PART 4A: LE DESSERT

By the time you get to the tail-end of a coursed meal, you’re probably stuffed. So much so that you may not have the appetite to glance over the dessert menu. While we tend to think of desserts as traditionally sweet and sugary, they can be spicy, savoury, and hold a great depth of complexity and flavour. Whatever your preference, if you’re open to the world of delight, desserts are (at least in my opinion) the standing ovation of food…the course that reminds you the experience is drawing to a close.

We started meaningful conversations with Eden founders in May 2021. Just as much as we wanted to know everything about their business, who they were, and if our visions truly aligned, they shared the same desires. From due diligence on the founders and company to in-depth conversations about the business model, weighing of pros and cons, and even physical visits to Nairobi and Lagos in July and August 2021 respectively, we were motivated to do things better. As the company that had worked in Nairobi, understood the market, and had the customer base and service providers, we felt a sense of duty to ensure Lynk’s experiences were not only leveraged but built upon and improved. This time, we weren’t going in blind. We knew what did and didn’t work, and had a wealth of documented experiences to guide us along the way. This time would be different. It had to be.

Eden was exactly what we needed to reimagine, redesign, and rebuild. A breath of fresh air and hope against a sea of failures and rejections. It was the perfect opportunity to usher in a new era. We already knew for a fact that; i) service provision in emerging markets was broken; ii) service buyers and players were overwhelmed and dissatisfied; iii) facilitating standardised service provision was a major need (not just a want); and, iv) service buyers were willing to pay to outsource their major headaches. If we could support Eden in its pursuit to prove this growing thirst for standardised service provision across major African cities (starting with Nairobi), we’d also be able to fulfil Lynk’s vision. With the right strategy, we could support Eden in making a compelling case for future funding, but also formally acquire Lynk in the process. A win on both and all fronts! So, with newfound energy to show what we were capable of, we rolled our sleeves and dug into the dirt…ceasing every and all opportunities to write a better story.

Photo credit (Akinyi Wavinya): A Coconut Vanilla Cake with Non-Dairy Frosting made made by yours truly during peak Eden < > Lynk conversations, June 2020.

When it comes to understanding the needs of your customers, being born and raised in the area you’re serving is highly advantageous. Similar experiences beget similar perspectives. By living and walking in the same shoes, you better understand how users think alongside their needs, behaviours and desires. Although Africa is incredibly diverse and culturally nuanced, frames of reference tend to be more familiar. Up until this point, I’d never worked for a venture-backed startup that was fully African and African-led. It was refreshing…more alignment in vision and perspectives, fewer barriers to understanding and context, and a collective buy-and-build Africa mentality. Company values though important, aren’t something I’d engaged with deliberately…not that I wasn’t interested, but more that they weren’t purposefully institutionalised. Eden was different. Culture was always at the heart and centre. Values weren’t just things displayed on the wall or brought up at company retreats, but they guided how we spoke (including our nomenclature), how we convened meetings, how we gave feedback, and even how we evaluated performance. They truly embodied who they said they were - Bold, Relentless, Intentional, Respectful, Relentless, Excellent and Accepting. The founders were so serious about the culture that they commissioned their SMT to produce a company song that each employee sang every week. Though the notion was so foreign and somewhat comical at first, the chant provoked a deep sense of identity and belonging that could not be denied. Before long, we were also embracing the mantra with as much gusto. It felt good to belong. It felt even better to be part of something bigger again and to be more conscious of leaning into it instead of away from it.

Nigerians are built differently. They’re generally bold, direct, transparent, hungry, and constantly hustling. They don’t beat around the bush with anything. Things can go from 0 to 100 and 100 to 0 with equal measure and at the drop of a hat. On the flip side, Kenyans are mostly passive, amicable, and diplomatic, but equally hardworking. Unlike my thought-partner who is naturally straightforward and quick on her feet, I often air on the side of caution. I observe first, assess second, and engage last. With so much on our plate, and considering how fast-paced our day-to-day was, I needed to morph as quickly as possible… a wait-and-see approach just wouldn’t work. My thought partner constantly called me out whenever I wasn’t embracing our company values…especially those of boldness and transparency. She often said something along the lines of “If you’re consistently complaining about the same thing to the wrong person, you don’t want solutions…you want sympathy, or worse, gossip!”. Point blank, direct, painful, but true. I had the power to confront my problem head by simply addressing it with the right person. It took me more effort, but I adapted. Through practice, observation, and active listening, I learned how to take less offence while also exercising boldness and transparency more overtly and from the onset.

Values mean nothing if they aren’t put into practice every day. It took us additional and deliberate time to contextualise Eden's values for our Kenyan entity. We thought deeply about what each of the values meant, how we could adopt them as our own, and how we could inspire others to subscribe to these ideals. When people say that a company is toxic, they’re often referring to the people. Culture isn’t just the people, it’s their behaviours, beliefs, and values. We knew that adopting an open culture, one with less bureaucracy and one where every employee was empowered to respectfully speak up or out against was paramount to success. Building a company with audacious goals necessitated that we focus and prioritise. Anyone who didn’t buy into the vision wasn’t worth our time or the company’s time either. We made a solemn promise to ourselves and our employees that culture would remain at the forefront…anyone who was defective of it wasn’t a right fit. No exceptions.

Photo credit (Akinyi Wavinya): A classic Apple Pie made by yours truly in the thick of Eden set up in Kenya, September 2020.

When we started, Eden’s model was relatively simple…essential services (cleaning, laundry, food) were delivered directly to the user on a subscription basis and via a mobile app. The value proposition: ease, affordability, and convenience. Although we’d considered launching one vertical at a time, following our visit to Lagos, we knew that this luxury wouldn’t extend to Kenya. For starters, unlike Lagos, infrastructure was much more developed and dependable in Nairobi. Users were not just accustomed to receiving deliveries in very short periods but demanded it. Being dependable, wouldn’t be enough. Second, we already had a plethora of players in the market providing identical services and in similar modalities. If we wanted to stand out we’d need to be better, the best or provide something different and unique. Third, based on our experience at Lynk, we knew how difficult it would be to rebuild trust after users associated you with a single service/offering. To have a competitive advantage, we needed to pull out all the stops…doing more and not less. It was going to take much more effort than we originally anticipated, but we were ready and willing.

Even though I was appointed Country Lead (developed all KPIs, designed our roadmap/strategy, oversaw and led all growth activities, etc.), I co-led and made all decisions related to the Kenyan operation in very close alliance with my thought partner who was appointed Operations Lead (oversaw and addressed gaps in service provision, led customer service and satisfaction, managed finances, etc). Having an equitable partner is like walking into battle with a united army, iron-clad armour, and sharpened weaponry…you’re automatically braver and bolder knowing that someone has your back. When it came down to getting things up and running, we trusted each other to divide, conquer, and power through. We’d been here before. We’d helped build companies. We’d lead teams. We’d designed and managed budgets. We’d kept things lean. The fundamental difference now was that we were finally afforded “free” reign and license to lead, manage, and operate with little to no intervention from the Nigerian entity. And, given how aggressive our timelines and targets were, we welcomed the freedom to move at a speed that made sense for us and in our context.

Building a business from scratch is exhausting. There are no employees, no systems in place, and little points of reference to make decisions from. The working hours are inconceivable, you’re doing anything and everything at the same time, and progress seems very sluggish. Even though Eden wasn’t a new entity, and further noting that we were building off our shared knowledge from Lynk and site visits to Eden in Lagos, starting from the ground up still took as much effort and patience. There were still several things that needed to be redesigned and reengineered for the market. Nonetheless, having clear documentation from both companies helped us speed up our timelines significantly. We had ~6 months and a very lean budget of ~$40,000 to move mountains. It was ambitious, but we knew we could make it happen. The steps and processes involved in starting and operationalising a business are fairly standard across sectors. It took us ~ 4 months from September 2021 to accomplish the following

• establish and register the Kenyan entity with all permits and licenses in accordance;

• find a commercial space, renovate, retrofit, and furnish it for all business needs (kitchen, laundry, operations base for all teams);

• develop relevant product documentation and service offering frameworks to guide service provision;

• iterate the website and mobile app for Kenya to develop relevant product documentation;

• recruit and hire a lean team of 5;

• recruit and onboard 10 service providers;

• test and trial all service provision (food, cleaning, laundry and beauty) from end to end

The first 6-8 months of setting up and operationalising the business were severe and intense. The race had only started, and I was already burned out from 15-hour work days. But despite the endless iterating, consolidating, trialling, starting over, starting again and starting from scratch, we’d done it! We brought onboard our first paying customer in December of 2021, our first corporate signed up in January 2022, and we formalised Lynk’s acquisition in April 2022 alongside launching Eden operations officially in Kenya in the same breath. I was working with a great thought partner turned even better friend, spending significant time in the kitchen and learning a ton about the commercialisation of food (the biggest highlights were always menu tasting), leading and feeding into a budding team, and most meaningful to me, engaging and providing service providers (informal workers) with job opportunities. This is what mattered. Even when I was exhausted, I was often reminded of the good work we were doing.

The collective labour and investment we’d made into establishing an Eden office in Kenya was no small feat. Our team went above and beyond to ensure we delivered top-notch experiences to our individual and corporate customers across 30+ locations in the city. By June 2022 and with a team of only 5 we’d actualised KES 268,820.44 in revenue and were serving 40-50 customers a month. Within a year, we had actualised a KES 966,751.00 with a team of 8 and were serving ~150 - 220 customers.

If you’re a dessert lover, you’re often fixated on getting to the end of the menu…where the real treat awaits. It’s not about fast-forwarding to the decadence of the dessert, but more about the anticipation of it that makes it so much more worth it. So even if the amuse bouche, the entree, or plat principal aren’t up to scratch, there’s still a final window to get it right. I’d anticipated and envisioned this moment for so long. Whilst many doubted the possibility, I always believed fully and passionately that Lynk could live on. Much like a lemon bar, tart at first, but balanced with silky buttery and sugary goodness, having seen this transition through was incredibly bittersweet. The relief and gratitude of coming full circle contrasted by the sadness and fatigue of having given everything and then more weighed heavy and real. It was long, it was laboured but I still had all my limbs intact as we crossed the checkpoint. And even with the unknown hurdles of what came next were still in the air, for then, it didn’t matter. We savoured the sweetness of this win! Our collective win and the collective boldness and excellence cast forth that lead us here in the first place.