Portable Sanitation Association International

Page 17 ASSOCIATIONINSIGHT Portable Sanitation Association International News BIWEEKLY EDITION FEBRUARY 5, 2020 Karibu Loo Update In January, we received a letter from Karibu Loo, a portable sanitation company in Nairobi, Kenya that the PSAI and Member companies have been helping to support. The organization is an affiliate of Ngong Road Children Association, a nonprofit dedicated to educating impoverished children in Nairobi. Below, the organization enumerates both its successes and challenges in 2019 and looks ahead into 2020. Karibu Loo Successes • In 2019 we launched a successful online strategy including Google Ads, a beefed-up Google presence, and increased social media efforts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. This has turned Karibu Loo into a consumer- driven business instead of our former solely sales-driven strategy. Non-commissionable business (no salesperson attached) accounted for over 70 percent of our revenue for the second half of 2019. • In August of 2019, Karibu Loo won the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) Award for best sanitation supplier in Kenya. We have used this award in our social media and direct mail campaigns to clients to build our brand reputation. (Photo at right, from left: Steven Muendo (Operations Manager), Emmanuel Mukasa (Business Development Manager), Maureen Mulievi (General Manager), and Norman Rugurua Kamau (Marketing/Admin. Associate). • The business continues to grow and stabilize. In November we had our largest day in terms of number of events serviced in our short history. Long-term commercial business, which is also responding to our social media campaign, is a growing as a percentage of revenue. • With our switch to a more consumer-driven business we have become more intentional with branding our personnel by outfitting them in branded t-shirts, jackets, overalls, and rain gear. Our Operations Associates model them at left. • Karibu Loo continues to be a job provider for graduates. The business has six full-time employees, five of whom are program alumni. And, more than 70 of our graduates have worked as Associates, gaining valuable work experience. Karibu Loo Challenges • At the beginning of the year we lost the large British Army business due to disagreements with our agent over payment methods and financial controls. This set the commercial business back and the overall business swung into loss until the social media campaign began to take effect. • Unfortunately, the salesperson we hired at the beginning of the year did not work out. Despite his best efforts he was unable to generate enough revenue to cover his salary and he left the company. In his place we have moved Emmanuel Mukasa, the Ngong Road Children Association Alumni Advisor, over to a part-time position as Business Development Manager at Karibu Loo. He is leveraging his contacts at schools and universities as well as making new contacts at companies to drive commercial sales. Continued on page 18

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