Every Tuesday at 8:30 PM on KTN Home, we get to experience yet another episode of the KCB lions’ den. Brilliant and ambitious entrepreneurs get a chance to shoot their shot in a bid to gain an investment that will transform their businesses.

On this episode, 5 entrepreneurs enter the den; Renkai Gold, Rafu Books, Fizzy sprinkles, onesha and Erathi Farmers consultancy limited. These entrepreneurs pitched their businesses to the lions’ and managed to secure investments worth KES 4.8 million. Rafu books was the only business that didn’t manage to secure an investment.

Renkai Gold was the first to enter the den, with a unique concept of making African jewelry, office and home decorations. The duo was seeking an investment worth KES 500,000 for 20% equity stake. Getting African inspired jewelry in Kenya or in other parts of Africa is easy. And Renkai Gold has found a formula that sets their business apart from being just another African jewelry business. They have incorporated specific metals and stones in their jewelry designs that help in calmness of the mind, blood flow and helps in arthritis due to their vibrations that are naturally acquired from the earth. The marketing guru Joanne Mwangi was quick to make an offer of KES 500,000 for 20% equity stake and they quickly accepted the deal.

The reading culture in Kenya is slowly dying and one Vincent Milema aspires to change that trend through his Rafu.com. An online platform that delivers hard copy books to individual within Nairobi on the same day and outside Nairobi within 24hrs. Rafu.com was seeking an investment worth KES 10 million for 15% equity stake. After some grilling from the lions’ the business model showed a lot of loop holes and didn’t excite the lions’ enough to invest. The entrepreneur didn’t have a clear guideline on how the business will expand and how it will make money. And he walked out of the den without an investment.

“If you have fallen down, you cannot go further down, so pick yourself up and aim high, you’ve got nothing to lose.” ―Unarine Ramaru. The very vibrant entrepreneurs from Onesha understand this quote all too well after being in a previous season of KCB Lions’ Den, and walked out without an investment. They came back to the den in a bid to show the lions’ they had taken up their advice and were ready to gain that investment. Onesha is a platform where businesses can request for creative services from vetted and skilled professionals. Through their site businesses can also assign tasks to creatives.  The business showed a lot of promise and growth and they managed to secure an investment worth KES 1.5 million for 20% equity from Joanne and Kris.

The last to enter the den were two agricultural entrepreneurs from Erathi Farmers consultancy limited. They came into the den with an idea that sets to find a solution to the growing menace of youth unemployment and the disappearance of bees in Kenya. Erathi Farmers consultancy limited deals with the production of bee hives that produce high quality honey. The bee hives they produce are different from most of the hives available in the market as they come with a preinstalled RFA ID. The ID allows the hive to be seen through gadgets and gives information on the geographical position, date of installation, what has been added or deducted from the hive and quantity of honey produced. The entrepreneurs also provide additional training services to the farmers on the best way to produce good quality honey. The duo came in seeking KES 2.6 million investments for 20% equity. They duo were very passionate about their business and they managed to convince Olive to invest.  They walked out of the den with an investment worth KES 2.6 million for 35% equity with an option of buying back 5% later on.

Lessons learnt from this episode:

• Most investors are looking to invest in businesses whose owners work on it 24/7. Investors are not willing to invest in someone’s side hustle.
• Investors want a business that has a specific goal for its future growth.
• Business owners must have realistic ways in which they can be able to expand their businesses.

Comments

comments