Big Dreams and The Long Road for Martin Kibote

For all of Martin Kibote’s achievements over the past 7 years, the founder of Mediabox Advertising believes in keeping his feet on the ground and having a clear vision for the future.

In a span of 7 years, he has transformed Mediabox Advertising’s simple idea to one of East Africa’s most trusted advertising agencies among blue chip companies and SMEs in the region.

To start with, Martin Kibote may seem like just another down-to-earth lad, but don’t be fooled. The 29-year-old Murang’a native is smart as they come. He’s also a lifelong learner who learns from his own mistakes, reading books, watching youTube videos, benchmarking, attending industry forums and events. He also boasts to have strong mentors around him.

His departure, however, was not one of a kind – “it was out of desperation,” he says. He’d just secured a greener pasture in September 2011 to work as a marketing executive at an agency. That required him to give a two weeks’ notice to his then employer.

So how did the Murang’a born son skyrocket East Africa’s go to advertising agency from his humble backpack into the big league without college education?

When the two weeks’ notice period expired, Martin packed from his boss to start a career in a company of his dream – which also offered a better pay. This was not to happen. On his reporting day, the HR asked him to go home and wait for to be called. Apparently, the MD (who was to sign the employment letter) was away and Martin had to wait till he’s back.

The wait was longer than expected, until today “I’m still waiting for the call.” Martin says. “That is how I lost my job.”

“For days, I could pass by and camp at the station where I was supposed to work, in order to familiarize myself with the colleagues and work environment.”

After two weeks of follow ups, nothing was forthcoming. His emails and calls went answered. It is then that Martin decided to go and do his own stuff. “I had a wife and a child at home who required my support. There was no way I could continue waiting to be called.”

Luckily for Martin, he had worked as a marketing executive in an advertising, branding and printing for two and a half years. Clients from his previous employment could call him for projects which he executed on freelance. “That is how I started out, working from home and with zero capital.”

The First Break

A couple of weeks after losing his job, someone from Turkey wanted to run a media campaign in Kenya and needed someone to organize that for him. A friend vouched for Martin. They met at Hilton.

At the meeting, Martin was brutally honest. He confessed that he’d left his previous employment and was now working on freelance. Surprisingly, the client didn’t mind about that. “As long as you deliver, we don’t care.” Martin got the job.

“I did the billboards, booked TV adverts and newspaper adverts and the client was very happy.”

The margin from the project was good enough to afford Martin his bills for two months as well as allow him time to brainstorm. It was then that he decided to dip his two legs and venture on his own. He registered Mediabox Advertising in November 2011.

The Growing Pains

As many startup CEOs attest, certain growing pains are par for the course when your business starts.

For Martin, growing from a briefcase business to setting up his office was not easy. Initially, everything was done from a cybercafé – to print quotations, invoices, delivery notes et cetera. All he needed was to design them from his mini laptop and go to print. He could also joyride at his friends in their offices in Nairobi’s downtown.

His first office was co-shared with a friend in Westlands in January 2012. The friend gave Martin a work station at a cost of Ksh 10,000 a month. For the amount, he could get the work station, internet and cleaning services.

The office did not last for long. The friend who had shared the officed closed after a disagreement with his business partner. Martin went home for two more months.

While this happened, his business was also growing and he decided to get his own office. It was at this point Martin also decided to hire a first employee – an administrative assistant. This move allowed him to delegate some of administrative tasks so he could concentrate on building the businesses.

On the marketing bit, referrals from the clients he’d worked with came in handy. “I had also created rapport with my suppliers and they could supply for me on credit as we wait for the client to pay.”

To keep costs to the lean side, he started out with contractors and casual workers whom he could hire and pay based on a need basis.

Taking off some chips,

According to Martin, who has now grown his business from zero to 10 full time employees, working with people you know well and hiring on a need basis is the perfect recipe to ensuring a business success.

Martin also advises that “when you’re hiring someone, you need to first understand their background and also the needs to be filled in your company. There has to be a perfect match between the two.”

For Mediabox, Martin employs people he has worked with or those he has nurtured in his firm as interns. This guarantees that they understand the industry well and also, he is assured of their capabilities. It also assures him that they will be loyal to the brand he has worked hard to build and deliver to its promise.

To advance his skills and knowledge, Martin has taken short courses in Marketing, Brand Communications and Advertising courses. He is also currently pursuing an executive course at Strathmore Business School.

Martin attributes his company’s success (which now has a workshop in Nairobi downtown and an agency office in Westlands), can be attributed to being frugal, resilience, constant learning and having a strong vision. “And this is just the beginning.” He says.

With this, Mediabox grown beyond itself and is privileged to have clients such as Darling, MoneyGram Ea, Barcadi Martini, Heineken East Africa, Loreal, Airtel, Bosch, Viva Global, Local and International Ad and Event agencies, and many others.

Article appears on the Aug-Sep 2019 edition of Inversk Magazine. Read it here or download article.