This Is Exactly What It Takes To Start An Event Management Business In Kenya

Are you thinking about starting an events management business?
This is a great choice because more and more people are embracing hiring someone to plan and execute events for them. Be it baby showers, weddings, birthdays and more.
Deciding to start your own business can be terrifying and if you don’t go about it the right way, you may not succeed.
More and more people are moving away from employment to start their own businesses. Either because they haven’t been able to get a job or are just looking to be their own boss.
As far as business ideas are concerned, event planning is one of the most profitable ventures. .
But what does it take to have a successful events management business? After all, almost half of all startups fail.
Step 1: Getting Started
Well, the first thing you need to remember is that the event planning industry is not all glamorous.
Just like any other business you need to put in the work for it to succeed.
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1. Knowledge
Before anything else, you need to know just how the events management industry works. This means that you need to do a lot of research to find out the industry standards as well as network with the people you will be working with such as caterers, tent providers etc.
You need to have all the relevant information before you start your business to help you have a clear idea of what to do to succeed.
2. Capital
Just like any other business, you will need to have some capital to cover initial costs. You cannot start a business without capital because even registration with the county government will require payment.
You will need to buy supplies, pay for marketing and even rent. Approximately you need to have around 100-120K as capital for your business.
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3. Legal requirements
Starting a business is not an easy task. There are a few legal aspects that you need to take care from registering the company name, getting a business permit, KRA Pin and registering your business. You need to ensure that you are doing everything by the law.
As a startup, you can comfortably run the company from home and save on office rent.
For the business permit, the cost may vary depending on the county but it ranges from Ksh 5000 – Ksh 15,000 per year.
Step 2: Identify Your Target Market
So after setting up your business, you need to know who your target customer is. As a new business, you may have to take on any client that comes your way but after a while, you will need to specialize.
Clients in this industry are usually divided into two.

1. Private Market – These are more personal events such as weddings, baby showers, birthdays, reunions and more.
2. Corporate Market – These are more organization based events such as trade shows, galas, award ceremonies, team buildings, launch parties and more.

By knowing who you want to work with, you will be in a better position to know how to market your business to these people.
Step 3: Work On Your Skills
As an event planner, you will need to have certain soft skills that will help you establish a reputable brand for yourself;

1. Time Management – There are various deadlines you will need to meet and you don’t want an event to start late just because you couldn’t set up on time. This will hurt your chances of ever getting referrals which is how most of these businesses actually get customers.
2. Attention to detail – An event is made perfect by the little things. You need to be able to ensure that even the smallest things such as flowers are in line with what the client wanted.
3. Negotiation – This will come in handy when you are dealing with suppliers and caterers so that you end up getting the best possible deal.
4. People skills – You will obviously have to deal with a lot of people, so it is important that you have good people skills to ensure that you maintain good relationships with everyone you come across no matter how difficult they are.

So is it a profitable business?
I believe that any business can be profitable depending on how you go about it. After investing over 100K in the business you obviously want to know how much money you will be making.
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The pricing for events changes depending on the size, client as well as duration.  This means that you will rarely charge the same amount for two different events. Assuming you charge 20K for a birthday and have 3 of them per month, you will have recouped your investment after only 3 months.
So whether or not you make money from such a business depends on the work and effort you put into it.
Would you consider starting an event management business?
Source: Kuza Biashara