Meet Charles Kariuki, a man who is proof enough that in some cases, it works out when you mix business and family.
In October of 2012, at the age of 30, Charles Kariuki came together with his family members to start a family business dubbed Lavish Beauty which is an entity of selling fashion & beauty related products spanning from makeup, bags & jewellery.
During an interview with Charles, the founder and 25% shareholder of the family business, he reveals that when they started the venture with seed capital of KSh500, 000, they were only involved in door to door selling where they would carry a lot of stock around.
“This was quite tedious and also limited in terms of reach. We then realized that we could make our business easier which led us to having an e-commerce platform leveraging on social media showcasing all our products 24/7,” reveals the entrepreneur who also has a full time job as an International Trade Consultant.
Lavish Beauty sources their products from Asia, Europe & America and they are able to process 5 orders daily to their target audience who are primarily techno savvy women within the ages of 23 to 50.
The young entreprenuer reveals that the entity is able to make monthly sales worth Ksh300,000 and can go higher to Ksh500,000 “and growing,” he adds.
So, why did the family decide to settle on cosmetic products and not any other form of products? Charles reveals that is a lot of market potential in that industry. “At the moment the Fashion & Cosmetics market has a yearly sales volume of USD 1 Billion adds Charles.
Since its conception in October of 2012, Lavish beauty has sold 1.7 million worth of products and all this they have achieved as a family.
The matriarchy of the household, Grace Wambui who is 55 years old acts as the Finance & Operations Manager, his 25 years old sister Sylvia Kariuki is the Product Manager & Customer Service Manager while his 22 years old brother, Kevin Kariuki is the Marketing & Fulfillment Manager.
Business hasn’t been a smooth sailing after all, Charles says that the business has to deal with first time buyers who lack of trust in them. “We solve this by offering ‘Cash on Delivery’ services. This works well for first time buyers who can view the products & verify their quality before paying for them.
They also have to deal with fraudulent buyers, who may claim that they made an online payment yet they did not. “Others are those who order online and upon delivery they avoid receiving the goods. We solve this, by screening buyers, though this is not always full proof,” adds Charles.
With high hopes of one day becoming a full time entrepreneur, Charles is optimistic that Lavish Beauty will be in the future processing 100 orders and that the entity will be become a brand to the point it shall be adequately recognized in Kenya. “This will pave way for ‘Lavish Home’ to cater for those who need to decorate their homes and also for mothers who shall need products for their babies,” he adds.
Want to follow in his footsteps and become a success story like him and his family? Charles says, “With God all is possible, thus one should always put God first. There is more than enough room for many players in online business.”
But don’t just go into the business blindly, he advises that, “The best strategy is to focus on a niche’ market and become the best at it, in terms of: product quality, price, variety and customer satisfaction.”
He also advises that one shouldn’t be afraid of starting small and increasing over time. He adds that “Never fear making mistakes because, through mistakes one is able to grow after learning from them.
And his last words? “I have made plenty of mistakes in my lifetime as an entrepreneur and lost millions in previous ventures, but the lessons I learnt are invaluable more than what I can learn from world class Business Schools such as Harvard.”
SOURCE; careerpointkenya.co.ke
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