Nancy Kihara resigned from her job to seek new employment opportunities and, during this period, she became aware of the significant amount of free time at her disposal.
Consequently, she resolved to make productive use of her leisure time by exploring the venture of producing yogurt and other dairy products.
She observed that while the business was already operational, she had not previously engaged in it.
“…but now this time I had a lot of free time and business needs care, that’s how I found myself doing this business,” she said.
Kihara remarked that the initial phase was quite challenging due to her prior experience in the corporate sector.
“It was tough because I was coming from a corporate, and the transition was not as easy as I would have thought
“It’s a whole different ballgame all together and the mindset has to really shift for you to actually hack it,” she explained.
Kihara revealed that prior to her active participation in the management of the company, they operated solely a milk ATM machine.
Upon joining the team, she explored opportunities to enhance revenue by adding value to the fresh milk.
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This initiative led to the production of yoghurts, which subsequently prompted them to consider strategies for expanding the business.
“The quality was good and the consistency, people were taking it, but then I was like, ‘we need to scale’ and for you to scale it means whatever you’re takin out there needs to be in place
“The fact that I’m coming from the corporate world where everything is in place, I find myself in a situation where structures and all the processes needs me,” she said.
Kihara articulated that the transition required a considerable amount of time; however, she successfully navigated through it.
“It was not easy, at many times I thought about going back to employment but then I had to keep going because I had someone who kept me grounded,” she said.
Kihara observed that a significant challenge in her business arises from competition with other entities within the industry.
“That is why while you’re coming into the market you’ll have to do your research and see what is it that you’re bringing that’ll make you standout,” she said.
Other challenges include aggressive marketing, holding the staff accountable and unavailability of milk in certain seasons.
