Did you know that more than 50% of all businesses fail during the first year of their incorporation? According to the Bureau of Labour Statistics, 20% fail within the first two years, 45% fail within five years, and 65% within 15 years.
Worse, the lack of uniqueness and value proposition is the leading cause of business failure, according to the Forbes Agency Council.
If you want to make money in the long term (as we assume you do), you need to have a unique business idea.
The business ideas we’ll share below improve your unique selling proposition, make your brand memorable, and improve scalability. In the long run, it improves your return on investment and increases profit.
We’ll guide you through the best unique business ideas in Kenya and how to start and scale up to a brand.
BONUS POINT: We’ll share insights on the requirements you need to get started and the location where the idea works best.
Best Unique Business Ideas in Kenya
These unique business ideas in Kenya are our top picks.
- Meal prepping
- Home organizing
- Run Errands
- Sell DIY shower gel
- Online tutoring
- Become a coach
- Sell grocery packages
- Become a makeup artist
- Sell gift packages
- Become a personal stylist
1. Do Meal Prepping
Modern families are made of people leading busy lifestyles. They spend their entire days working 8 – 5. Worse, they’re more focused on what they love doing; working.
Good for you; you can use their busy lifestyles to your advantage.
One of the most tiring experiences among the working class is meal prepping. The working class, especially those who prefer home-cooked meals, appreciate someone preparing their healthy meals at home.
Meal prepping involves preparing meals in advance to save the time involved in cooking every day. It’s one of the best unique business ideas in Kenya at the moment. But how do you go about it?
First, you need to be a good cook. You also need to be knowledgeable about healthy eating and nutrition.
You’ll need to pitch your meal-prepping services to a few clients to get started. You can do this via social media marketing. TikTok is one of the booming media channels for video content, and you can exploit it to your advantage. Make recipes and mention your meal-prepping services.
Once you have the ball rolling, word of mouth and referrals will do the rest. But again, keep learning, improving, and innovating in your service delivery.
Requirements:
- Starting capital: Zero
- Marketing Media: Social media, YouTube, or Prints.
- Hobbies: Love Cooking
- Best for working-class populated urban areas like Kilimani.
2. Do Home Organizing
It takes a lot to keep a home organized. From folding clothes, sorting the laundry, and arranging the pantry, to making spaces livable. All these things require neatness, attention to detail, and good organizational skills.
Unfortunately, not everyone has these skills. And the few who do, they don’t have the time to do it.
This will be one of the perfect unique business ideas in Kenya if you consider yourself a neat freak and a super organizer. An opportunity to turn your passion into a profitable home organization business.
The first step is to showcase your skills to the world. At first, you might be required to take a few projects for free as you build your portfolio. When doing these free projects, take videos of “before” and “after” and post them on social media.
Social media marketing is a crucial skill for you as a budding entrepreneur. It’s a cost-free channel to showcase your skills and get started. And with time, people will start noticing your work and ask for your services. Satisfied clients will also refer your services to other people.
One person implementing these unique business ideas in Kenya in the field of home organizing is Agatha. Her business model is simple; take projects, charge clients, make videos doing the project, and post them on her YouTube and social media channels
Requirements:
- Starting capital: Zero
- Marketing: Content creation on social media, Tiktok and Youtube
- Target Marketing: Working class with more disposable income
3. Run Errands
Another great yet unique business idea in Kenya is running errands for people with businesses. Running errands proves impossible for people who have so much on their plate. The errands can be anything from delivering items to clients, grocery shopping, picking up kids from school, etc.
There’s no limit to the kind of errands you can do as long as it’s legal. But who is this service best for?
This is a perfect opportunity if you love visiting different places and interacting with people.
First, you must introduce yourself to various business owners in your neighborhood or area. Prove yourself useful to the business community that’s around you.
Let them know that they can call you whenever they need a parcel delivered or picked up. Print and distribute some business cards to your potential clients to make your business look professional.
You may need a transport mode depending on the errands you focus on. For example, if you’re focusing on food delivery, you need some form of transport like a motorbike or a bicycle.
As you grow your client base, you can hire more people, and before you know it, you will have a fully-fledged courier business like Pickup Mtaani. Always keep innovating and improving service delivery to customers and business owners.
Requirements:
- Capital: Mode of transport (e.g., motorbike or bicycle)
- Hobbies: Outgoing people
- Marketing: Networking with potential clients
4. Sell DIY Shower Gel
The beauty and personal care industry has grown in the past few years. In 2019, Forbes estimated the beauty industry to be worth over $552 billion. It’s estimated to be worth over $663 billion by 2027, according to Oberlo.
It would be unwise to ignore this industry in our list of the best unique business ideas in Kenya.
If you’d love to take a slice of the revenue generated from the industry, shower gel is one of the most lucrative beauty products to focus on. Once viewed as a luxury item, every class now embraces it. People are now embracing change and are conscious about their skin health.
If you are passionate about the beauty industry, it’s time to take your space and start making DIY shower gel.
To start the business, you must develop a good shower gel recipe. You may need a mentor to get started on this business idea. They will guide you through the process and inform you of the business mistakes to avoid.
Making the shower gel may try your patience as you perfect the consistency and color. Bring a great product to your customers once you have a great product. You can reach potential customers through social media, door-to-door, or even by supplying cosmetic shops.
NOTE: We insist on having a mentor to guide you on the business aspects of this idea. Sometimes, you may need certifications as your business expands, especially from the Kenya Bureau of Standards.
Requirements:
- Business Mentor
- Ingredients for making the shower gel
- Packaging bottles
- Labels
- Marketing: Social media, door-to-door, supplying to retail shops
- Hobbies: Passionate about beauty.
5. Sell Grocery Packages
Fruits and vegetables make up a big percentage of the average Kenyan diet. In every diet, it’s like a Kenya norm to find different fruits and vegetables.
However, the love for vegetables doesn’t always match the effort they need to source. Going to the market and sorting the fruits takes much time and effort. Worse, not everyone knows how to tell the best vegetables from the rest.
Honestly, selling groceries isn’t unique; the uniqueness is more in the packaging. Packaging the fruits for families and offering custom recommendations brings the value proposition we’ve been insisting on.
In the package, include different fruits and vegetables and create recommendations on the different meals they can prepare using the veggies. Most people don’t acknowledge it, but coming up with meal ideas is a hassle.
You can get the first customers by advertising on social media and door-to-door services in your neighborhood. The trick is to ensure you supply high-quality groceries to increase your base of return customers.
Requirements:
- A good supply of fruits and vegetables
- High-quality customized packaging
- Mode of transport for delivery
- Marketing: social media and door to door
- Best for Outgoing individuals
6. Online Tutoring
You can turn your skills into a profitable business by doing. If you have rare and valuable skills that you can offer, you can start a tutoring business. For instance, if you are good at sign language you can start teaching parents who have children with special needs.
You can even offer Swahili tutoring classes to expatriates living in the country who want to master the language. The good news is that you can offer classes in the comfort of your home as long as you have a computer and internet connection.
7. Become a Makeup Artist
The beauty industry has been evolving in the last few years. There is now a big demand for makeup services especially in the urban areas. However, before you start this business, you need to have some skills in doing makeup. you can join the local makeup artist schools for three months.
On the other hand, you can learn through youtube although this method is slow. Start doing makeup and posting the results on your social media. If your work is good, you will start receiving clients through your social media.
8. Become a Coach
Coaching is the modern way of mentorship. Since many people do not have mentors, they have life coaches to guide them in different aspects of their life. You can become a coach depending on your area of expertise. Some areas of coaching include fitness, relationships, business and even productivity at work.
Choose one area that you are good at and start coaching. The best way to start is by offering free advice on social media. As your social media grows, you will get clients. You can charge them a fee based on the number of coaching hours.
9. Sell Gift Packages
Many people are clueless about what to get their loved ones on special occasions. If you are a creative person, you can start packaging and selling gift packages. You can sell gift packages for men, women, and kids. The trick is to carefully source the items and know how to package them attractively.
Social media is the best method for marketing your business. Make sure that you source unique items that will make you stand out from other people selling the products. It is important for the products to be affordable too.
10. Become a Personal Stylist
If you have a good eye for fashion you can become a fashion stylist. A fashion stylist helps clients to shop for clothes and style them. For this business, you need to showcase what you can do by creating a portfolio.
Do some freestyling videos on social media, especially Tiktok and Instagram. Personal styling is a specialized service so celebrities and high-earning individuals are able to pay for the service. Keep in mind the demographic that you want to target when marketing your business.
Verdict
Just because they are unique business ideas in Kenya doesn’t always mean it will be easy to start or even scale. In fact, getting started may be even tougher as you have to implement an idea that no one is doing. Therefore, you have only a few learning use case scenarios.
On the upside, uniqueness comes with less competition, brand recognition, and a specified value proposition. Therefore, with the right skills and a good marketing strategy to reach potential customers, making profits is “easier.”
Have a question about any of these business ideas on implementation? Don’t shy away from asking in the comments below. You can also share ideas with friends and family.
