Building a Business Startup: Part One

No matter how many business books you read, nothing can really prepare you for building a business from ground up. While there are academic institutions that are eager to offer courses on entrepreneurship, I have not found it to be something that you can be taught in a classroom.

There are a lot of things that founders go through and in most cases, they never tell you. Well, let me mention a few of the things that I have faced in my entrepreneurial journey. If you are in a place you do not want to be, you are just one decision away from where you want to be. I have made some stupid decisions along the way and those 'failures' have been my greatest lessons;


Have a plan, then a Plan B

"If the founders of Google, PayPal, or Starbucks had stuck to their original business plans, we'd likely never have heard of them. Instead, they made radical changes to their initial models, became household names and delivered huge returns for investors.". This is a quote from the book, Getting to Plan B, by John Mullins & Randy Komisar.

While starting out, you will have an idea of what you want to achieve and how you want to achieve it. As you execute your plan, you will learn what works and what does not work.

Over the last two years, I have executed what I thought was a perfect plan. The good news is that during that period, I have also learned a lot about the market dynamics as well as the key issues affecting my business model. I am now clearer on what to pursue further, what to change or improve and also what to completely throw away.

My goal was to ensure that we had a very clear way of doing things by the time we reached our third birthday in 2016. It seems am ahead of schedule on this one.

It is okay to have an open mind to the fact that what you started with may not be what you finish with. Your original business idea is just but a start of a journey that is not linear.

Pick the right partner

They say that you could end up spending more time with your business partner than your spouse. In that regard, choosing a business partner is more like choosing your life partner. It is that serious. One of the most challenging aspects of having a business partner is on deciding how decisions will be made when partners do not agree. There are partners who seem to expect the greatest return for the least effort. Will he or she put in the long hours it takes to get a business off the ground? Unlikely. Would I end up putting in extra hours to make up the slack? Likely. Get advice from an experienced entrepreneur, not an amateur.

In one of my businesses, I have had a partner for a while now and it has taught me quite a bit. The lessons you can never learn from a classroom. This experience has made me smarter on the kind of partner I really need, the kind of qualities to look for and more importantly, the fact that the partner need to have real entrepreneurial experience. In the early stages of a business startup, I will always choose practical over theoretical knowledge. Partnering with someone who has years of experience with the problem your business faces from a professional, or personal perspective adds unique value to the solutions you are creating, value that someone without hand-ons experience could never supply.

It is not an easy decision. Yet it is not a choice you can afford to flub. Choosing the right partner will not only affect your very livelihood, it will also affect your business and your own attitude.

You will attract haters

When you launch your business, be prepared to attract haters. It is flattering and comes with the territory. It seems to be an unavoidable fact of life, unfortunate as it may seem. The mature way to cope is to wait a little while to cool off and then to respond if, and only if, you can rationally and succinctly respond to whatever claim was made. Given the nature of most haters' claims, that may be impossible to do. So, if you cannot respond in a clear, concise and convincing manner that will end the conversation, just do not respond. Haters do not deserve your time. Forget about it, focus on the great things you are doing, and then move on.

Oil & Gas in Kenya: Let us remain proactive in the Oil and Gas Industry

I said it then, and I will say it again.

The history of oil and gas exploration in Kenya dates back to the 1950s with the first exploration well being drilled in 1960. Over the past 50 years, a number of oil companies have invested their resources in the search for the ‘black gold’ in Kenya.

They were unsuccessful, though some efforts showed signs of hydrocarbon presence in our basins. Our own National Oil has a data center where one can get information about work done so far in our basins.

Out of the 33 wells which had been drilled in the country by the year 2012, 16 of them showed signs of hydrocarbons, but none were considered commercial. Only 4 had been drilled offshore and of these only 1 in Block L5, drilled by Woodside in 2007 was in deep water.

A lot has happened since then and we are now talking of about 46 blocks, being operated by about twenty three oil companies. There are plans by the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum to increase the blocks to 54 by issuing eight new licences.

Petroleum exploration process involves a series of decisions made under uncertainty—we do not know whether oil or gas is present until after an exploratory well has been drilled. This is an extremely capital intensive undertaking.

Kenya’s status as a frontier exploration area, therefore, is a key disincentive to major international oil companies who have the requisite resources for underwriting attendant high petroleum exploration risks.

In most case, the oil and gas companies will subcontract their major operations to oilfield companies.

Local investors, contractors or suppliers have a great opportunity to offer value to the emerging oil and gas sector. The government should also put in place local content legislations that will boost the participation by local contractors while maintaining the high standards required in this sector.

Oil and gas development in Kenya is about more than the oil and gas sector alone. It is crucial that the resources are developed in a manner that maximizes benefits to Kenya by supporting growth in the domestic public and private sector institutional competencies.

It needs also to support growth in domestic businesses, increased employment across the country, development of infrastructure to support expanded economic activities and expanded access to training and education opportunities.

As a country, we have a window of opportunity of a few years to make the right decisions. These initial decisions will shape the path that the development of the oil and gas sector in the country will take. It is very crucial that we get it right early.

*This article originally appeared in Kenya's Business Daily newspaper. Also on Linkedin