If you have the right ideas, then all you need is the right audience. Through the right audience, you will be welcome into certain corridors that you never thought were possible. In our May edition of Un.thinkable roast, we sat down with Martin Kiarie, CEO and Co-founder of Bean Interactive, one of Kenya’s leading digital transformation agencies. Martin shared with us that one of the things he has learnt in his 14 years of being in business is that people do not pay you a premium for what you do, but rather they pay you for who you are and how you do things.

Some of the milestones that caused the growth of his company to what it has become today were the result of bold moves that he made in positioning his company to the right audiences. In the early days, they made a decision to sponsor the prestigious Concours d’elegance event. The sponsorship was worth Kshs 250,000, money they did not really have. This decision could have paralysed them. The event however allowed them to demonstrate their novel bluetooth technology to the right audience, and consequently landed them sales opportunities that led to having Nokia and Cadbury as clients. Moreover, this risky move gave them a reputation which made them relevant to their target market. With pennies in the bank, Bean Interactive claimed its value alongside other corporate sponsors.

Bold moves like this may not work for everyone and Martin was quick to add that their relentless work ethic allowed them to rise up to the occasion when they got the opportunities above.

The returns did not stop there. This platform earned Martin an advisor and mentor who was a force behind several high profile client acquisitions. He reminisces a conversation where she told him, “I do not know where you are headed but I am going with you”. When Martin later asked her what she meant by that statement, turns out she wasn’t interested in the business they had then, but rather in the brains behind that business. She was convinced that if those brains could be put into use in other things, the result would be just as good. She was not disappointed.

To reiterate, people pay for who you are and how you do things.

Martin Kiarie was a guest at Un.thinkable roast (our monthly 10X Growth Leaders Meet-up) in February 2020. Click here to apply for membership in Un.thinkable.