school and everything else we needed collapse. This is the same case with some billionaires, when the children take over they run the business into the ground," he says.
This ignited a passion in him and he vowed that one day he would create a company that would help SMEs.
SetPace, he says, focuses on providing business training to small business owners such as mama mbogas, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to grow their businesses.
According to Bariu, one of the biggest challenges for SMEs is access to finance, which means that most of these business owners cannot even afford consultancy services. So, when such a person starts a business, it is more of a trial and error process.
"This is where we come in and reassure these individuals that they don't have to worry so much about whether they can afford our services or not, because our focus is to grow with the business to the point where they become a company," explains Bariu.
"Our reach so far is good, we have been able to reach almost all 47 counties and this has been possible through working with companies who contract us to provide training for their employees," he says.
So why is it important for entrepreneurs to seek professional training when it comes to growing their business?
"Why is it important? Because people only start to believe in you when you make it. In the infancy or idea stage, very few people, even institutions, will want to support you, from the banks when you go looking for money because even the policies are made to support someone who already has structure. Some entrepreneurs give up along the way because they do not understand the true meaning of marketing, sales, and taxation," says Bariu.
Mentorship is very important, so is sharing valuable information with a person who has a good business idea, as Bariu argues, when we all grow, the economy grows. Networking is also very important, which is why when he is not training entrepreneurs, he enjoys golf even as he strives for work-life balance.
"I have learnt the hard way; I have made some business mistakes, which, looking back, I wish someone had told me the right thing to do before I made the decisions I made. If we had a good number of people offering business mentoring and training, we would not have a large number of failed businesses," he says.
Such outcomes, he says, can be changed through innovation and upskilling.
