Demand ownership

There's a pattern in our most successful Bizi...

Kuzana is no longer a theory about African entrepreneurship,

or a romantic belief in emerging markets.

We have noticed a pattern in our most successful Bizi:

Demand ownership.

The bizi that own their brand and distribution perform better than ones that pursue huge volumes through low trust intermediaries.

A company that sells through a supermarket might be promised a large and attractive order, but it means low margins, realistically getting paid in 90 days after repeated follow-ups and no contact information for the end consumer.

Compare that to Nyumbani Greens that sells traditional vegetables direct to consumer on Instagram: they get paid cash, make a large margin and know the exact customer to retarget for a repeat purchase and can address any quality concerns directly. Result: 5x growth.

The business closest to the customer learns the fastest because reality smacks them in the face in 5 hours, not 5 months.

Bellfeeds takes demand ownership one step further: community. They own the Pig Farmer Facebook groups for the pig farming counties of Kenya. Somehow they built a moat in the “boring” business of pig feed—because who is going to prefer the 2nd best pig farming group of Meru? 4x growth in 18 months and $8k monthly net profit. Cash sales, full margin, demand ownership.

Consider NAWIRI, micro-customized women’s fashion. They sell high end items that are tailored in 10 minutes to uniquely fit each woman’s body, because women don’t come in just 3 sizes like a rice cooker. They sell direct to consumer but also have Women’s Circle workshops on what it means to be a modern woman—attendees are inspired and tend to make big purchases after the Circles. 1.8x in 3 months. Customers identify with the brand and call themselves “NAWIRI BABES.” Not only do they get advance payment, but there is a waitlist for both the Women’s Circle and the clothes.

Commodity -> Direct2Consumer -> Community -> Identity

Demand ownership is our new criteria for batch 4.

Many companies apply to Kuzana with broken, commodity business models (see our linkedin post with 8,000+ views here). They need capital because they are being abused by buyers who take 14-180 days to pay, treating them like a free bank loan. These entrepreneurs come to us excited “We just got a Purchase Order from a big supermarket. If we just get working capital we will be set!” Unfortunately, their working capital needs will scale even faster than their sales as the big supermarket bullies them with delayed payments. We realized that unless a company has a direct path to obtaining Demand Ownership, we won’t invest.

We are now receiving applicants for the next batch. We have more wisdom, a higher bar, better selection, a stronger brand, and more personal transformation than we did six months ago.

We have 195 applicants with revenue over ksh400,000 monthly (our new raised bar for consideration). Only 7 investment spots are available.

And so, I invite you to continue this journey with us.