The Best Or Nothing 2020

I am exactly 9 short months away from completing my first decade as an integrated brand, marketing communications & sales professional. As expected, it has triggered some sense of internal reflection filled with love, joy, and laughter.

The last few months have been amazingly gratifying for me professionally. 6 months ago I took a huge leap of faith to take an exciting challenge of being a brand custodian and marketing lead for a stunning innovative purpose-built student accommodation brand for Qwetu Student Residences. A first of its kind in East and Central Africa. Within this same short time frame, I got wind of one of my former campaigns at Safaricom "Ndoto Zetu" receiving an award at the MSK Gala event having also bagged a Best Social Award Campaign for Digital via This is My Kenya - 2019 Calendar.

In the course of my almost decade-long journey as a professional, I’m proud of having had the opportunity to have worked for and with a rich local and international brand portfolio across - tobacco, non-alcoholic drinks, telco & tech. I usually joke and say I have sold cigarettes, soda, water, juice, airtime, home faiba, business faiba, on-demand cabs, a big green brand and now student accommodation :) Hence the phrase Klaire the Brand Titan. My biggest driving force has largely been that the brands and the people I have worked for never settle. Always iterating and learning on to the next. I am also on a mission - to grow local brands that give global ones a run for their money. No one knows Kenya more than we do right? That also means nobody knows Africa as we do. So why would a global brand take us to the cleaners on our watch?? When we know our people, their needs and their wants. Their fears and their passions. Their dreams and their enemies? I believe, this is what a true marketer should crave – the chance to build something new, challenge the status quo, be innovative, question everything, think critically, launch, progress, monitor and fix and let the marketing magic unfold...every darn time. So when Acorn Management called me to consider a brand and marketing role for Qwetu - it felt natural, authentic and a perfect fit. Aside from me whispering to myself "Hell yes!!! The Acorn vision for PBSA in this country is inspiring and nothing short of being 100% intentional. To elevate student accommodation in this country in ways we only read about in countries that have had decades of experience...to galvanize huge capital outlays to acquire the best residence sites, build green residences with the Nairobi student at the center of it all and doing it with speed, grace, and finesse in one go...?

I'd call us an early-stage startup - even though Acorn has been around for 18 years. We've grown in leaps and bounds and we are just 3 years in with regards to running our residential student properties. We are targetting a growth of 8x from providing our current 1600 bed capacity to 11K beds in the next 3 years. This is a massive multi-location expansion within Nairobi to consolidate our position as the only PBSA provider in Kenya and the most student-led vibrant community our country has ever seen. I am proud to be lead and be part of a team that has the opportunity to build from scratch again - from working on a brand known within the student community, reviewing our model from a brand comms led approach to a sales model approach and keep evolving as we engage with our residents and potential customers. At the same time, we are learning and working on our retention strategies to deliver an unmatched student accommodation experience at an affordable price. It's the best or nothing. Like one of my favorite brands says so consistently in not just their tagline but in their customer promise.

Today, we are firing on all cylinders – we are creating a distinct brand experience for our customers, leveraging on technology to deliver a self-service experience via QCare (our CRM based tech tool), building an agile sales-oriented trade and digital-first marketing team, a student accommodation advisor sales network & strengthening our university alliance partnerships. We've achieved an average of 99% occupancy since September 2019 and all cylinders are critical for a business like ours. The traditional thought that we are an off-peak and on-peak sales season business no longer applies. We now have a waiting list of 1000+ residents seeking off-campus accommodation. The demand for our offering far outweighs the supply. We are packing in aggressive self-learning and course correction as we go. This is unlike the FMCG or consumer brand industry and the models of before may not work in the now or the future, Our call center works round the clock to convert our lead generation into beds sold and occupied. My rallying call again - The Best or Nothing is a call to action - to never lose sight of this challenge, to plan 6 quarters for our monthly, weekly and daily goals as we implement our strategy.

Having said that, as we engage with our student audiences, we've started our journey to be more meaningful and relevant to our vibrant student community. To start with, we want to make Qwetu Living an essential lifestyle choice for international and local students who are seeking higher education in Nairobi. Once onboard, we want them to truly enjoy their student days with us. For us, this translates into not only providing a hassle-free and comfortable stay at our amenity-rich residences but also creating a community environment where our residents can thrive, learn and grow together. In particular, I’m excited about our Clubs and Community Reps program. We've also recently launched a partnership with SkillShare.com where we offer access to over 22,000 courses to learn from for free exclusively for Qwetu residents.

We are on a journey and I look forward to sharing our Best or Nothing slices in 2020.