Technology has changed how business owners interact with each other and removed the limitations of location. There are many businesses now with clients all over the world that they never have to travel to see. If business owners are smart, they can gain market share in countries where the services or products they offer are less prominent.
Preciss Data, founded by Mugure Mugo, located in Nairobi, Kenya has managed to become one of the success stories of globalization. There services include data entry, email processing, forms processing, online research, database management and rejuvenation, data conversation, document conversion + OCR, document coding, and document review.
Mugure and Preciss Data are headed in the right direction while also positioning Kenya as another alternative for effective business outsourcing. Mugure interviewed with Liberate Magazine™ and shed some light on her business and their future goals.
LM: What drives you?
MM: I am passionate about helping our industry grow to provide gainful
employment to as many young Kenyans as possible.
LM: What experiences influenced your decision to start a business?
MM:My parents have been in business since when I was in my teens, and I have
watched them go through all the stages of running a business, from
inception to maturity. Their company is now over 20 years old.
After my parents started their business, there was a visible difference in
our lives as a family, and it became clear to me that owning a successful
business could be very lucrative. After completing my university education,
I was employed for about 3 years, and when I lost my job to retrenchment, I
immediately knew that I would start a business rather than seek employment.
Later, I was strongly influenced by a conference I attended here in
Nairobi, Kenya, that was conducted by UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on
Trade and Development) in November 2001. Some of the speakers were from
UNCTAD offices in Geneva, and they came with several publications, one of
which spoke about the benefits of exporting services (rather than
traditional African products such as coffee) to developed markets. There
was mention of creating thousands of jobs, and earning much-needed foreign
exchange for our economy. I was intrigued, and when I had the opportunity
to travel to Geneva in June 2002, I met with the head of the Services
Exportation division, and came home shortly thereafter ready to begin an
outsourcing business.
LM: What formal education and/or training do you have or had to get to start
your business?
MM:I have a degree in Information Science and a Master’s degree in
International Business Administration. When I was in the university, I never
thought my education would steer me towards running an outsourcing company,
but somehow my educational background blended very well and prepared me for
it.
LM: How did you get started?
MM:I lost my job to retrenchment at the age of 28, a few months after I got
married, when the Kenyan economy took a dip. I immediately began a web site
development company, housed in my husband’s office. As a self-employed
architect, he was able to support me with office space, furniture and a
computer, which enabled me to start.
As a web site developer, I spent a lot of time on the internet, and was
able to research extensively on the outsourcing industry. I soon developed
an interest in starting a BPO company, and shortly after the UNCTAD
conference in 2002, I registered Kenya’s first BPO company and opened my
doors to international clients.
LM: How did you determine what product and or service to sell?
MM:I considered a number of issues:
a) Resources at hand:
I didn’t have too much money to invest, and no banks were willing to
finance a new venture, in an industry that was new in Kenya. However, I had
computer equipment and access to the internet, so I decided to offer online
research, which did not require any new investment funds.
b) Demand:
From research conducted mainly over the internet, I found that there were
some companies that required online research on an ongoing basis, year-in,
year-out, and I decided to target these companies as my first clients.
c) Value Addition:
As we grew, through more research, I found that there was a lot of
transcription work going to other developing countries. So I investigated
the issues and challenges involved, invested some more money in software
and computer equipment and began offering transcription services. However,
I soon discovered that some of our transcription clients used our
transcripts as part of the captioning and subtitling process, so I decided
to add value by offering these services. Again, I invested in additional
software and computers, and began offering captioning and subtitling
services.
d) Infrastructure:
Throughout the process, I have had to consider the infrastructure available
in our country to support outsourcing services. In the last few years, the
cost of internet bandwidth has reduced, and facilities like VOIP (voice
over IP) have become available. Therefore we have recently been able to
offer voice based services such as inbound and outbound teleservices to our
clients.
LM: What lessons have you learned from your first years in business?
MM:a) In the words of Fred DeLuca, Founder of Subway, “Start Small, Finish Big”
I have learned that it pays to begin at your level, understand your
business, understand the industry that you are operating in, and then grow
as far as your dreams will take you.
We recently successfully sought funds from a private equity company, and in
their words, one of the reasons why they were interested in us was our
formula of starting small, taking care of our resources and growing
incrementally.
I believe this is the strongest lesson I learned in the first years of our
business.
LM: Who were the primary influences in your life as it relates to being an
entrepreneur?
MM:My parents exposed me to entrepreneurship early in life, and I continue to
learn lessons from their experiences in business.
My husband, who runs a very successful architectural practice, and a number
of other enterprises in the building industry.
Several entrepreneurs who I consider my role models, the most important of
which has been Fred DeLuca of Subway. Very early in my business, I read
his book “Start Small, Finish Big” and it made a very lasting impression on
me.
LM: What has been your biggest success?
MM:I would consider that my biggest success has been in pioneering the BPO
industry in Kenya, and in helping to put my country on the global
outsourcing map.
LM: What has been your biggest disappointment?
MM:Having to put some personal goals on hold while running my business, in the
beginning stages. I would have liked to start my family earlier, and
possibly pursue further education, but running an “infant” business made
this impossible in the first few years.
LM: What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs?
MM:Four words: “Start Small, Finish Big!”
