Under the unforgiving sun of the Kakuma refugee camp in Turkana County, no one would imagine there are a variety of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) at various stages of growth.
The camp is a beehive of activity, with all manner of business. And like any other SMEs in any part of the country, these startups’ key challenge is securing capital and skills for expansion and marketing.
However a group of freelance online marketing agents are seeking to connect these startups with global online audience. While these agents are doing a good job in helping the SMEs market their products on digital platforms, they are hampered by a set of hurdles such as lack of proven track records and real-life experiences to compete in the competitive international freelance marketplace.
These challenges are however beginning to be addressed. In 2019, GrowthBond Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and founder Ferdinand Kjaerulff rolled out a fully funded four-month online marketing educational programme, to turn 20 online marketing freelancers into certified experts.
Mr Kjaerulff says 98 enterprises from Kakuma were invited to participate in the programme.
He says during the classroom training, 28 students were onboarded onto the freelance market with a profile and statement of services offered based on their learning from the curriculum.
“The competition had a total of 28 freelancers, all of whom had successfully completed the Facebook advertising course. Each of the freelancers was awarded with certificates during the graduation,” the Dutch says. As part of the training, he says a freelance competition was introduced to “incentivise, focus, and reward best-performing students”.
Moreover, all students were introduced to a chatbot designed to motivate, and send reminders to the freelancers doing the course.
“The chatbot was a way to maintain contact with students on their mobile phones and send them small mini e-courses that could be completed when convenient,” he says.
He adds that classroom training in internet marketing was supported by online e-learning platform and a 20-day curriculum in Facebook advertising. It relied on a self-paced course with five core chapters with each chapter scheduled to take four days.
“The chapters are Introduction to Freelancing and Facebook Ads, First Steps, and Facebook Ads — The Big Picture Retargeting with Facebook and Case Studies,” he says.
The training, he notes, enable local online marketing freelancers to build portfolios, track records, and valuable experiences before pursuing customers on the international freelance portals such as Fiverr, Freelancer and Upwork.
The platform is also designed to automate the credit assessment process for small business owners, reduce loan operating costs, slash minimum loans from thousands to hundreds of dollars, and enable real-time tracking of the deployment and financial return of the funds.
GrowthBond, he notes lend funds to small and local businesses to finance their online marketing campaigns.
“We offer loans from Sh10,000 ($100) up to Sh5 million ($50 000) for online marketing to small businesses in African countries. We also educate and employ freelance marketing experts, who work for funded companies,” he says.
The loans are stratified into Discovery Funding {Sh10,000 ($100)} – for companies that have no proven digital marketing track record and Growth Funding up to Sh5 million ($50 000), for companies that have proven digital ads track records.
The 80 percent of the loan covers advertising expenses while 20 percent covers marketing works by experts who develop the strategy and runs the advertising campaigns.
“Our platform automates the credit assessment process for small business owners, cuts waiting time by weeks, and enables real-time tracking of the deployment and financial return of the funds,” he adds.
He says they normally approve the funding within 24 hours and that they do not require a personal guarantee or collateral.
“We review company’s Facebook page and other available online data. We evaluate business model, unit economics and whether the business will be able to get paying customers through Facebook advertising,” he adds.
Apart from the loans, he says they provide each company with a dedicated marketing expert, who develops a specific marketing strategy and adjust campaigns up to the company’s needs.
So far, the company has provided loans to between 200 and 300 small businesses in Kenya. Overall, they have provided over 1,000 loans in Africa.
He adds that Kakuma’s informal economy is thriving with more than 2,000 businesses, despite the low level of education and endless restrictions and barriers to business.
“The average initial investment to start a business is Sh40,000 ($400), and such businesses employ, on average, five people,” he adds.
He notes that with the area’s 80 percent mobile and 60 percent Facebook penetration, internet, and social media (especially Facebook and Instagram) are playing a major role in attracting potential customers to these local businesses. He says the average initial investment to start a business is $400, and such businesses employ, on average, five people.
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