Her name is Caroline Biegon, an interior design graduate with a passion for beauty and owner of Carbie Limited. Her business is located in Nakuru town at Cigma Building where she meets her clientele and interacts with them either in person or online.
After clearing her university education from Maseno University where she graduated with Bachelor of Arts in Interior Design and Information Technology, Caroline became frustrated in the job search process and did not want to become one among the high youth unemployment statistic. She had a hobby in making face masks from natural products and opted to grow her skill-set and convert it into business.
In February 2016, she attended the EPTF Enterprise Development training and that became her trigger point with Caroline officially choosing to convert her hobby into a business. At the onset, she did not see much light at the end of the tunnel with her clientele boasting of between 20 to 30 individuals. To this, her monthly revenue in sales ranged between KES. 10,000 – 15,000.
However, after the training, Caroline was able to retain contacts with her EPTF Marketing Facilitator, Mr. Hillary Busolo who spurred her into leveraging on technology to market her products. From this, Caroline was able to start a website: www.carbielimited.com as well as an Instagram page called Carbie Natural Beauty. From the foregoing, Carbie Limited has seen its clientele base increase to a remarkable 200 clients with an average of 50 purchasing her products on a monthly basis. This has increased her monthly revenue stream from between KES. 25, 000 – 30, 000, which she attributes to effective marketing strategies. She has been able to recruit an additional 3 youth on a part-time basis as sales marketers which she believes is her contribution to addressing the Kenyan malaise that is youth unemployment.
With the increase in clientele, so has been an increase in uptake of her products. At the time she was trained by EPTF, Caroline only sold her facemask product. She has however incorporated a host of other products such as Toners, Face Masks, Cleansers and Moisturizers. Her products are made from natural raw materials such as ; Shea Butter, Coconut Oil, Wheat Germ, Turmeric, Basil, Rosemary and Olive Oil.
Her unique selling point, she says, is her personal appeal strategy which enables her to meet a client, interact with them about their skin tone, recommend a product that is in line with their skin tone and offer free services on how to use the products. Additionally, she has invested in branding with all her products properly branded and packaged with her business logo. Her constant interaction with her customers as well as proper branding and packaging, she says, has kept her a step ahead of her competitors.
Her major challenge is getting adequate capital to further expand her business as well as to improve her products. This however has not barred her from continually seeking to improve her service delivery and for Caroline the sky is but the limit.