It takes a lot. It requires grit. It needs you to show up fully.
Entrepreneurship is not a job, it’s a lifestyle. To be a successful entrepreneur, you need a burning passion for what you’re doing because if you don’t, it will show in your work ethic, enthusiasm and results.
Clement Kariuki started his entrepreneurial journey in 2011 when he founded Citrine Agencies, and he has probably been told all these aphorisms.
His passion when he started Citrine was to bring a different perspective to Below The Line (BTL) marketing, digital marketing, event management and corporate branding. BTL is an industry parlance for non-traditional approaches to marketing, such as using social media, that target niche markets.
But while Clement had seen major gaps in marketing, his attempts at getting a tender at Safaricom were not successful.
“I started applying for tenders at Safaricom since 2015, and every year it would be unsuccessful or I move to phase two of the onboarding process then I don’t move next phase. It was frustrating, but I persevered because I had a goal,” says Clement.
He says the tendering process was interesting and also very thorough.
“Coming in as a small player, to meet the giants in the marketing industry, there’s always that idea of, “Will I make it? Will I survive these giants?” It is until you realise you also have a stake in the creative space that you realise I can actually do this,” he explains.
Although Clement felt a bit intimidated during the pitching session as his company was going up against more established companies, he was confident that Citrine was up to the task.
Since being onboarded in 2021, Citrine has supported Safaricom on various campaigns including on-ground activations, brand ambassador jobs and offering on-ground teams to market products to niche groups.
Some of the campaigns Citrine has worked on include Home Fibre activations, Gomoka, Tunukiwa, Shine Kenya, and Sambaza Furaha, among others. This has been transformational for Citrine.
“The partnership has enabled us to embark on our transformation faster, you have a competitive edge whenever you send out your company profile, and you’re working for Safaricom, it also gave us reach,” said Clement.
Watch the video below to see Citrine’s journey with Safaricom.
