{"id":546366,"date":"2019-07-19T19:30:33","date_gmt":"2019-07-19T16:30:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/1870c24557.nxcli.io\/?p=546366"},"modified":"2019-07-19T19:30:33","modified_gmt":"2019-07-19T16:30:33","slug":"she-ditched-her-degree-to-pursue-a-business-idea-meet-lynn-wambui","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.careerpointkenya.co.ke\/2019\/07\/19\/she-ditched-her-degree-to-pursue-a-business-idea-meet-lynn-wambui\/","title":{"rendered":"She Ditched Her Degree To Pursue A Business Idea \u2013 Meet Lynn Wambui"},"content":{"rendered":"

During her final semester in university for a course she was never interested in, Lynn knew she would not be pursuing project management as a career. She, therefore, had to come up with a plan \u2013 and fast.<\/p>\n

Today, she is the proud founder of Santana Africa, where she handmakes custom home furniture and accessories.<\/p>\n

This is Lynn\u2019s story:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I did a degree in project management at Moi University. I never liked the course, it wasn\u2019t even\u00a0my choice. I\u2019d wanted to do a degree in civil engineering. I desperately needed a plan B, so in my final semester on campus, I wrote down one business idea every day for 30 days. The idea for Santana Africa was one of these 30. It was the winning idea.<\/p>\n

READ ALSO<\/span> >>> <\/span><\/em><\/strong>He Quit His Engineering Job To Pursue Photography And Now Makes 500K Per Month. Meet Ben Kiruthi!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Wood<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I use different types of wood for our products \u2014 mahogany, cypress, teak and olive wood. Each of these woods has different properties that favour our products. Mahogany is hardwood and has a natural rich-red stain. Cypress and teak are softwoods with beautiful grains their smooth surface paints better.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a home-office desk I made for a client where I combined cypress and mahogany. Combining woods ultimately lowers costs.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve learnt a couple of things in these last 12 months of running Santana. I triple-check items before they leave the workshop. And that\u00a0fundis\u00a0are the cog in the wheel of your business. They specialise. Now I have a fundi for woodwork, another for metalwork, for carving the bowls and for the chopping boards.<\/p>\n

Business<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

On the day I decided to go into business full time, I called my grandmother. I\u2019m an only child, she raised me in Nakuru. I told her I can\u2019t pursue project management into a career anymore, my heart had never been in it. She was worried about me. I was scared witless, to be honest. Would I nail this?<\/p>\n

QUICK READ<\/span> >>> <\/span><\/em><\/strong>From Security Guard To CEO Making Sh400,000 A Month; Meet 24 Year Old Tilas Onyango<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

People usually say their high school years were good but their campus days were a blast. It wasn\u2019t like that for me while at Moi University because I wasn\u2019t sitting the degree my heart desired. Then, Eldoret to me is too far and too small a town. I had a better time in high school because, from Form One, I worked toward making the grades for a degree in civil engineering. Which I did.<\/p>\n

Relatability<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I make the deliveries to our clients so I can take photos of where \u2014 and how \u2014 they place the pieces. These photos go up on our Instagram timeline. They show best how to style the pieces in your home. I never use photos from Pinterest or downloaded online \u2014 a local setting speaks better the familiar language of relatability.<\/p>\n

Making the best<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m happier now, in Santana. I have a feeling in my bones that it\u2019s a stepping stone to running my construction firm someday. Doing fit-outs for restaurants and things like that, like what contractors do.<\/p>\n

Twelve months of running the business, I\u2019ve also learnt not to chase money anymore. If I can\u2019t deliver your sofa in seven days as you want, then I won\u2019t take your money. Lastly, I\u2019ve learnt that customising furniture is a difficult way to build furniture for sale, but \u2026 it\u2019s the path I\u2019ve chosen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During her final semester in university for a course she was never interested in, Lynn knew she would not be pursuing project management as a career. She, therefore, had to come up with a plan \u2013 and fast. Today, she is the proud founder of Santana Africa, where she handmakes custom home furniture and accessories….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[389],"tags":[],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":389,"label":"Life & Success"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"Perminus Wainaina","author_link":"https:\/\/www.careerpointkenya.co.ke\/author\/perminus\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":389,"name":"Life & Success","slug":"life-success","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":389,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":65,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":389,"category_count":65,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Life & Success","category_nicename":"life-success","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.careerpointkenya.co.ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546366"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.careerpointkenya.co.ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.careerpointkenya.co.ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.careerpointkenya.co.ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.careerpointkenya.co.ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=546366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.careerpointkenya.co.ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546366\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.careerpointkenya.co.ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=546366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.careerpointkenya.co.ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=546366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.careerpointkenya.co.ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=546366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}