Small-Scale Female Traders in Kenya Learn to Use Facebook to Grow Their Businesses

NAIROBI, KENYA – Grace Wanjiru runs a bakery called Vision Point Bakers and Confectioners in downtown Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. Even though the bakery is situated in one of the busiest areas of the city, it is not easy for her to attract customers.

The bakery sells all types of cakes. But tucked inside the second floor of a building along with dozens of other small businesses, it remains hidden from the human traffic thronging the streets below.

Luckily, the entrepreneur has found a new way to attract customers. She now advertises her cakes on Facebook through an online sales agency called Rupu Limited.

“I used to think Facebook is just a site where young people like my son go to waste time,” Wanjiru says. “But I have discovered that it can help people like us grow their businesses.”

Her 17-year-old son originally encouraged her to create a Facebook account in October 2012 to promote her business, she says. She started posting pictures of her bakery’s cakes to attract customers.

But Wanjiru’s big break came in February 2013 when Rupu Limited approached her with a proposal to post an advertisement for her bakery on Facebook for free. The ad would include her mobile number and Rupu Limited’s website address.

For every sale customers made through Rupu Limited, Wanjiru would earn 70 percent of the profits, while the agency would earn 30 percent. But if customers contacted her directly through her telephone number on the ad, she would keep all the profits from that sale.

The agency would also promote her cakes on its Facebook and Twitter accounts. Rupu Limited has 9,760 followers on Twitter and more than 98,187 likes on Facebook.

Wanjiru accepted the proposal. Since then, Rupu Limited has promoted seven cake offers on Facebook for her.

Wanjiru’s sales have increased by 50 percent since she started her partnership with Rupu Limited, she says. Some of the customers contact her directly, while others place orders through Rupu Limited to avoid being scammed.

“There are many fraudsters these days, so people are cautious,” Wanjiru says. “They don’t want to call just any number they find online.”

Most of the people who have contacted her directly have become regular customers and even refer her business to others, she says. She has even received three orders from outside Kenya through the ads Rupu Limited has posted on her behalf.

Many small-business women in Kenya who have no finances to advertise effectively in mainstream media have found new opportunities to promote their businesses through Facebook thanks to local companies. Rupu Limited places ads on Facebook for the entrepreneurs and promotes their businesses via other social media outlets for a commission. Meanwhile, the Slumcode Group, a community development organization, has begun to hold annual eight-week trainings for women in Nairobi slums to educate them on how to use social media to promote their businesses.

Advertising in mainstream media outlets can be expensive for small-scale traders.

A 30-second ad on Kiss 100, a radio station in Nairobi, costs 35,000 shillings ($400), says Vera Mburugu, a marketing executive at the station. On Kiss TV, a similar ad costs 50,000 shillings ($580), says Katini Kiungu, an account manager for the television channel. In the Star newspaper, an ad for an eighth of a page costs 47,000 shillings ($550) per day, says Peter Ogembo, a marketing executive and advertising planner for the daily.

The Slumcode Group is training women to use Facebook as an alternative, says Albert Nashon, the founder.

Nashon started the community development organization in 2006 with the mission of training the slum community on business development and financial literacy, he says. In 2013, the organization shifted its focus to information technology and began to train women how to use social media to help their businesses to grow.

Rupu Limited offers to advertise on social media on behalf of female entrepreneurs for a commission. Ben Maina and five other partners started Rupu Limited in 2010, Maina says in a phone interview.

The entity has become one of the most popular online shopping websites in Kenya. About one-third of the Kenyan population used the Internet as of 2012, according to the World Bank.

Most Kenyan consumers now prefer to do an online search for a product before they buy it, which has created the need for traders to build their online presence, Maina says. At any given time, there are 20 businesses partnering with Rupu Limited, most of which are small enterprises.

“Traders find it beneficial to sell their goods through us because it is cost-effective and we only get a commission from what comes through us,” Maina says. “We introduce them to new clients who can always come again.”

Meanwhile, the Slumcode Group is training female small-scale traders in Nairobi slums how to advertise on Facebook themselves.

The group organized its first eight-week training in 2013 for female entrepreneurs after Nashon realized they had yet to appreciate the opportunities social media provided, he says. The training taught the small-scale traders in Huruma, a slum in Nairobi, how to use computers, how to open a Facebook account, and how to post their offers on Facebook.

“Most of them knew what Facebook is, but they didn’t know they could use it as a marketing tool,” he says.

One participant was Pamela Ereso, a 37-year-old mother of four children who sells groceries in a makeshift stall in Huruma.

“I had no idea that I could use Facebook to sell my vegetables,” she says. “On joining, I found some of my customers there. Whenever I have new offers, I’ll be announcing them there.”

Before Wanjiru started advertising on Facebook, the only way she could attract customers was through business cards, which she used to give out in church, at family unions and other gatherings, she says. She once bought an ad in a newspaper, but the size she could afford was too small to be effective.

“I once paid for a one-line advert in the classifieds pages of one of the dailies, but there was no response,” she says.

Although the traders say that new opportunities to advertise on Facebook thanks to the Slumcode Group and Rupu Limited have increased their customers, there are still challenges.

If Wanjiru knew how to purchase an ad on Facebook, she would do it herself so she did not have to share her profits with Rupu Limited, she says. She has tried many times, but she does not have a credit card to complete the online payment required.

Ereso already has a Facebook page for her business thanks to the Slumcode Group training, she says. But since she does not have a smartphone or a computer, she has not been able to create any posts.

With time, the female traders will be able to afford low-end Android phones with which they can access Facebook, other social networking sites and the Internet in general, Nashon says. Meanwhile, the Slumcode Group plans to host trainings every year for female traders in the Nairobi slums, with the 2014 session scheduled for October.

“As long as they have these basic ICT skills, they can always put them to use whenever they get these gadgets,” Nashon says.

Rupu Limited has focused on working with businesses and clients in Nairobi for the last three years. Now, it plans on taking its services nationwide to connect more people.

“People are embracing the concept of online shopping,” Maina says, “and as Internet usage grows, we’ll be able to reach even more people.”

GPJ translated some interviews from Kiswahili.