When Alice Kimemia started a petrol-retailing franchise business with her husband, the odds seemed stacked against them. That particular petrol station, in Nyahururu, seemed jinxed. No one who attempted to run it before the couple took over had managed to keep it open past the two-year mark.

The tanks leaked and pump attendants would manipulate the pumps to dispense less fuel than what customers paid for. Also, it was the first business attempt for the jobless couple who had just relocated from Mombasa, and Alice, a former secondary school teacher who resigned to go into business, was charged with running the station.

"It was to be our sole source of income - to put clothes on our backs, feed us and take our children to school. Failure was not an option," she says. They took a loan and bank overdraft to raise capital, and although they knew little about petrol, business picked up fast. Customers were however skeptical about whether it would last.

But then Alice turned the ailing petrol station around with nothing more than patience, confidence, an educational background in business and economics and a desire to succeed. With technology, it became harder for the attendants to manipulate the pumps as the service was computerised.

She also trained the attendants on cleanliness, had them wear uniforms and taught them how to treat customers. She now has 26 years of running it successfully under her belt, and counting.

Early business failure

In contrast, 61 per cent of women entrepreneurs surveyed by the Kenya Institute of Management in November 2011 doubted that their start-ups would make it past the first six months. And their businesses lived up to that self-fulfilling prophecy; results from the survey suggested that businesses started by women were not likely to make it past the first six months.

Ironically, while women say the desire for work-life balance is one of the reasons for going into business, Chege Kagunda, a business advisor at Personal Development Centre Africa, says that this could work against her. "A new business is like a baby and you spend many hours with it. If you are not able to go through the long hours, and all the other challenges that come with starting a business, it may die."

Lack of supportive networks has also been cited as a reason why women's enterprises don't thrive.

However, more women entrepreneurs are teaming up to help themselves grow and excel in business.

Others engage business coaches to help them. The KIM findings also showed that most of those businesses failed because women put up businesses they had seen in their neighbourhoods. Moreover, after setting up commonplace businesses, they did nothing to ward off competition. Women also failed to use technology to market their businesses.

No credit facilities

Running a business comes with its own challenges. For Alice, it has been rising petrol prices, which means more people prefer to use public vehicles rather than fuel their own cars. Those who fuel rarely ask for a full tank, opting for the amount they need. But she says that thankfully, people cannot completely do away with the need for fuel, as they have to move from one place to another.

Wangechi Kariuki's business is a year old. She was very enthusiastic when she started a novel business in Kenya - that of selling pelvic floor exercisers. She had a gut feeling that the convenient and effective device would be a hot item.

"I used the device after the birth of my second child and compared to the first birth when I let my pelvic floor recover on its own, the pelvic exerciser made a great difference in getting my pelvic muscles back in shape faster after childbirth," Wangechi says.

With her testimony in hand, she could see women snapping up the product as insurance against incontinence and for a better sex life. She sought distributorship from the mother company in the UK and set up Rukiya Dash and Beauty in Westlands, Nairobi.

Getting credit for a start-up is tough, as most creditors prefer to lend to a business that is already up and running. Wangechi pooled her savings with money she got from her husband and a few family members.

She worked mostly from home and only managed to open an office and employ an assistant six months later as demand grew.

Borrowing money from her husband and relatives to start the business came with its own challenges. She needed the money fast to ship in the pelvic toners, but it took longer to put the capital together than it would if borrowing from a bank.

"You also feel under pressure to put that money to good use. You can't afford to make mistakes with their money because you do not want to ruin a close relationship because of money. However, if you are not able to pay within the agreed time, it may be easier to negotiate with them because they will be more understanding than a financial institution," Wangechi says.

Ensure stability first

Wangechi sees loans as risky for a business like hers, which involves pushing a new and relatively unknown product in the market.

"Meeting monthly loan repayments is not easy, and I knew that this being a new product, sales could be low, meaning that the business cannot pay the bills and service a loan at the same time. I also spend so much on marketing and that does not translate into immediate buying customers. I will wait until my business stabilises and has sustainable demand before I take out a loan," she says.

Wangechi quit a promising career as a project manager in an international health organisation to go into business. The pay and the career prospects were good but with a baby on the way, she needed more flexibility and time to advance her education.

Now she can spend time in the morning with her two children, having found the flexibility she needs. But Wangechi has learnt that as a businesswoman, she has to plan her time well because a start-up requires long hours mostly spent on creating demand for her product.

There are days she has to work into the wee hours of the night, and she is always on call to answer her customers' questions about using the pelvic exerciser.

"I market the device by talking to gynaecologists who can prescribe it to their patients. I also look for places where women gather such as chama meetings, to talk to them about the Kegel exerciser," she explains.

Wangechi also uses social networks to market, although newspaper adverts have worked best for her. Her only wish is that the business would grow faster.

Luggage in safe hands

When she started out, Wangechi had advice from her brother, who is also a businessman, on the things that matter in business. She knew how important cash flow is to a business, but it was only after she got in that she began to understand what exactly her brother was talking about.

"No amount of training prepares you for the actual day-to-day running of a business. It is easy to give up when sales are low and you have bills to pay. I think if I had known the challenges that lay ahead, I might have backed out before I even began," Wangechi says. The poor performance of the shilling against the British pound also had a bearing on her start-up.

"It became more expensive to import, yet I could not raise the price of my product because people were already cutting down on things they did not see as necessities. I had to sell it at the usual price, which in itself is quite high." Wangechi has had to get innovative with her marketing techniques, such as talking to women's investment groups to persuade them to pool resources and buy the device for their members.

And when she starts to doubt, her belief in the product, support from her husband and positive feedback from her customers give her the will to persist. "When women call to tell me how much of a difference it has made in their lives, and within a short time, it reinforces my belief in what I am doing and I am able to keep at it," says the mother of two.

Ruth Chagema was so inspired by the professionalism of the Double M matatu service in Nairobi that she decided to introduce some of that to the trolley business, starting with Nairobi. When women who travel by matatu alight from the buses with their young children luggage in tow, they want their bags and sacks to be transported safely from the bus stop to their destination.

However, this is not always the case as the porters who hang around bus stops change prices arbitrarily and may not handle the luggage with care. And if you lose the porter, you lose your luggage too.

Ruth hopes to change all this with her courier service, which has uniformed porters, fixed prices and a permanent office and address where customers can report any problems."It is not the most glamorous idea, but I felt there was a need to provide professional porters. I wanted customers to know that their luggage was in safe hands and there was a place - our office - where they could seek redress in case of any problems."

She has stationed her porters at the Northrift shuttles bus stop, but hopes to expand to other long distance stops and supermarkets.This is not Ruth's first business. She has offered personal shopping and messenger services for eight years now, and recently added the porters to her Nedds Courier Services.

Dare to be different

She also started an event décor business, motivated by her passion for decorating and after seeing how successful her friends were in that business. But getting clients during the first six months of starting out was tough, and pleasing the clients was even harder.

"With décor you have to be perfect and do it well, and you need money to add new trends and styles, which I was short of. It was also discouraging to see my competitors using laptops to make presentations while all I had was a scrapbook with my designs. But I gave special attention to detail," Ruth says. When the market became saturated with event décor businesses, and competitors lowered their prices, Ruth decided to diversify her options.

Now she balances her time between running a salon where she is employed as a manager and running her businesses, but she says her business does not interfere with her work as she spends 90 per cent of her time at work. Ruth has employed supervisors to run her businesses, and conducts random checks on them every couple of days.

"My employer knows that I run two businesses and she has no problem with it because I refer my clients from my businesses to the salon. It is a win-win situation." The supervisors are people she has worked with before and she trusts them.

Ruth says that the secret to business success is to do something different from what everyone else is doing, to add a special touch and to give clients the extra service they need.

She advises women who want to start a business this year to begin with a service business."There are so many services that people need, and the key is to listen attentively as you talk to people and you will discover a gap you can fill."

********************

The secrets of our success

Our business owners dispense their tips for business survival

Alice Kimemia

Petrol station owner

"I believe women thrive in the service business because it is in their nature to serve. Business needs honesty towards customers, and commitment. Give it your all and be patient as you nurture it.

As a woman these are the qualities that make us good mothers and we can use them to advance in business. You also need to believe in your idea, as this will motivate you during the dry months. I cannot overemphasise the importance of business training.

Find a place or someone to teach you the basics of doing business. And also sharpen your people skills. Even as a business owner, you cannot afford to be aloof. Get involved and lead by example - let your employees see you doing what you tell them to do, and be involved in the business as this will help your employees see you as part of the team."

Wangechi Kariuki

Rukiya Dash and Beauty owner

"You can never go wrong with a business that targets women because they love to shop, but research your market so that you do not go into a saturated business. Be creative and do things differently from what everyone else is doing. Stay on top of your game by researching everything about the product you are offering. This will enable you to give your customers questions the support they need. It is not so much about the product, but the service you give.

That extra value you give to your customers, whether it is interacting with them on social media or delivering the product conveniently to them makes a big difference in getting and sustaining customers.

For the tough months when you feel discouraged, having supportive people to encourage you is a good move. Being focused on the vision you have for your business will also keep it on track.And finally, separate your business and personal finances because if you do not draw the line you will eat into money that could be used to sustain and grow your business."

Ruth Chagema

Nedds Courier Service owner

"Find a special way to serve your customers because if you give people the services they need to ease their lives, they will pay you for it.Go beyond the surface to make your customers feel appreciated because people want to feel that you are interested in more than just their money.

If you are employed, as long as your work does not suffer at the expense of running your business, your employer will not have a problem with it. I am not secretive about my businesses because they add value to my employer when I refer my clients to the salon. Also, you do not have to be actively present at the business.

Get a trustworthy person to run the business for you as you concentrate on serving your employer well. Look for business outside the bigger towns - you would be surprised that are so many unexploited opportunities in the small towns."