Happy Holidays! We thought to have one piece, for you, featuring our top 10 articles of 2018. We’re open to your suggestions of more of what you would like to read in the coming year.
2018 wasn’t that unkind to us. We were nominated for the BAKE Best Business Blog Award. And we got a surprise feature as one of the best 10 blogs for any woman making moves to follow. How did we do it? We just tried. Here’s a list of articles that deserved to make our top 10:
10. HerBusiness Infographic: types of competition
This is hopefully just the first of our new features, for you. What’s different? We decided to make our own graphics. If you have any business topic ideas you would like us to simplify in a colorful manner, please tell us in the comments below or through our Twitter and Facebook!
“Broadly, there are two types of business competition. There is direct competition and indirect competition…” READ MORE.
9. Is there a secret to becoming rich?
Riddle, what is the ultimate shortcut to success? Very wealthy parents? Wrong. The answer is efficiency. We tried to take apart the 80-20 rule of doing only the important tasks in your life, and it stood the test. Introduce it to your life if you hadn’t.
“It’s not easy to tell what the 20% most important activities will be before the fact. Think of your business. You have to deal with finances, marketing, operations, people, strategy and yourself. So, which is the most important factor…” READ MORE.
8. “What I went through to get a business license in Nairobi”
It’s so unfortunate that the powers that be are stalling on removing the weird rules, clearly, intended to keep most of us from starting a business. Not only is registration a multi-session process lasting days long. It will also cost you something as, agripreneur, Kamaitha found out in 2018.
“I started by researching what was needed of me to get a product on the shelves of supermarkets. This is what I found out. There are tonnes of licenses to be paid for, even if you have just the one employee in your company…” READ MORE.
7. What if employers had to answer: “What are your strengths?”
Just because an entrepreneur is responsible for everything in a business doesn’t mean that they are good at all of it. There are 6 broad areas all entrepreneurs specialize in. What do you think you’re the best at?
“Today, why don’t you put yourself on the spotlight. What if you, an entrepreneur, had to answer a question in an interview? No, not what is your greatest weakness. We know its perfection (ugh)…” READ MORE.
6. Which is the best decision-making approach in your business?
Is it top-down or bottom-up? You can only be one of two. You either solve problems by having the answers first or by sorting through the facts.
“You may be predominantly a top down or a bottom up entrepreneur but that doesn’t make you the better individual. Each has its advantages in decision making; also disadvantages. These you can cover up by borrowing the good practices of your counterparts…” READ MORE.
5. Five better ways to spend your time online
We now spend a fair share of our waking hours staring at our phones. In fact, Kenyan women spend twice as much time as men browsing the internet. It just makes sense that all this involvement should see you gain something out of it, right? Forget memes. The benefits we picked are specific for entrepreneurs.
“We read that entrepreneurship is not in the top 5 of what Kenyan women check online. C’mon you guys…” READ MORE.
4. Products you can make from bananas
Value 👏 Addition. This the next business gold mine in Kenya. We are all doing it. Good for you, we not only did bananas but also a whole bunch of farm produce in our Value Addition series. You can make both food and non-food products.
3. “Are there affordable manufacturing spaces for entrepreneurs in Kenya?”
Those warehouses lining our highways look intimidating for sure. You don’t even wanna go in and ask about rent. Luckily, Kamaitha already did it for you. Yeah, she confirmed that they are expensive. But found a place (or two) that check out.
“It is really expensive to rent out a warehouse in Kenya when you are starting out. Good news! There are two places I want you to check out. These are public-funded facilities…” READ MORE.
2. Pricing strategies – and small businesses that use them
Price is everything, no? It is how customers summarize value, it is how you work around cash problems. There are 7 pricing strategies, maybe more, you can incorporate in your business. Which should you pick? Can you use them in combinations? We wrote about that in 2018.
1. Differences between men and women entrepreneurs
Women can do what men can do. We outgrew that. But have you thought about the nuances of how either gender (there is only two, right?) arrives at similar goals? Many traits inherent to women have brought a great twist to leadership, management and entrepreneurship.
“The input of women and their perspective has not been include as much in developing ideas around management…” READ MORE.
What do you think? Are there any more articles that caught your eye that we’ve not out on the list? What do you want to see in 2019? Let us know!
