Business Daily (Nairobi)
Beatrice Gachenge
26 November 2007
She describes herself as a go-getter, God fearing and a people's person. When US Ambassador Michael Ranneberger spoke about her during this year's International Women's Day, he termed her as the "unsung hero"
But 28-year -old Jacqueline Machaka, director of Language Solution Centre, is no longer an unsung hero. This month she became the first woman to win the first ever business plan competition targeting the youth in the country.
Applauded during the International Women's Day for the role she has played in helping people break the language barrier through her school, Ms Machaka is now on an upswing mode after bagging the Sh1 million top prize.
The first born in a family of six, Ms Machaka believes that she has paved the right path for her siblings. "They have a challenge to match up to."
It was her go-getter attitude that saw her support herself through university education. She is also a holder of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) qualification from Strathmore University.
But besides that, Ms Machaka has experienced first hand the struggles of a young woman who has taken the initiative and demonstrated business leadership.
Lack of start up capital synonymous to most small and medium entrepreneurs was also part of her success story. Unlike taking up a loan, she decided to save.
With an initial capital of Sh100,000, Ms Machaka has been able to expand her language training institution from one centre to two in just a span of three years.
Today, she has even established a better and more spacious centre in Westlands to cater for the fast growing need to be multilingual in order to make economic sense from emerging trading partners such as China.
But it was a learning process.
"I failed to completely understand my business strategy while expanding to the new location in Westlands since the business failed to pick up as expected. I did not consider the cycle of the business. I opened during a low season," she said.
Hunting for students and convincing them to join her college remained the biggest challenge.
On the first day of opening the language centre, one of her teachers who was to be a business partner failed to show up because he wanted to have more shares in the business.
That did not stop her. She approached the Chinese embassy and was given a professional who helped turn the tables.
But while other people see opportunities and sit on them, Ms Machaka runs with them.
The recent competition where she won Sh1 million was just one of those opportunities.
During the last leg of the competition, she was diagnosed with severe appendicitis that called for an emergency operation.
But that did not stop her from making her presentation to the judges. She managed to beat the other 99 contestants. She had already drafted a business plan before the commencement of the competition.
"I realised that my business was growing very fast and I did not know what to do and that led me to draft a business proposal to certify where the position of my business so as to know where I wanted to take it," she says.
And now she is in the process of diversifying her portfolio in yet another lucrative sector; business solutions.
Ms Machaka noted that there is a great need to teach entrepreneurial skills and she has managed to secure a contract with a local micro finance institution to train their clients.
But why a language school?
"I realised that there was need to offer personalised attention while teaching a foreign language, a fact that most language schools fail to consider," she said adding that she does not allow more than seven students in a class.
Then again, language schools have in the last two years been cashing in on a growing number of students as it was earlier revealed in this year's PricewaterhouseCoopers salary survey as there is a shortage of professionals with multi-lingual skills.
She said she is glad to have created a platform to solve that problem.
After being declared the Kenya Pipeline Company Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Machaka is now on -a-roller-coaster ride to consolidate operations in Kenya as she warms up for regional expansion, eyeing Rwanda as their entry point to the great eastern Africa Region.
With the money , she plans to expand her business, especially to advance in technology.
"I want to buy more computers for the Hurlingham and Westlands centres as well as buy more translation equipment to enhance learning," said Ms Machaka.
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