Angela Kamanzi My Journey in Entrepreneurship

“You have an idea for a new business. You are sooo excited that you start telling your friends and family about it (mistake). You are confident this product solves a big problem in the market (mistake). You make a vision board and start drafting your business plan (mistake). You recruit some family members and an enthusiastic friend to work with …

Most sided with Mama Kwito and tore the couple to pieces, accusing mum of bewitching Kwitonda. I was taken aback. I knew Mama Kwito was deeply annoyed, but I wasn’t expecting her to post anything on social media. A former girlfriend of Kwitonda created a Facebook group dubbed “Kwito’s Girls to the Rescue”. Within days, the group’s membership attained hundreds …

I trust you are now firmly back into business after #ObamaHoliday. When Dr Obiageli Ezekwesili, Senior Economic Advisor, Africa Economic Development Policy Initiative, enumerated the following facts (and some more) during the SPARC Advocacy forum in the run up to the #GES2015, she brought into sharp focus the necessity of educating the African woman. The face of poverty in Africa …

Icyimanimpaye was a name their own mother, who had eight daughters, wished she had given to a son she never had. My grandmother lifted me and said “Cyimana, my first grandson, welcome, welcome sweetheart. Grow up, go to school and take up responsibilities!” Running Nyiraneza’s shop, my mum became very good at meeting customers’ needs and her input improved revenues …

A matatu crew is one fascinating sales team. They go out of their way to acquire customers; from inviting, cajoling and sweet talking to pulling, pushing, racing to the next bus stage, sometimes coming to blows. Yet after the commuter has boarded their bus, they don’t care whether she is comfortably seated, they play loud music whether she likes it …

You’ve been working very hard at selling your products or services without saying much results. I’d like to share with you what sales guru Todd Duncan considers as the five to killers of sales, and how to avoid them. Pausing: trying to sell instead of training to sell. To overcome this, train to be really good at selling. Spend 30 …

Your business starts with you. However it is not about you. Your business is about your clients; about how they perceive the value of what you are selling. When your client is buying a perfume from you, what do they really want? They want to smell good. Or they want to smell like a particular celebrity. How about when they …

“All will go well,” Kwitonda kept saying more to himself than to my mum and me to mask his nervousness, as we drove to his mother’s place. Mahirwe, my mother, was quiet and anxious too. Uwituze, Kwitonda’s mother, welcomed us enthusiastically. She lived alone in Lavington, a luxurious suburb in Nairobi. It had been almost two years since Kwitonda moved …

Are you struggling to get good customers? (Your services are not valued. Your products are not moving. You are wondering what you got yourself into). Are you tired of chasing clients who don’t appreciate or value what you offer? (Your potential clients keep complaining about your prices. It’s so frustrating and discouraging. You are praying for clients who would be …

I recently met this interesting entrepreneur. She seemed to know her stuff at the tip of her fingers, but when I asked her where she saw herself in the next 5 years, she looked at me as if she was landing with a thud from the treetop. She fumbled a bit then confessed “I have actually not given it a …