At 22, Agnes Mulenga stands tall as the Chief executive officer of International Brand Solutions (IBS), a company worth over 6 million Kenyan Shillings.
It is a fast-growing research market company with the uniqueness of re-branding existing brands to easily meet the market demand and the right audience.
Born and raised in the slums of Kawangware, Agnes was determined to make an impact and change circumstances.
By age seven, Agnes already identified her entrepreneurial strength and thought to give it some expression.
She would purchase pencils at the normal price of 3shillings with her pocket money and sell them at a higher price of 5 shillings to her classmates. The young entrepreneur continued in business to be able to make some income and support her mum who was struggling to meet the family’s needs.
Agnes went from selling pencils to eggs in her upper primary. Although the times were tough, she made the most of her experiences, carved out a future for herself and drew strength to face the future without fear.
Having achieved amazing results, IBS is now targeting top local companies such as Safaricom and Airtel with the aim of increasing their clients with research market findings.
6 months down the line, IBS, with only six employees, has already made profits accumulating to slightly over 1 million Kenya shillings.
Despite the enormous achievements recorded so far, the power lady has no plans to take things slow. Agnes, who is now a fourth-year student at Strathmore University doing a Bachelor’s degree in Business and Information Technology, says one of the difficulties they face is the reluctance of companies to acknowledge the fact that they need to rebrand despite there being convincing reasons that their means of operations are not helping them hit their profit targets.
To the youths of Africa, the power woman puts it very clearly:
“It’s high time that fellow youth arose from their slumber and realize that it matters not whether ones ambitions are higher or lower to their capability to handle it, what matters is to begin and the strength to move forward.”