Before even having her product shipped to Kenya, Suzie Wokabi who is the founder, brand ambassador and creative director of Suzie beauty had already started forming partnerships with outlets that could supply and sell her products.

Being a start up, she knew that she could not afford to have stand alone shops to sell her products and so she made sure she had other
alternatives for when her products arrived. These outlets included pharmacies like Linton, Acacia, Mimosa, good life, Nakumatt etc. Even though her products arrived three months later, she had made sure she had solid partnerships with the outlets she wanted to sell her products therefore this didn’t affect the distribution.

Despite being a start up, she decided not to partner with certain shops that were well known but also had a bad reputation for having products that are fake and harmful to people. She knew that this would pose a high risk to her business as once a consumer tries a commodity that is bad, they automatically assume that everything being sold in the shop they purchased it from is also faulty and that is something Suzie didn’t want her products to be associated with.

Integrity is really important. Where you place yourself is where you will be seen.

Suzie Wokabi

Because of such initial costly decisions, she was able to grow the business without having issues such as her product being termed as defective by anyone. This shows that decisions that may seem disadvantageous at first, may lead to ripping the best results in the future therefore never place your business in a position less than its value as Suzie said, where you place yourself, is where you will be seen. Be picky.

Suzie Wokabi, Founder of Suzie Beauty, was a guest at Founders drink up held in June 2018. To get access to the full podcast, email dream@wearefounders.co.ke.