Entrepreneurs
One-Two Step Motion With Luis Kinuthia
To be an entrepreneur, “If you want to do it, do it now, if you don’t you will regret it.” Luis Kinuthia’s journey is a testament to this. He is the co-founder and CEO of Emerging Markets Consulting, an inspiration who beat all odds to follow his dreams. He went through a series of business difficulties but just like a Phoenix, he rose from his own ashes.
Luis Kinuthia was born and bred in Nakuru. Together with his brother, sister, and parents, they resided in a small village called Shogosho in Elburgon located deep in the heart of Mau Forest. He attended a primary school called Mutate which according to his vivid description was made of basic structure such as wood with neither doors and windows nor cemented floors. When they started their classes, they had to, “come with water to settle the dust.”
Luis’s parents are both teachers and according to him, his mother taught in the same school he was in, rendering him to be called ‘mtoto wa mwalimu.’His father was a High school teacher in Nairobi. Just like a typical village boy, Luis tilled the land and looked after the cattle. In class 6, Luis was sent to stay at his aunty however, his stay was cut short after 18 months and he had to go back home to help manage livestock and till the land back at home.
However, Luis narrates the life-changing story of him and his family being displaced. He recalls the 2007 dreadful election clashes, as the neighboring community came to attack after the announcement of the election results. He remembers how they were forced to run for their lives in the middle of the night.
“We woke up to hearing screams and saw fires from our neighbors torched houses. We had to run and we only left with the only clothes we had on,” he added.
Despite none of his family members being injured, he saw many of their friends and neighbors being ferried with arrow and panga bruises. The clashes led to them falling under the arms of the government and being dependent on everything. This resulted in them moving from one relative to the next before they finally got a new place. When driving back to the site with his parents they only to found their house in ashes.
“I don’t miss the livestock and the field, the only thing I miss most is photographs. My childhood from birth to the age of 14 was wiped away,” he says.
Luis says after the clashes what was left of the memories is a few pictures that were handed down to him by his relatives. These pictures, he says, are much treasured. Luis acknowledges God for where he is today. He says that he was lucky to be one of those who survived together with their parents and even managed to get a scholarship.
Luis entrepreneurship’s journey can be said to be that of a horse’s ride – it looked up and down but had a one-two-step forward motion. At first, according to him, he was that ‘geek kid’ who thought his life was going to be all academia. Secondly, he was studying something totally different to business; Actuarial Science.
He however came to change and attributes his entrepreneurial mindset to one Brian Karina, a guy he met on the campus. He says that it was Brian who introduced and got him interested in entrepreneurship. Luis narrates how he felt intimidated by his friends during his 1st and 2nd years on the campus. According to him, they seemed so brilliant with everything figured out for them and “felt sort of like a loser and had to step up.”
“My friends would be talking about how their businesses are doing and how many employees they had, that made me wonder if we all were in the same school,” said Luis.
Being the bright kid that Luis was, it is not to our astonishment that his very business idea was to write a book. Luis was so much into Philosophy and drawing his inspiration from the likes of Pepe Minambo. He wanted to write on changing how people think but unfortunately had to give up this idea after the realization that he lacked enough material for it was a philosophy entailed material. However, he still has his drafts.
Luis moved to the next business venture which was the selling of juice and coffee at school. Coffee selling in particular did so well given they were based at the ‘cold Karatina’ area. The coffee was a big hit among students and lecturers who thought they were in the food science department because of how good the coffee was. His next venture was in liquid soap supply. According to Luis, this was some good business that unfortunately had to be put to an end after they cleared campus.
After School, Luis merged with four friends to start FinSAL Savannah, a business he considers his first Start-up. FinSAL Savannah was an agribusiness involving growing fish in a friend’s pond in Kisii and getting fundraisers. Once they sell, they would reimburse the guy’s investment plus the start-up commission. The business went on well then came to a standstill. All the fish were stolen resulting to huge losses. Luis blames this on their remote operation of the business.
After a few months, Luis landed himself in the show, ‘ The Lion’s Den’ in the year 2017 where together with his friends pitched their prototype for helmet liners. According to him and his friends, the liners were meant for hygiene purposes since the helmet is over-shared. The ‘Lion’s Den’ helped them get investors but they fell out afterward and did not have enough capital to start on their own. Luis says that the fallout, though painful, motivated them to work harder so as to generate capital considering it was the main challenge.
“Nobody has done the idea as we had envisioned it. People have come up with such innovations but they are still room to actually improve on it, it’s something we can embark on once we have enough capital,” stated Luis.
Luis finally got a job with a micro-insurance company which he says shared a similar vision of helping people who don’t have insurance get access. They did so by helping them get products that resonate with them. This is where Luis got the bulk of his experience. The CEO, Richard Leftley, was his great friend who offered to mentor him in the field. When the time was ripe, Luis branched out and decided to build his own thing thus Emerging Markets Consulting was born.
According to Luis, many people find it difficult transition from employment to entrepreneurship. It was a whole different case for them as it was easy to get clients and manage themselves and the business. Having launched it during a pandemic Luis says they “had never had a better year than 2020.”
He adds that remote operations contributed to their success. One of the lessons that Luis learned during this pandemic has two sides; those who suffered from it and those who benefited.
When asked about why he prefers partnerships in business he says he came to this realization when in his third year. Luis realized that education was not giving him much information as he needed and decided to bring people together to contribute to a common goal.
“ I am not the smartest. I am not the most brilliant person you will ever meet but I have a way of putting people together and driving them towards a common objective,” he says.
Luis says that in his partnerships he prioritizes alignment, especially of business goals. According to him, he would not go for a money-driven partner. He also likes to clearly set out engagement terms with potential partners. This is important to him because when the matrix of measuring success comes in, it will determine whether they agree or not. He adds that having clear objectives and a direct understanding of where you are headed is key for any partnership. Luis personally prefers to venture into business with people he has known for a long time especially over 2 years because he needs people whose strengths and weaknesses he is aware of.
Luis’ insurance company, Emerging Markets Consulting was created to provide inclusive insurance solutions to the under-served. The ones who are not included in the insurance industry. According to Luis, Kenyan insurance products cater for only 10%, and the remaining 90% remaining are not catered for. The traditional insurance companies have lost their interest in the people since they do not understand them. This is because of the lack of information about the bulk of the Kenyan people.
Luis’ services contextualize a product for his clients, unlike the traditional insurance companies. They do so by use of Human-Centered Design that helps understand the customers. Luis and his team go to the ground to invest in research and then create prototype products based on the understanding of their customer. They create solutions for their customers and then test to get customer’s views. When unsatisfied, they do iteration which is to re-design based on the customer’s views. They do so until they achieve the desired outcome.
Luis believes that everyone should keep going and should keep doing their best. He says that when we keep going, the next step might not really lead us to where we want to be but it will lead us to somewhere equally important.
“Do the best with the resources you have now, the doors will open and your success will make sense when you look behind and join the dots not when in the journey,” he remarks.
For business, Luis Kinuthia can be reached through the email address luis@emerging-markets.africa or via his LinkedIn account.
