There were no techies in her family tree. None. Just what would be considered the expected careers. A teacher here and there, a doctor maybe and a lot of accountants.
Growing up, Hellen Nalianya wanted to have a career in the fashion industry or be a news anchor. She thought those were cool and had the oomph that went with her bubbly self.
Her mother would however hear none of it. An accountant by profession, she was strict and an authoritarian and she was clear that her children needed to pursue ‘serious’ courses.
While her father was more open-minded and easygoing on the subject, her mother’s strong will prevailed and so when she told Hellen, “You are going to follow in my footsteps,” that was final.
Seeking affirmation, Hellen asked her sister Celestine’s opinion and her guidance was “Do CPAs like mom and I.” She therefore enrolled at Egerton University for a degree in Economics and later took accounting classes and the examinations to become a Certified Public Accountant (CPA).
After graduation, she sought for internship at an audit firm where she held it down for nine months and like a salmon built to swim upstream, she would later change her mind. After all, she had found herself the independence she had longed for a long time, albeit a little.
Audit firms are busy and a natural habitat for those with some accounting blood in their veins but it did not feel right for Hellen.
“I realized I was living in my mom’s shadow. She was an accountant since she was 20 all through to her 50s and retirement,” Hellen recalled.
She resigned.
It was while she was considering what to do to change careers that she got to learn that Safaricom had rolled out an internship program and she immediately applied. She joined the marketing team in 2011 as a territory sales executive. Her title sounded fancy then. She liked it.
What she did not like was the randomness that came with her role. Here she’d walk in affluent neighborhoods under her route selling fixed data and internet services. Back then, Lipa na M-PESA was a new concept that needed uptake. The scorching sun and turndowns would be demoralizing at times but not enough to make her want to go back to accounting. Meeting new people was also quite thrilling.
It is during one of her many rounds of marketing that she networked and moved to a different firm selling audiovisual systems. This change of events immersed her into the tech world. The would have been accountant now travelled the world for forums and trainings organized by her new employer, her first one being in Dubai. There was no way she was ever looking back. She held the stint for two years and then decided to start her own company, Vivanet Solutions, in 2014 offering audiovisual and video conferencing services and sound systems.
The first year of business was good. She was quite conversant with her field and knew who her immediate clients would be. She had also saved up some startup capital and her mom also chipped in and took a role in her company as a finance director.
However, like any other business, her startup grew teething problems. Staff retention was a challenge, and a lot of time and resources were spent training new hires every other day. Sales were also quite low in the third year of operations.
One day she learnt about an entrepreneurial forum at Serena and knew she had to go. Her business needed insights, so she thought. The catch however was that it was a free event. She liked those, she says with a laugh.
Unbeknownst to her, this event would be life changing. She’d sat next to a stranger who struck up a conversation enquiring about her business. Impressed, her new friend Maryline informed her of the Safaricom Women in Business (WIB) program that was keen on onboarding women in tech suppliers and would later share a link to join a WhatsApp group of like-minded people.
Members of the group would share opportunities for mentorship programs and trainings and on one fateful day, Ms. Rebecca Wanjiku, CEO at Fireside Communications, called out upon interested parties for mentorship services and Hellen qualified and became a member of WIB and thereafter a member of the Safaricom Eagles vendor group.
Through the membership, she was able and has continued to position her products, know when there are tenders in prospective companies and identify opportunities in the ecosystem. After four years of trying to win a tender at the telco, she got her first contract in 2022, supplying and managing videoconferencing systems for Safaricom.
Initially, most companies viewed video conferencing solutions as a ‘nice-to-have’ or a luxury of sorts. This changed after the COVID-19 pandemic where many companies transitioned to working from home and hybrid working and there was a sudden and widespread need for reliable communication tools.
At Safaricom, Hellen has been noticed for stepping into a male-dominated field.
Hellen has also been blessed to have a circle of strong women who’ve held her and others accountable in the journey of entrepreneurship. “I have been privileged to be part of the Safaricom Women in Business mentorship program since 2019 and looking back, I can say this was a game changer and has been so transformational.”
“I would like to thank Rebecca Wanjiku, CEO Fireside, Wambui Njoora ,CEO Extra Dimensions, Sarah Kabira, CEO Techminds, Jimia Yassin, CEO Nubly Technologies, Pat Okelo of Kayana Create, the Safaricom team championing our mentorship group, grateful for Emily Too and Flo Kiburi, our patron Fawzia Ali-Kimanthi and the entire mentorship group. This has been a community that supports each other through capacity building, networking and peer-to-peer interactions that foster trust, and deeper collaborations.”
As she reflected about this year’s International Women’s Day and the theme ‘Invest in women: Accelerate progress,” she said: “I would like to encourage more female students to take up STEM programs and join the industry. The industry is full of untapped potential as the tech world keeps evolving.”
