Where we stay at Common Ground, is probably about 2 kilometers away from the taxi stand which we use to take to Kiminini, sometimes if in a rush, or just feeling too lazy to hoof it there is the option of riding a boda-boda. Bodas are bicycles which for 10/= will pedal you to the taxi stand. They often hang out just at the road down from where we stay, so it works as a way of getting around and it is very inexpensive. Kenya is full of boda operators, as well as their motorcycled counterparts pika-pika operators. I’ve heard that boda gets its name from border, where the cycles used to bring people back and forth from Uganda and Kenya.
Getting back form Elgon meant getting right back to work for me. The first big event was a promotion outside of Khetias Supermarket, much like we did with Suam. Khetia is situated in a bit of a rougher neighbourhood than Suams and does not receive as much foot traffic, but Khetias is a very nice place. We set up booths on the street in front as well as near the entrance from Tuesday to Friday and had some very good response.
We also tried out new salespeople at Khetia days, a big part of what I’ve been doing is interviewing candidates to build our marketing team. Things are going very well, and there was a lot of talent working for us at Khetias making it a successful event.
I wasn’t actually there on Friday to see the conclusion of Khetias though because Jessica and I went to Busia to work with AMPATH and the owners of dukas in the area to speak with them of promoting the CeraMaji through AMPATH education sessions as well as speaking with duka owners of stocking the filters. This again was a very fun experience, some people had heard of our product and one woman had a great time explaining all the lessons to a late coming duka owner. To get to Busia, we got up very early and boarded a Matatu to Bungoma and then transferred to Busia. Matatus are kind of like full sized vans. They have 14 seats and for me they are quite cramped. For the matautus that run between Kiminini and Kitale it is rare that they will run with less than 20 people, sometimes with people hanging outside of the open door. On the way back we started by matatu, but we got dropped off somewhere before Bungoma and ended up boarding a giant bus which was a lot of fun as it played music for our journey.
On Sunday we set up locally at the Kiminini market. Kiminini is more rural, and we’ve been concentrating much of our efforts on Kitale, but it was nice to set up where many people knew us. In Kiminini we were able to find both new customers as well people who were able to tell us how much they enjoyed our filters.
We had a busy week setting things up around town, and we managed to strike a deal with Trans Matt, the last remaining supermarket in town. Our first day of promotion was Friday. On Thursday I'd been told a camera crew was to arrive Friday as well I thought it was from KBC, which wasn't that big a deal. At 7am I had a phone call with Lorris, the pottery expert from Edmonton, it was a conference between Sammy, Lorris and I.
So during the call with Sammy and Lorris the factory workers cleaned up the factory. To get it ready for TV, we had recently upgraded the electrical systems which helped put the factory into something of a state. It was purely by coincidence that it was also the frist Trans Matt day, and that I had ordered a truck to come and pick up filters from our factory to take them to where we warehouse them in town. Where we warehouse them in a place in town called the coffee shop. Which is a huge building where the white people hang out (which actually gets annoying but they have good access to power so it makes it a good place to do work).
We were waiting for the camera crew to arrive and loading filters, so I went to my hut on the other side of the school to get things ready. I was already running late for an interview I was to conduct at the coffee shop. During this time the truck took the initiative to drive up to the area where the huts are, this is up a muddy road, which is not a great thing to do seeing as our filters are somewhat delicate. Then the camera crew arrived. So we sent the truck back down to the factory, and actually unloaded some of the filters so they could film the truck being loaded before heading to town. At this point I got interviewed, the lady stood on a filter to interview me (she was behind the camera, but it was for eye level), and I explained a a few words about the project. After this I got in the truck and headed to town.
Trans Matt is right next to Suam, but this promotion was different in that we did not sell direct to consumers, but rather we simply promoted the product and told people to buy their filters inside of Trans Matt. We were lucky to have some very good salespeople, including Justin, present, as they convinced many people to try our water. It was about six by the time we finally left transmatt and took a taxi home. Then tonight as I said earlier I was on TV. They showed a clip of me saying a few words. First the broadcast at 7 which was in Swahili, and then at 9 the English version, only it was way longer, and it didn't actually air until about 950. Both times I didn't hear what I said because people in the room made noise, but it was pretty exciting.
The next day was Saturday, it was a Trans Matt day as well, after the success of our first day they ordered 20 more filters. Suam also ordered 20 filters on that day and Khetias ordered six more of their own. So I spent pretty much the whole day delivering those orders, but it was very nice to see that every supermarket in town was now stocked full of CeraMaji. It was also very good that the orders were completed on Saturday because Sunday was for Justin and I to go on Safari in the Masai Mara.
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