The story of Saf Communications
“We didn’t get a single client for almost 2 years, but when we eventually found the right advertising channel, we were overwhelmed by the volume of work!”
Saf Communications was founded in 2007. After an exhausting search for affordable office space, we found one in the then Posta Sacco Plaza at the university way round about in Nairobi, Kenya. The building was later bought by Kenya Methodist University (KEMU) and was renamed KEMU Towers. It was a relatively small office but was big enough to accommodate a front and an inner office. We did what most startups do: bought an executive desk and a tastefully furnished front office. We considered this the face of the company, so everything had to be done to make it look good, not to mention that we spent a huge chunk of our capital that we could have banked on later when things got tough.
We were to offer translation and interpretation services, with specialization in French – English translation and interpretation. Our business model was complete except for one component, how to get customers?
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Getting customers: One of the most challenging components of any business model!
By the time we set up the business, we were convinced, like any other new business owner, that there was a market for translation services. We strongly believed someone needed these services. We were not sure though how and where this market would be found. This is indeed one of the most difficult aspects of business models because it marks the departure from theory and assumptions to real and practical activities of the business. First, we needed to let our potential customers know that we exist, and then convince them to choose us, call us, give us jobs, and pay us for the services. How?
Trial and error: Almost every new business owner has been through it…
At first, we were not advertising at all. We just hoped that as long as the office was open with the company name on the door and a clear indication of what we do, people would somehow notice, knock the door and find out. This didn’t happen for months, even though there were many offices around us with moderate human traffic.
We got this brilliant idea of sourcing our clients from Alliance Francaise, housed in the French Cultural Centre a few blocks away and which specialized on translation, interpretation, and teaching French as a foreign language. We let them know that we would be ready to take any client who could not fit into their services schedule for whatever reason. One day, a gentleman walked in with a document from an international vaccines’ agency. He must have been from GAVI and required urgent translation which Alliance Francaise couldn’t manage because of the jobs queue. He made a few enquiries, left and didn’t show up to contract our services as promised.
Next, we banked on an old advertising channel; the Nation classified. Most of the digital marketing strategies had not matured by then. Facebook was still a toddler, LinkedIn was still gaining popularity, Instagram and Whatsapp were non-existent. The internet penetration was still unstable. Our internet service provider was in the next building, Hazina Towers, and we had to connect with a wire dangling from Hazina Towers to Posta Sacco Plaza!
Every week, we bought a line on Nation classified with a simple Ad “Translation and Translation Services. Call …..” There were no calls, visits nor enquiries!
By the end of the first year, we had not earned a single cent from our business model. We were still convinced that there was a market for interpretation and translation services, and that we could get it if we knew how to go about it.
“we couldn’t handle the volume of work that came our way”
Iterations: The most viable replacement for trial and error!
Without knowing it, we were iterating on the advertising channel. Iteration in a business model involves repeated cycles with careful observation so that small changes can be made in a subsequent cycle based on evidence gathered from the previous cycle. Next cycle was distribution of printed flyers and the company profile. Flyers were placed at the entrance of Posta Sacco Plaza in a nice executive-looking holder.
To our surprise, all the flyers would be picked up by the end of the second or third day. We would replace them with a new batch, which would equally be depleted. Hoping to at least make some money, we had included French lessons as part of our offering. We had by now reorganized our office and had a classroom at the front office and an office at the back. This depleted our meagre resources because it required furniture and fresh partitioning. We knew we wouldn’t make much money, but at least the little money raised from the lessons would support some of the bills. Besides, our lessons were low priced.
We got two students eventually, who were employees of an organization with premises on the same floor. They didn’t last long though, and that’s all that came from our flyers. No single enquiry about translation or interpretation, our valued offerings, came from these advertising channels. No single enquiry come from our printed profiles, even though some had been sent to embassies of French speaking countries.
By now, keeping the doors open was an uphill task. We sold our assets, including the director’s car, just to pay rent and keep an office administrator.
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The key outcome of iterative cycles is to find a working strategy!
Almost two years down the line, we still believed the breakthrough lay in identifying the right advertising channel. We had faith in the rest of the components of the business model, and were sure that if we got that right, we would make money.
In the last quarter of 2008, we discovered the Nation Business Directory. This was an initiative of Nation Media. The idea behind it was to place businesses in a directory and charge an annual fee. The charges were much higher than other advertising agencies, but we decided to raise the money and take the risk.
Almost immediately after our company was published in the directory, we had a call from Marie Stopes. They had trainees from a francophone country and needed interpretation services. We did it and earned a good amount of money. We were elated! It was working, finally! Three months down the line, we did a second job for the same organization. This time round the training was conducted in Nairobi and Nakuru and involved senior officials of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Mali, a French speaking country.
We had finally found an advertising channel that reached the clients we had been searching for a long time. Buoyed by this discovery, we concluded that directories similar to the Nation Business Directory would do the trick. If Nation Business Directory, then new and little known would do the trick, how much more would Postel, a similar Directory by the Kenya Posts and Telecommunications, reach our customer profile.
When we advertised in the Postel Directory, we couldn’t handle the volume of work that came our way. Africa Institute of Economic Development and Planning, United Nations Office for Project Services, Fairtrade Africa, Africa Virtual University were in the list of many high-profile clients that we served.
Unfortunately, Saf Communications folded up in 2012. Because of our limited understanding of handling a fast-growing business and managing different stages of business growth, we were unable to efficiently handle the volume of work and regrettably disappointed some of our high-profile clients and partners.
While we were very successful in handling our iterations, we failed to hit the business model fit. In different ways, this is the story of many businesses.
