There’s always an aura of calmness around Christine Khasinah-Odero, but don’t be fooled; the kind 35-year mother of one who loves African style is a powerhouse of will, energy and focus. In just 4 years of building Supamamas into a strong brand, Christine has won lots of accolades: Country Winner 2015, CEO Magazine Africa Most Influential Women in Business and Government; Finalist CFC Stanbic Bank Rising Star Awards 2015, Entrepreneur Category; Business Daily, Top 40 Under 40 Women Finalist 2014; Finalist, CEO Magazine Africa Most Influential Women in Business and Government, 2014 SME Category; Top 5 Women Under 40 in Business, Up Magazine, Kenya 2013; Finalist, CEO Magazine Africa Most Influental Women in Business and Government, 2013 SME Category.
She shares her journey with Mkazi Magazine.
Tell us about yourself.
I am middle child and have 5 siblings. We grew up in a loving family with loving parents and to date I enjoy a very close relationship with them. Growing up I aspired to be an air hostess. As fate would have it, I ended studying business management and majored in marketing both in my undergraduate and post-graduate. Studying at USIU and later at Liverpool University were totally life defining moments. My father was big on getting a proper education and advancing wherever I can. I’m happy I listened to him. He hopes one day I will pursue a PHD! Before going into business I mainly worked in tours and travel in various firms.
Tell us about your journey in business. What inspired you to start?
Basically I stumbled into business when I became a mum. What Supamamas is, it’s an Events and Marketing company passionate about inspiring, informing and connecting mums to be the best they can be both in their personal and professional lives.
You see when you become a mum, you are keen to connect with other mums to learn from each other and share experiences. You also want to know more about brands and services available for you and your child. Some of the events we have put together have been in the area of Personal Branding for professional success, kids’ nutrition, family fun days, pampering events, kids’ safety, personal finances, breast cancer awareness events and many more. We have done 40 events or so in the past 4 years. Our events are attended by on average 100 mums plus and are held almost every month. When starting Supamamas, I also felt that most women put who they are and their dreams in the back burner when they become mums. I wanted to provide a platform for mums to be inspired by people especially some of the top women who have been there, and continue to thrive as professionals.
Apart from events, we are also known for what we do online. In the past two years or so, the online platforms have gained a lot of traction. The website, www.supamamas.co.ke provides parenting information to both mums and dads from the time of pregnancy to the time the child gets to around 10 years of age. You see, when most women become mums, it’s very hard to find a one stop localportal of everything mum and baby.
This was the inspiration for the website and puts together lists of many things including schools, hospitals, kids’ shops, birthday venues and generally useful articles on parenting and navigating through motherhood or parenting. This information is also shared on our Supamamas Page on Facebook where we have a following of around 49,000 people or so.
We have connected several brands online with mums and parents as a whole. Our weekly reach on social media ranges for 12,000-60,000 people.
What resources did you start with (people, money, premises, etc.) and how did you use them?
The resource I mainly started with was the idea and I developed it from there. For instance while building our social media presence, initially we though the best would be to start off with a mum group – it was a good and not so good idea. I am sure by now it would have degenerated to something else. We later on thought it would be better to have a page, speak as a brand also and engage with mums and parents. After a year on we transitioned to the page and later on developed the website.
As for premises, we did not initially need the office and for the website I engaged a few designers and did the website 2 or 3 times before settling on our current one. The website is pretty much a portal everything mum and baby in Kenya – including directories of say schools, kids shops, bakers, photographers etc. It also includes useful parenting articles and one of our revenue streams is branded content.
What has been the most effective way of raising awareness of your business and getting new customers?
Social media has been the most powerful tool that I have used to grow Supamamas, especially transitioning from a group to a page and building the website. Word of mouth has also helped, and having the events is one of the platforms for creating awareness of what else we do.
What have been your biggest challenges so far with running your business and how do you overcome them?
The main challenges we have faced has been the usual capital for one and also getting great people to join us. Getting self-motivated, driven and ambitious people with high integrity has been tricky. The solution has been to work with independent specialists more on a consulting basis. Though we are lucky that when it comes to the events, we have a permanent team that we work with and they are familiar with the expected standards. Digital marketing is huge and will continue to grow exponentially in the next couple of years. Supamamas is definitely riding the wave in ensuring that apart from the events we are one of the best platforms for connecting brands with mums, women or parents online.
Tell us about your team.
I work with a team of 3 who do an excellent job in helping to execute the events and my co-director Carol Sandra Chemarum. It’s great to have a partner to bounce off ideas. I am the loud one; she is the quiet solid rock.
What do you love most about running your own business?
What I love about being running my business is the impact it has in empowering women especially mums to be the best they can be and the networks that they make. As a person, it helps me express my skills artistically.
How do you keep motivated through difficult times?
During difficult times I focus on doing the best I can do in the moment. I’m not one to wallow. I keep going. There is always a way or another way. I am a forever optimist.
What’s the biggest lesson you have ever learned?
In business the best lesson I have learned is to show up and do my best and really value relationships.
How has entrepreneurship changed you on a personal level?
Entrepreneurship has given me a space to express myself, meet hundreds of people and have a bit of lee way with my time. Though in business you actually tend to put in more hours compared to when you are employed; I try my best to balance my home and work life.
If you could go back in time, what would you do differently?
Nothing at all, everything leads to the next.
How has your lifestyle changed since you got into business?
I have become very busy! Putting an event together almost every month, and sometimes two in a month makes you realise how so short a day or a week is.
Where do you see your business five years from now?
One, bigger and exciting events. We have done most of our events in Nairobi and Mombasa; we are now looking to extending them out of Nairobi to other counties. Two, we would like to bring other notable women and experts from out of Kenya to come and speak at our events. We have a good number of corporates that come and connect with mums at the events and we would still like to grow our corporate customer base. But most of all, we are working on getting more mums to come to our events to experience the Supamamas effect where the interaction is friendly, engaging and most of you are appreciated. For example, every June we do a Red Carpet Event for Mums. It’s one of the events that mums love to come to. And we stay committed to also putting together mentorship and community service events as I believe it’s very important to give back. Once a year we organised a fun day that the entire family attends as I believe we do not have adequate events to cater for families with kids under 10 years of age. We are looking forward to growing our Kids Fun Day event as well.
What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs?
Keep going, just keep going. I like by the Malcom Gladwell “10,000 hour rule”: the more you keep at it, the better you become.
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