When I met Sharleen for the first time I knew I had met an amazing person. She and her family were one of the first friends I made when I moved to Nanyuki and we’ve continued to hang out.
When I asked her how she ended up owning the largest gift/decor store in Nanyuki she had quite a story to tell.
Welcome the Desama Story as it was told to me in a conversation with Sharleen.
I first visited the shop when it was owned by a friend of mine. I would pass by a lot to say hello and loved the amazing items in the store. The owner had an amazing eye for interior design and that always brought me back.
One day I told her I was looking for a job and she was sympathetic and thoughtful. A few weeks later she suggested that I come and work for her and I immediately said no because I didn’t think sales was part of my life’s plan.
During this time I got another job doing sales for another company (the irony lol) but hated it and only stayed three days. During this time I went to visit my boyfriend in Uganda and ended up staying there a month. The owner of the shop still called me asking to meet me, trying to get me to reconsider her offer.
A few days after my return to Kenya she told me that she’d be taking a trip and needed someone to take care of her shop for a few months while she was away but my answer was still an adamant ‘NO!’ I couldn’t see myself talking to people all day, it just didn’t seem like a good fit for me.
She told me to take sometime to think about it and I did, I eventually decided to give it a try and to be honest she was very good at convincing me to take her up on her offer. Eventually she came up with a plan on how she’d train me on the pricing and talking to clients so that my time holding the fort in her absence would be easier.
I’d visit her shop three afternoons a week and got to see her interactions with clients, learn about pricing, understand the cake products which were the most challenging and learning how to balance the books. By this point I still hadn’t taken this potential job seriously and I was persistently late for our training sessions which she frowned upon.
Soon enough our afternoon sessions changed to morning sessions and even then I showed up late. Our 9am meeting would start at 10am somedays. She talked to me a few times and told my to style up because this is a business and that’s when I finally realized that I needed to treat her business with more seriousness.
Our morning training sessions now involved coming in early, cleaning up and finally opening the doors to clients by 9am, which was the official opening time. This was going to be quite a ride!
I eventually start working at the shop and realized I loved speaking to people all day and thrived in sales.
We came from a months contract, to six months and finally a few years went by.
Around the three year mark she realized people would come to the shop not only to buy decor and cake items, they would also speak to me about their lives. When this became apparent she took me to school to do a course in counseling psychology (which I loved) and paid the fees for the course for me. That’s one thing I really appreciated about her, she saw something and did it/went for it.
Sometime later she decided to sell the business and told me that the shop might close when she hands the business over. In my mind I knew I still wanted to run a shop so I started looking for another location where I would hopefully set my business up. I finally found and paid the rent for this new location and started the process of trying to stock up my new store.
Meanwhile, a few days after my payment went through, she approached me and asked if I would like to take over the business and my immediate response was a yes. She gave me three days to think about it and be sure of my decision. During this time I consulted my loved ones and I finally had my answer. Bright and early that Monday morning we did a formal handover of the business, met with the landlord to sign a lease under my name and the rest as they say is history!
She immediately encouraged me to change the name of the business, re-introduce my name to the suppliers and make the shop my own. I kept most of the original feel and added a few new touches, rebranded and DESAMA was born.
Wow I loved having this conversation! She has a bubbly personality and this is translated to how she runs her business.
If you’re ever in Nanyuki town, make sure you stop by Desama Store , there’s definitely something there for everyone. Interior decor, party supplies, baking supplies, storage crates, paintings, books, gift baskets, flowers and lots more.
IS YOUR NET WORTH!
That Nicte' 