AWEC Business Academy Learner Spotlight: Caroline Ouma - Why African Women Entrepreneurs Should Not Miss The Opportunity to Register For The Next Course!
Caroline Ouma
COVID-19 has driven rapid change in the business environment, particularly for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME’s) owned by female entrepreneurs in Africa. Where consumers are overwhelmed by more options than ever before and a majority of business operations have shifted online, a successful brand is key to differentiating yourself from your competitors.
As the AWEC Business Academy announced their excitement to have Shelly Lazarus, Chairman Emeritus at Ogilvy, and Nadja Bellan-White, formerly Executive Partner at Ogilvy and recently appointed CMO of Vice Media, lead the next course on Establishing a Brand Identity, we reflect on a learner’s experience after completing the previous course.
In August 2020, the AWEC Business Academy offered a new course, ‘Applying Design Thinking to Satisfy Changing Customer Needs’, for African women entrepreneurs. The course led by Dr. Gordon Adomdza, Associate Professor, Ashesi University, Ghana, was curated to teach them to develop the skills and mindset to understand customer needs, capture insights, and translate them into competitive advantage.
Enthusiasm was high for this topic, with the 200-person course filled within hours of opening registration. Energy remained high throughout the 4-week online course, with nearly 70% of learners engaging in key content and 58% successfully completed the course.
For Caroline Ouma, a psychologist and aspiring entrepreneur from Kenya, enrolling on the course was her very first interaction with one of AWEC’s programs. We sat down with her to discuss the experience she described as ‘mind-blowing.’ and her advice to other African women entrepreneurs about why they should not hesitate to register for the AWEC Business Academy courses. This interview has been lightly edited for length.
Could you give us a brief overview of your business idea?
Let me start by saying I am very new to entrepreneurship. Despite the fact that both my parents are entrepreneurs, I have been employed for pretty much most of my life. By profession I’m a counselling psychologist, and recently an instructor in fertility education and medical management. I’m very big on family and everything that pertains to it, so in 2019 I conceptualised the idea of Family Management Consultants Limited (FMC). The vision our company is explained in a three-word tagline; to help families Heal, Connect and Nurture.
How did you find out about the AWEC Business Academy?
I have a friend called Trish Moeketsi-Njogu that I’ve known for over 11 years. She owns a business called Tumi Wellness and is like a mentor to me. She is also an alumna from AWEC cohort 2 and introduced me to all things AWEC. In December 2019, she even sent me the link to apply for the 12-month program but to be honest I knew I was not ready.
I then quit my full-time job in May this year [in order to focus on building the business] and I kept thinking, “I actually don’t know anything about running a business,” so when Trish sent me the email about the Design Thinking course I knew it was very timely. There was no way I would allow myself to miss out this time.
Why did you feel the need to enroll in the Design Thinking course?
In 2016, I enrolled in a Design Thinking Course with IDEO but I went through it with an employee mindset which is very different. I completed the assignments just for the sake of getting them done. I was not in the right headspace to be running a business. But this year, I was hit by the realization that I am trying to start a business in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and I had no idea what I should be doing. So I knew this course would be relevant.
What were your expectations of the course versus your actual experience?
From the get go, Trish warned me that it would be intense and I expected it to be like other courses I had done previously, you know, assignments once a week and a bit of reading here and there so my initial response was ‘yeah yeah, I’m very organized, I’ll manage.’
Oh my gosh, it was INTENSE! And those deadlines...When was the last time I had strict deadlines? But my feedback to the AWEC team is; please don’t get rid of the deadlines! They really keep people on their toes.
With the AWEC course, what you put in is what you get out and so I allowed myself to be vulnerable and came with a mindset of ‘I don’t know anything’ and I’m here to learn.
During the induction session, someone from the AWEC team advised us to pace ourselves and plan ahead to get the most of the course so I made sure I printed out my lesson calendar, converted the assignment submission deadline [to my] time zone, made a schedule to go through the pre-reading material, and then arranged to watch the videos by Dr. Gordon Adomdza afterwards. It really helped a lot.
I also loved the peer sessions. I got to interact with women from Nigeria and Rwanda whose businesses are already up and running and at first I felt they were aggressive but to be honest they were just confident [women entrepreneurs]. I know I was a little overwhelmed but they told me I would also need to learn to be tough; such brilliant ladies.
Going through the Peer Reviews made me realize that WOW, there are so many women with some very interesting businesses and what shocked me is when other peers read my assignments they also gave me well-thought out feedback, making me look and feel like a serious business owner meaning I would now have to actually be one.
How did you balance your time between motherhood, running the household and taking the course?
It’s not really about a balancing act but rather a juggling act and I found it quite interesting. It’s about give and take and eventually I found my own pattern. I would go through the pre-reading at night when the children had gone to bed. My assignments would be done between 10pm and midnight, and then I noticed other peers also submitting their coursework around the same time and thought ‘yep, the struggle is real’ [laughs].
In the end even my children knew that Saturday nights they couldn’t go into mommy's room.
I explained to them that when I sit on the computer, I learn so that I’m able to earn income so I can go to the supermarket and buy things. And they understood; no computer, no money, no supermarket so they would leave me to do my work. I know it’s hard for people especially if you are working from home but there are times I had to run away to my sister’s place just so I can get some time to concentrate; particularly if I wanted to dive deeper into specific aspects about the business.
How do you see yourself applying what you learnt on the Design Thinking course to your business or within your team?
The Empathy Map really made me think about what experiences my prospective clients would have. I’m a visual learner so I used to print out all the material and I remember mapping out the customer journey. I think by the time I submitted the assignment I had written it out about 4 times. Each iteration I would say, ‘this looks good’ and go over it and again and say ‘nope, it doesn't make sense’ and do it all over again. The entire process helped me crystalise what I want to do with my business.
Even though I have completed the course I am definitely going to repeat the exercises again.
With the rigour of the course I know I need to set deadlines for everything I am doing and from the Peer Sessions I realize I will need accountability partners.
What advice would you give to anyone who might be considering whether to enroll in an AWEC Business Academy Course?
It’s on you! These are courses you do for you. Don't do them for anyone else so that when it gets hard and you get to a point where you wonder why you are waking up or going to bed at odd hours to read, you need to be super clear about why you are doing this.
In the Kenyan setting, the education system is so geared towards merit; how many marks did you get, did you pass or did you fail, but this is real life, this is reality, so the passing and failing here is whether your business does well or not. Dr Gordon Adomdza or anyone teaching these courses won't come and check if you are applying what you learn to your business, the responsibility is yours.
The course is GRUELLING and I know you won’t believe me, I certainly didn’t heed the warnings from Trish about how intense it is, but please be prepared to put the work in.
The AWEC team is fantastic about putting contingencies in place knowing that we would be juggling things at home with family and work. In my head I was thinking, ‘why would anyone let anything get in the way of such an important course?’ Until life happened! Woah…[laughs]
But all the intensity makes you realise that even under pressure you realise you can do it. I managed to get through this course and I was actually very proud of myself.
The AWEC Business Academy is a cooperative learning experience designed for African women entrepreneurs seeking to develop specific business management skills in just one month. Topics offered in the Business Academy often go beyond what is available in the core program curriculum and are designed to be practical, applied, and interactive, but in a condensed time frame.
Our next course will explore the key components necessary for companies to build customer loyalty and competitive advantage. ‘Establishing a Brand Identity’ is now open for registration.