Anita Roddick once said “Whatever you do, be different – that was the advice my mother gave me, and I can’t think of better advice for an entrepreneur. If you’re different, you will stand out.” Nothing could be truer for women entrepreneurs today who are treading in unknown territories fearlessly. Whether its e-commerce, education, investments, travel, fashion, retail, fitness, hiring, or anything under the sun, they are proceeding with unstoppable enthusiasm to change the world around them.
Christine Sayo, is one such lady who dared to defy the odds. She ventured into a world that no one thought was lucrative. The 30-year old found herself in the digital world as a digital marketer. Something that started out as a pastime turned out as a profession. In fact, she is now one of the sought after digital marketers in Kenya’s NGO community. This her story.
The Journey
Growing up, Christine had a problem, especially when ushered in her adult years. She was constantly on her phone, much to her mother’s dismay. To her, the phone was a priceless commodity, more so with social media. She spent more than 18 hours on the digital space and two or three hours sleeping. It was during this time that she was also pursuing her undergraduate degree at the Moi University. Upon graduating with second class honors, her mother was convinced that if she had spent more time studying as opposed to the digital world, she could have perhaps graduated with a first class.
Lucky for Christine, she got a job immediately after campus, and was hired as a graduate trainee, where her mandate was to teach women and youth in Emuhaya on ICT skills. Having studied journalism, Christine felt that this was not her calling. For the first three months she never put much effort on her work. Furthermore, she was posted in a remote village, something she disliked. She had imagined herself reporting stories in the wonderful world of media, as she had envisioned herself being a journalist.
She applied for jobs in all major media houses, however she was unsuccessful. It took her another month to realise that this was the reality. She only had two options; complain and underperform, or to stand out and be brilliant, to which she chose the latter! She decided to use her phone more and began a blog, documenting her journey with the youth and women. Her focus was on the delight of the women who had learned ICT skills and were now using the skills to grow their small scale businesses.
It wasn’t long before her blog caught the attention of their CEO. Excited by the coverage her organisation received, she offered Christine a job – Communications Assistant, at the NGOs head office. Her job description involved teaching the other graduate trainees about blogging and documenting their stories. Two things happened to Christine after her promotion. First she realized that she could broaden her journalistic skills into the NGO world. Secondly, she discovered that her beloved phone, powered with internet was going to be a very useful tool for her in years to come. Two years later into the organisation, she resigned and went back to school to do a masters in development journalism.
The Aha Moment
The entrepreneurial spirit kicked in for Christine during her master’s class. For starters during her class time, she was back on her phone habit, tweeting information that she was learning from her classes for public consumption. She took to highlighting other companies and their products, talking about them and giving them visibility. Unbeknown to her, one of her classmate was watching her keenly. A month later, she approached Christine, asking her if she could help share info to the public about their organisation.
In addition to sharing information, she was offered an opportunity to train one of the staff in the company who would handle the job going forward. This came as such a big surprise to Christine, who immediately took the offer. The job paid handsomely and that’s when she realised she was moving in the right direction. That’s when Christine formed Tsayo Communication, a digital marketing company back in 2012. To date the company has handled clients such as Helpage Kenya, UN Women Africa, Nimama 2017, StanLib to mention but a few.
The journey to establish a digital agency however, has not been easy. For as it is, the market is really crowded, and almost everyone in this day and age feels they can do social media, which in turn poses a challenge. Pricing for clients too is a tad challenging. Given the flooding market, it’s hard to quote a profitable cost. Most companies undercharge. Christine has sometimes lost clients to competitors who undercharge. In the past she has handled some political clients, who seek her services during campaign periods. However, when some of the clients lose out on their elections, they do not pay up for the services rendered. Consequently, 2017 being an election year, she steered away from any politics. The other challenge has been clients who do not understand what digital marketing entails. Some of her clients have felt that her pricing is outrageous, and yet all she seems to be doing is doing one post on Facebook, thus turning her down.
On the flip side, it has been an amazing journey. When Christine got paid for her first unsolicited gig, she knew that if she placed herself strategically, she stood a chance to succeed in her field. She currently works with a team of 5 and she relies on word of mouth to build her business. Capital was not hard to come by, for starters all she needed was a phone and internet, which she readily had when she got paid for her first project. Much to her mother’s surprise, Christine is proud to say that the phone, that seemingly took much of her time, is indeed the same phone that is growing her business.
The lessons learnt over in the business have been few but meaningful to say the least. Over the years, Christine has learnt how to do her best in everything that she put her hand to. She also learnt that indeed social media does pay, and if you position yourself well, the rewards are immense. It is worth noting that when she was first starting her digital agency, she began by doing social media for “free” for other people and this gave her exposure leading other companies to align with her, without knowing that it was all for free.
When she is not out chasing clients and ensuring that your brand is trending in the digital space, she enjoys watching television, travelling and listening to audiobooks. One that she has been enjoying lately is the highly acclaimed autobiography, Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes. She also enjoys reading stories of other women in the entrepreneurial world. Her greatest inspirations forever remain her mother, who ensured that Christine was the first girl in the village that she had grown up in to go to school. Gina Din and Oprah Winfrey come in at a close second, so whenever she feels business is declining due to the rapid growth of other digital agencies entrants into the market, she takes a minute to read their stories and get re-inspired once more. Without any Digital or business experience before starting Tsayo Communications, Christine credits much of her hard-earned success to her inability to accept failure as an option. “The people who told me no were the people who eventually told me yes,” she adds.
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All individual pictures were taken at Heat Press Studio, Ground Floor, Uganda House
Make-up by Beverly Wakesho Bundotish IG
