Bulls n Bears Entrepreneurship Zone :: The journey so far: Faith Kabira, founder and CEO, Aleezas

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Faith Kabira is the founder and CEO of Aleezas, a beauty salon, barbershop
and spa with three branches spread across the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.


1. Tell us about one of the toughest situations you’ve found yourself in as
a business owner.


Challenges. They almost become part of the furniture at the salon.

On a more serious note, one of the greatest challenges, for me, was
training my team to be professional all round. In the hair and beauty
industry, you find professionalism is mostly in the technical skill, but not
in etiquette, grooming or general conduct.

It took a lot of time and effort to deliver a “five-star-resort” kind of
service, from language to demeanour and, of course, the technical prowess. I
partnered with L’Oréal Professional, who’s been training us on international
service delivery standards. We also have quarterly in-house refresher
training sessions on customer service.


 2. Which business achievement are you most proud of?


Opening the first 100% professional premier salon in Kenya – I am still
relishing this one.

After five years of running two branches of Aleezas salon and spa, I
finally opened a third branch, which is a platinum salon. I always say when
you think priority and premier banking, you will, at the same time, think of
our platinum salon.

Platinum is chiefly in three facets: professionalism, people and place.

At Aleezas Platinum, we use only professional products, which you don’t get
off the shelf like consumer brands (they are made specifically for salon
professionals). Our team of hair stylists and beauty therapists is
professionally trained by local and international trainers. I have managed
to send some team members overseas for training, in our quest to achieve our
vision of being globally competitive. The furniture is also from Maletti, a
renowned Italian designer of salon furniture and equipment.

I am also extremely proud that I have created a platform for many young men
and women to earn a living. This keeps me going every, single day.


3. Describe your greatest weakness as an entrepreneur.


I am too ambitious in doing things differently. I want to stand out in
everything I do and I want to do it perfectly.

However, sometimes, this comes at a high cost because, for instance, in
opening the platinum salon, the investment was huge. And even though the
projections on returns are high, there’s a lot of groundwork to be done in
selling this all-new idea of a professional salon. Therefore, you find that
my ambition is sometimes costly, but, usually, the returns, albeit slow, are
great.


 4. Which popular entrepreneurial advice do you disagree with?


The popular belief that the ends justifies the means. In most cases for
businesses, the end-game is profit. And we are told to work towards that
profit no matter what.

I beg to differ, because the means matter a lot. Eventually, even though
the end is the point, if the means were not ethical, or legal, or if
shortcuts were taken, this comes back to bite hard. As you look towards a
profitable end, ensure your means are justifiable. It’s also incredibly
rewarding when you do things the right way and achieve results which are
primarily from an honest day’s job.


 5. Is there anything you wish you knew about entrepreneurship before you
got started?


Wow. I wish I knew entrepreneurship was the tougher mountain to climb than
employment.

Before becoming an entrepreneur, I had this fantastic idea that being my
own boss would be so great; I’d determine my working hours, my pay; I could
call all the shots. While I call the shots now, it takes blood, sweat and
tears to keep a business running.

The sleepless nights are more than the ones I sleep sound. If there’s a
problem, I have to solve it myself unlike when I was employed; the company’s
problems were not mine. I am, however, thankful for every learning process
because that is what makes one tough for this journey.


6. Name a business opportunity you would still like to pursue.


I think there’s a lot of untapped opportunity in manufacturing in Africa in
all industries in general. We import almost everything, whereas most raw
materials come from our continent.

There are, of course, economic and political barriers to entry; but the
opportunity is there. Some of the few manufacturers we have still have to go
to Asia for formulas, production and packaging because it’s cheaper. But we
have the opportunity, and capacity, to do all this from here at home. If you
look around, you will realise that people from outside the continent have
noticed the opportunities we have and they are flocking our airports day and
night to exploit these prospects.—howwemadeitinafrica 



Faith Kabira

 

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