Growing a business is never easy. But in Kenya, where the economy is growing faster than anywhere else, business owners need to ensure they are always taking steps to take their companies.
In this article, I will go over how you can grow and expand your business in Kenya.
What is a Growth Strategy?
A growth strategy is all the different measures entrepreneurs take to expand their businesses.
These strategies can help you grow your business in ways that range from simple, like launching a new product, to complex, like expanding your production facilities.
Best Ways to Expand Your Business in Kenya
Here is an overview of 6 different growth strategies you can use to help your business grow.
1. Market Penetration
Market penetration involves getting more customers to buy your company’s products or services.
This approach is a great way to grow a business because it can help you quickly increase revenue using what you already have.
For example, if you only sell organic fruit juices in Kenya and want to expand, market penetration might involve developing your organic juice business in other parts of the country.
2. Market Development
Market development is concerned with bringing existing goods and services to new markets. It might include finding novel applications for items that, over time, naturally open up new possibilities.
Alternatively, it may be establishing a firm in an entirely new market or region on a national or international scale. Because market development does not entail the creation and commercialization of a
3. Product Development
Product development involves developing new products or services a company can offer its customers. This is an excellent way for companies to grow their businesses because it gives them an advantage over competitors, which helps attract new customers.
4. Diversification
Diversification occurs when a business tries to get into completely different market segments by expanding the types of products or services that it provides. Companies mustn’t try to enter every market segment under the sun.
Instead, successful diversification involves carefully assessing which markets are most likely to provide the best returns relative to their required resources. Diversification is an excellent way of taking advantage of new opportunities without making risky bets or investments in unknown markets.
5. Outsourcing
Outsourcing is the act of subcontracting business operations to an external source. This strategy can help companies grow their businesses by using specialized services or labor, which reduces costs and time constraints associated with labor-intensive work.
6. Strategic Partnerships
Strategic partnerships are cooperative agreements between two companies. It can allow both partners to benefit from either complementary assets or economies of scale. Companies that want to expand their businesses through strategic partnerships usually have the goal of developing new products or services in a way that is faster and less expensive than trying to do it alone.
There are many ways that companies can expand their business. For any given company, it’s a good idea to explore various options to determine which ones are most optimal for them.
Some companies might decide to try several strategies at once or focus on one system and stick with it until it becomes successful.
As long as you have a clear goal, you can use these growth strategies to help your company grow and thrive.
Planning business growth
To achieve your company’s growth goals, it helps to have a plan. That being said, before you take the dive and start executing any of these strategies, consider what results you want to see from each one.
To meet growth targets, businesses must consider several variables and create a strategy accordingly; these include:
- current demand for products or services
- market trends
- production capabilities
- geographic distribution of current customers
- planned product diversification
For each variable, you should think about how it will affect your overall growth strategy. For example, if you can keep up with the increasing demand for your products or services by adding more employees, market penetration will probably be the best way to achieve growth.
On the other hand, if increasing demand requires a larger production facility or more efficient equipment, you might need to consider expanding your business as a growth strategy. In this case, the expansion would involve looking for new locations to serve existing customers and develop new ones.
In the end, whether you decide to focus on one growth strategy or try to diversify your efforts, it’s important to have clear goals in mind.
General Tips for Expanding a Business
When you’re looking for ways to grow your business, it’s a good idea to keep the following tips in mind:
- Think through all growth strategies and determine which of them will best meet your goals. Consider how each strategy will fit into your current business model and what resources or capabilities you might need to execute that strategy.
- Before implementing growth strategies, identify the resources you’ll need to achieve your goals. Make sure that you have enough financial and human capital available. If necessary, look for business partners or hire additional employees to ensure that your company has the required resources before it makes sense for you to implement growth strategies.
- Once you’re ready to expand your business, keep your operations as consistent as possible. You don’t want to exclude potential customers, and you don’t want to sacrifice the quality and consistency of products and services that you’re known for.
- When expanding a business, looking for new opportunities related to the same product or service is essential. If you diversify too much, those new opportunities might not work out, leading to confusion among your existing customers.
