Heavenly Father, Today give me the confidence to approach You without fear. Remind me of Your love and Your goodness toward me. You are the ruler of the whole world but You care about me. You are both a great God and a Good God. Pour out grace and mercy on my life today. I admit how much I need You in every single step I take. Help me to remember that You want me to come to You with my needs and desires. Right now I humbly ask for Your presence and Your help in my life as I go through my day. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen.

Good morning, great people! 🌞 May this Sunday light up your life with peace, joy, renewed strength, and endless blessings. May every step you take today be guided by grace and filled with hope. Have a beautiful and fulfilling day! 🙏✨

ARE YOU SELLING TO THE WRONG MARKET? If I were to ask you this question “Who is your target market?” What would you answer? Well, if you are like most small business owners, chances are that you will confidently answer “Everyone”. Or maybe you will be a little more specific and answer “I target everyone from students, their parents, construction workers etc.” Well, the second answer sounds much better, but to a person who understands the hassle of being in business, it isn’t satisfactory. The truth is that in order for your business to succeed, you need to be ultra-specific about who your customer is, where to find him and what they like to buy. A typical Kenyan market environment can be broken down into a gazillion target markets. But for purposes of simplicity and ease of understanding, let us discuss 4 categories that you can choose to target. *1. Low Class Market (A.K.A Low Income Market)* *Who are they*: They are the people who earn less than Ksh.200 a day. They don’t have much spending power and they generally live in slum areas or remote rural areas. Most of the problems are quite basic i.e. food, shelter and clothing. *How to target them*: They mostly listen to radio and don’t know much about social media. They can also be reached through door-to-door marketing. *What they like to buy*: Clean water supply, cheap clothing, cheaper sources of lighting, cheaper food options, sanitary products etc. *Example of Business Idea* You can start a business of supplying small solar-powered lanterns or water purifiers. These however need to be lowly priced and of high quality. Because of the low spending power of this target market, you need to target a huge market to break-even. *2. Students & Unemployed Youth Market* *Who are they*: They are young, vibrant and aggressive. They don’t have much financial power as they mainly rely on student’s loans and handouts from parents to survive. You can find them on social media and they are normally described as the generation of tomorrow. *How to target them*: You can target them through social media. They also listen to radio and read blogs, so you can target them through that channel as well. Door to door marketing can also work but only if you can find them in communal settings such as hostels or social gatherings. *What they like to buy*: Phones, data bundles, fancy wear, watches, beverages, snacks, fast foods, beauty products and cheap electronics. *Example of business idea* You can start a beauty and cosmetic shop that offers affordable services to them. Photocopy business, combined with a barber shop and/or a gaming facility would also be a sure bet in targeting this market. You however need to be careful about pricing and quality – this is the type of audience that does a lot of comparisons before spending. *3. Gender-Specific Market* *Who are they*: We have two main genders in the world; the male gender and the female gender. Given that these two groups have different preferences, you can choose to focus on a particular gender particularly if you want to penetrate into an extremely competitive market. *What they like buying*: Female gender makes most household decisions. Therefore if you are selling things like washing products, cooking oil, foodstuff and beauty products you now know who to target. On the other hand, if you are selling things like land, construction items, cars, shaving creams and electronics then the male gender is likely to be an easy lot to focus on. You can also choose to be ultra-gender specific. For instance, you can focus on male kids aged less than 15 years or retiree mothers and so forth. *Example of a business idea* You can start an online store that exclusively deals with male products. Things like shaving creams, wellness supplements, gym wear and electronics. No one else seems to have thought about it in Kenya so far.

The fastest way to become poor is buying airtime from Mpesa😭

What are you selling? Be shameless and fearless. You are the only one who knows your struggles. Post on the comments and connect with your clients