The Business Woman
Manufacturing. The word conjures up images of noisy machine filled factory floors teeming with bustling men in overalls, hardhats and plastic glass frames. Industrial production in many ways is the epitome of a man’s world. When Flora Mutahi was working in her first job as an accountant with an audit firm, the one thing that stood out to her about the manufacturing clients she was auditing was not the gender imbalance but rather, the vibrancy of their businesses. It seemed light years away from the world of ledgers and balance sheets that made up her daily forte. With less than a year of employment under her belt, Flora decided to dive into the world of entrepreneurship and manufacturing.
A former student of Greensteads School, Flora had grown up with parents who were both in business so entrepreneurship was familiar to her. For her parents though, knowing first-hand the hardships of biashara, they were less enthusiastic about the move and tried to convince her to stay in the safety of employment. But Flora was ready for change. It was 1995 and she had an idea brewing that was based on an everyday challenge. The problem that intrigued her was salt. Or rather the frustratingly clumpy salt that graced every kitchen and dining room table across the country. She had witnessed free flowing salt abroad and wondered why it wasn’t readily available in Kenya. Why did we have to keep putting rice in our salt shakers? She took that question to food scientists at the University of Nairobi and together they worked on a formula for free-flowing salt calling it Melvin’s. Next up was selling it.
Flora became the true hustler – moving up and down Nairobi’s supermarkets looking for customers to purchase her salt. It was not easy, but eventually a few orders started coming in. The challenge? A ton of salt does not bring in a lot of money, so there was a need to diversify. Reading the newspaper one day she learnt that Kenya’s tea packaging monopoly had been opened up. She decided that was her next port of call – but not just regular tea, that would be a huge mountain to overcome, but rather specialised tea – with that Melvin’s Tangawizi Tea was born. Flora has been growing her business steadily for more than twenty years and knows intrinsically the challenges that SMEs face in business growth; access to capital, breaking into new markets, and brand building. With that knowledge she was invited to join the board of the Kenya Association of Manufacturers in 2008.
Established in 1959 KAM is a membership based organisation which promotes local manufacturing, helps Kenyan companies be more competitive for export and engages with the government to build a better enabling environment for business growth. After six years of board service, in 2014 Flora was elected Vice Chair. Two years later, in July 2016, she made history when she became the first female Chair of the Kenya Association of Manufacturers. As an SME owner she brings a distinctly new flavour to the KAM community which has traditionally been seen as the purview of large scale manufacturers. In addition, one of her first acts of business was to start a Women in Manufacturing chapter to build avenues and space for more women to embrace factory floors.
For Flora growth is always top of mind, whether it be for her multiple businesses or now as KAM Chair, for others like her who build the factories, who provide the jobs that fuel the economy of this here Kenya. We applaud Flora Mutahi, CEO, Chair, biashara lady for keeping business growth centre stage.
