Lessons from a Dead Retail Shop in Rural Kenya

I spent my first 10 years of life in rural Kenya. My parents being civil servants were subject to periodic re-posting and at the time of my birth, my mother had been posted as a teacher to a local school. We therefore settled near the school and would only move years later when she was posted to another school. We had a small parcel of land where we kept some cows and goats from time to time. We reared chicken for commercial purposes and tended to a small coffee plantation. As is the norm in such a setting, a section of the farm was sectioned off for subsistence farming to provide the family with common vegetables. It also helped cut down the budget since we did not have to buy what we could grow.

My parents had a knack for entrepreneurship, albeit on a small scale, so later they went on to establish a retail shop at our local shopping centre. It was a case of necessity calling for invention, as they felt the need to supplement their income and cater for increasing demands in the family. Just like that, we had a start-up. Some leased space at the local shopping centre from where we could trade in fast moving consumer goods (FMCGs) to the rural folk. I was quite young then and had no idea what was going on business-wise, but the shop meant that I no longer had to beg my parents for money to buy candy and lollies.

Today when we visit our rural home, I’m reminiscent of the times. The retail shop is now long gone but the physical building is still erect. The shop was operational for probably five years before it was shut down and stock sold off. Its performance paints a normal curve rising with great potential from a difficult inception, settling on the plateau of success and good profit and ultimately the painful demise from poor returns. However, that curve bears some worthy milestones for a keen entrepreneur.

The Business Cannot Outlive its Purpose

From the onset, the purpose for the business was to supplement family income. As the financial situation at home changed, the business became less significant. The business was serving a need that was no longer a vital concern in the family. This meant that it got less attention, resources and focus. Death was imminent. The longevity of a venture is tied to the need and purpose it’s serving. That’s why clothes store have to change what’s on display as different seasons set in. Businesses that transcend generations and live long are built on equally transcendent purpose.

Vision Excels Entrepreneurship

My father and elder brother ran the business. My brother was on his two-year break waiting to join the university and he served as the retailer for the two years. He’d update my father who worked far from home when he came over the weekends. During this time, the business did well. It was the single busiest store at the shopping centre. However, my brother left for campus. No one in the family could run the business as we were engaged in school and work. We therefore had to employ someone in place. The two people who held the vision for the small business were now not involved in its daily operations. The store had stock, there was enough capital, but instead of a vibrant vision carrier building the business, we had a store keeper.

Never Settle, Innovate

Vision is the heart of innovation. Innovation, initiative and ingenuity will paddle you to your vision. When my brother was running the daily operations, he came up with creative ways and engineered around challenges. He allowed people known well to us to have some credit limit. He built a display window for new items such as cosmetics. He struck deals with other retailers further inland to order through us and get goods delivered. The channels kept the business growing in an otherwise stunted business environment. However, with the change of guard, the wheels stopped spinning. Where one operator wanted a thriving ongoing business concern, the other one wanted a salary.

Where you Build Matters

If you have any idea of the rural setting and the shopping centres I’m talking about, you know that they never change. There are hardly any new businesses, no new buildings, no renovations … nothing! To this day, the shopping centre where we used to have the shop is as it were then. The only change I’ve seen is from decay and age - and probably a coat of paint to obscure the branding from a previous occupant. If you are lucky, you may get the building branded over by a corporation advertising to the locals. In such an environment, where the common mentality is subsistence and getting by, things tend to die. Though there is massive potential and room for positive entrepreneurial exploitation, the undergirding mindset and philosophy cannot support a thriving business. Eventually, your name will be painted over.