{"id":1320,"date":"2025-03-04T12:54:27","date_gmt":"2025-03-04T09:54:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/starthubafrica.org\/blog\/?p=1320"},"modified":"2025-03-04T12:54:32","modified_gmt":"2025-03-04T09:54:32","slug":"empowering-entrepreneurs-a-journey-of-growth-and-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starthubafrica.org\/blog\/empowering-entrepreneurs-a-journey-of-growth-and-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Empowering Entrepreneurs: A Journey of Growth and Community\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Starting and growing a business comes with its fair share of challenges, but for Immaculate Akello<\/a>, the journey has been one of resilience, learning, and transformation. As a skincare product formulator and the founder of Keri Naturals<\/a>, Immaculate is dedicated to producing natural, chemical-free skin and hair products using shea butter. Her products cater to various skin types, from dry and oily to normal and combination skin.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Overcoming Business Challenges<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before joining the Empower YOU<\/a> project, Immaculate struggled with record-keeping. Although she was making sales, she couldn\u2019t accurately determine her profit margins. \u201cI wasn\u2019t keeping proper records, so all I knew was that I had enough money to pay rent, restock my products, and meet daily expenses,\u201d she recalls. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the program\u2019s record-keeping sessions, she was introduced to Zoho Books, a tool that helped her track her sales and expenses. Through this, she discovered that some of her low-margin products, like plain shea butter, had a 60% profit margin per kilogram. This insight allowed her to prioritize high-margin products and focus on the most profitable aspects of her business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Immaculate Akello, Founder of Keri Naturals <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Finding a Support System<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond financial management, the most significant impact of the Empower YOU program for Immaculate was the sense of community it provided. \u201cI started this business in Kampala, but when I moved to Lira, I felt isolated. I didn\u2019t have many young entrepreneurs to interact with,\u201d she shares. Through the Empower YOU project, she connected with like-minded entrepreneurs who became her support system.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Growing Through Digital Marketing<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another major transformation in her business came through social media marketing. Initially, Keri Naturals relied on walk-in customers and WhatsApp referrals. However, after a session with a social media expert, Immaculate set up business accounts on various platforms. One of her fellow program participants helped her design content for TikTok, and within just a month, she began seeing results. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe now receive at least two orders daily from TikTok and get inquiries from five to ten potential customers each day. Our online presence is growing, and it\u2019s incredible to see how digital marketing is opening new opportunities for us,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winning and Scaling Up<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Securing a top three spot in the Empower YOU competition was a defining moment for Immaculate. \u201cIt showed me that someone believes in my idea. There were times I doubted myself and thought about returning to legal practice, but this recognition has renewed my energy.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Immaculate Akello receiving the Empower YOU Award <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With the UGX 3 million prize money, she plans to invest in equipment to scale her production. \u201cRight now, I only have a small hand mixer that can whip two kilograms of shea butter at a time. With the new mixer, I\u2019ll be able to process eight to ten kilograms. I\u2019m also getting a filling machine to improve our packaging process, making it more efficient and hygienic.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Starting and growing a business comes with its fair share of challenges,…\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":1325,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,18,108,19,70,17],"tags":[116,71,26,45,35,50],"class_list":{"0":"post-1320","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entrepreneurship","8":"category-features","9":"category-innovation","10":"category-insights","11":"category-pitching","12":"category-startups","13":"tag-empower-you","14":"tag-pitching","15":"tag-starthub","16":"tag-starthub-africa","17":"tag-startup","18":"tag-uganda"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starthubafrica.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starthubafrica.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starthubafrica.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starthubafrica.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starthubafrica.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1320"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/starthubafrica.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1320\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1326,"href":"https:\/\/starthubafrica.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1320\/revisions\/1326"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starthubafrica.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starthubafrica.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starthubafrica.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starthubafrica.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}