Objective market surveys to help entrepreneurs

Samuel

Thathini, Kirigiti, Kenya

43% repaid

Entrepreneur

Name

Samuel

Member since

March 2014

On-time repayments

166 installments  •  9%

About Me

My name is Samuel Munene, the third born in a family of four .I hold a BA ( Economics) degree. After graduating from college I worked for a number of organizations before losing my work after the company I was working for went under. I trained myself by reading and started freelancing as fiction and creative non fiction writer, social researcher. I also tried my hand in business.

Its when I wanted to start a bookshop and was looking for objective information to guide me on the status of competition, margins, consumer behavior, suppliers that I spotted a business opportunity. What I found from friends and newspapers was too theoretical, and not objective enough. I had to spend a lot of time researching . So I thought if I could save potential entrepreneurs the hustle by providing affordable off the shelf market surveys.

In June 2013 I set up my business to provide ready market surveys, but it wasn't until November when the business really picked up. Now money from the business supports my family of one wife and a daughter. I pay rent, buy food and day to day expenses. My plan is to go beyond this point of survival to thriving, and this by growing the business.

My Business

My business is called Crack A Business Kenya , whose website is http://www.crackabusiness.com. I provide potential investors with ready objective and street smart market surveys focusing on Competition & Survival, Revenue & Margins, Capital, Process & Licenses, Consumer Behavior, Manpower, Tips and Tricks.

This is information to help give a potential investor a pretty good idea of what is happening in the market even before she commits her money or starts writing a business plan.

Presently there is no company in Kenya providing off the shelf market surveys. What is available are business plans which are quite biased. I insist on "objective and street smart" because there is the theory of what is happening in the market, and there is also the reality- good or bad. I conduct of research before I come with a single survey.

The reception has been amazing with customers asking for all kinds of market surveys. My only hindrance is that I don't have the resources to conduct researches fast enough. So I am not able to fulfill so many of the customers orders.

If you give me the loan, I will be able to recruit temporary staff to help me in data collection. Also since I sell the surveys through a website I would like to improve it and include a proper shopping cart to make it easy for customers to order. Again presently all my advertising is through Facebook groups. I will use some of the money to advertise in newspaper classifieds and reach out to those with no access to the internet or who don't use Facebook.

Since November the income from the business has been growing at a rate of about 20 %. I can't keep up with the orders because I don't have enough income to hire personnel to help me work efficiently.

My plan is to grow the business to have as many market surveys as possible and expand nationwide. Income from the business is enough to pay my loan without fail.

Thank you lenders.

Loan Proposal

Dear Lenders,

My business Crack A Business Kenya (www.crackabusiness.com) provides potential investors with street smart objective market surveys to help them decide whether to invest in a business or not. The surveys cover Competition & Survival, Revenue & Margins, Consumer Behavior, Capital, Equipment & Process. It helps potential entrepreneurs save money by not investing blindly and make money by investing wisely.

I am asking for a loan equivalent to $97. I will use the money for two major purposes; One is to conduct research on a wider variety of businesses, more. so the most asked for by visitors to my website. ( For example Fast Food & Hardware).

Secondly is to market my business by distributing simple but effective flyers, and running a classified advertisement in the newspaper.

Presently I advertise through Facebook groups, and I have also managed to get very good Google ranking for some searches ( For instance Google Wines & Spirits business in Kenya , and my website is at the top) , I feel there are many more people who don't regularly use Facebook and Google who are in need of the market researches. Mine is the only service in Kenya providing off the shelf objective market surveys to small business people. Later I will
make my website more professional.

With a wider reach not only will I be able to increase my sales, but also pay the loan while providing investors with the knowledge to make the right decisions.

Help me fulfill my dream of creating more knowledgeable small investors. Help me help new investors save money by telling them in black and white what is happening in the market, and thus avoid making wrong investment decisions. Help me aid small investors make money by equipping them with the knowledge to make right decisions. Help me support myself too.

Feedback

None

None

None

Loan Info

Project Type

Classic Loan

Disbursed amount

$100.00

Date disbursed

Mar 20, 2014

Repayment status

Late

Projected term

39 months

Lenders

Jason

Auckland, New Zealand

Matching Fund

Sterling, United States

B

Boeing777

United States

J

jcmfl

United States

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  • Samuel    Oct 12, 2015

    Trying to rebrand and pivot the business after many cases of piracy.

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  • Samuel    Jul 6, 2015

    We are in the process of pivoting to more lucrative but related areas thus at the moment we are not making much sales but hope to be back in business bigger and better in about 3 weeks. Regrets for this delay, but will pay each and every cent.

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  • Samuel    May 23, 2015

    I have been unwell and so not able to run the business in the last one month. I am now back to my feet and should be able to make repayments and clear the loan very soon.

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  • Samuel    Apr 20, 2015

    Business has been low due to dishonest staff. We are dealing with it and hope to resume higher installments in 2 weeks.

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  • Samuel    Mar 1, 2015

    The business is slowly improving and we would also like to clear the loan and hopefully apply for more.

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  • Samuel    Jan 24, 2015

    Sales have been low during the month of January. I expect them to pick up from the first week of February when people get paid their salaries. Also I have been working on a lot of content and I am sure from February I will have amazing sales. I want to clear my loan by March and will thus increase installments from February.

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  • Samuel    Nov 17, 2014

    We are investing to launch a web and android app so as to allow wider access and act on feedback from the users. We are relaunching this week with the new apps. This will increase our sales. From December we will be able to increase installments to Kshs.500 or more. We have new products that are demanded by customers. With the launch we plan an extensive guerrilla marketing , that we are sure will work positively.

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  • Samuel    Sep 27, 2014

    I have been having some challenges in marketing, more to do with the delay in redesigning the website. I have hired a designer but he did a shoddy job at first, and now he has to work on it again. He is taking longer than he should. The present website does not inspire much confidence in the consumers and thus the sales have been low. I am experimenting with hard copy deliveries rather than digital , hoping customers will trust our service more.

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  • Samuel    Aug 9, 2014

    I have been having problems with my website through which I make my sales. A web designer I hired is letting me down, but I am working to sort out soonest as possible. The landing page is not good and thus not converting as much as. Also customers are complaining that its so hard to navigate the content. The payment options are also limited to Mpesa while some customers wnat to pay by other means. I hope to fix all of this in the next two weeks.

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  • Samuel    Jul 12, 2014

    I am putting up a more user friendly website with more payment options. During this process service has been interrupted with customers having difficulties ordering. I will hopefully have it running by 17th July and resume payments, and make up for the low installments. I regret the inconvenience I have caused in the last few weeks and hope in a fortnight I will be back to normal payments.

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  • Samuel    Jun 12, 2014

    The last 3 weeks sales have been low . This is as people wait for the annula budget which is being read on 12 of June. The budget may affect the attractivness of some businesses and create opportunities in others. For this reason I wish to reschedule to a lower amount for 2 weeks before reverting back. Once more apologies for the delay.

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  • Samuel    May 3, 2014

    Dear Lenders,

    My many apologies for the late payment. I am so much behind schedule. I traveled to Iringa in Tanzania after getting a small research assignment there. I left an assistant to run the business while I was away including handling all the finances. From quick monitoring the business has making money but he has been mismanaging and not using it in the proper way including repaying this loan.

    I am on my way back and will be able to sort out the mess. I take responsibility since its my business. The loan has been of help in expanding my business. It would be irresponsible of me and the business , if we don't repay. This is considering I may need a loan in future and also because my non repayment may affect other small business in need of help.

    Meanwhile I wish to reschedule the loan. I kindly request you. As soon as I have this sorted I will be back to a normal schedule and clear all arrears . I have temporarily failed in management and started on a bad note but will reorganize and pay every cent soonest possible.

    Kindly,

    Samuel

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  • Samuel    Apr 5, 2014

    I have used more money on research than I had predicted. My plan is now to first work on about 5 more market surveys then conduct a marketing campaign in the newspapers. Now before I start the marketing the returns will be relatively lower. For that reason I request to reschedule and pay a lower amount for now. I will revert to a higher amount as soon as I am done with the 5 surveys that I am conducting using the loan.

    Regards,

    Samuel

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  • Betty    Apr 2, 2014

    Good job Samuel!

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  • Samuel    Mar 22, 2014

    Thank you lenders for funding me. I really appreciate. I will use the loan in the best way possible, and give you weekly updates. Once more thank you.

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