Startup Story

Monica Kabui is the founder and managing director of TreeAgama in Kenya. She is a marketing specialist and an expert in brand building and training. Her business focuses on using marketing as a tool to empower businesses to be the best version of themselves and as a tool to solve business challenges innovatively. TreeAgama is homegrown in Kenya and has been in operation since it launched in 2013 and now has 5 employees. Monica's experience spans 12 years working in three different advertising and marketing agencies and her last stint was design department head leading experiential marketing agencies in the country. TreeAgama is passionate about building brands.

LoA spoke to Monica this month to learn more about what drives her as an entrepreneur and the vision she has for the future growth of her business.

What does your company do?

TreeAgama is a marketing agency focused on brand, strategy and design.

What inspired you to start your company?

Working with big agencies and seeing them charge a premium for services such as brand communication, strategy, creative design, I felt a desire to offer the same services to SME's using a more affordable model. So, we designed some brand communication packages and priced them based on the scope of work. TreeAgama has since expanded to cater for government agencies, NGO's and bigger corporates but our heart remains with the SMEs and startups, taking time to consult with them, train them and guide them into phased brand building activities that make it easy to achieve. https://treeagama.co.ke/msme-hub/

“TreeAgama started out as a boutique design agency and through demand expanded to become a fully-fledged personalized marketing agency offering integrated marketing services based on need analysis.”

Why should anyone use your service or product?

We are a boutique agency and that makes it easy for us to offer personalized services to all our clients. We also empower and equip the staff through training to ensure that they understand the essence of building their own brand to embrace and manage it helping our work remain sustainable. This sustainability creates a consistency that aligns with the business objectives which then makes it possible for the business to see changes in how they operate and how it is all contributing to their growth.

Tell us a little about your team

We are a closely knit team of young people making each project a fun dream come true for the client. We work together to complete projects even when it takes longer hours so we have adopted the flexible working hours model so you report or retire according to the work in you plan and the deadline within which you should complete. We communicate freely with respect and that enables each person to bring out the best in themselves.

Share a little about your entrepreneurial journey. And do you come from an entrepreneurial background?

When I finished college, I really wanted to pursue my mathematics path and become a statistical analyst but that kind of job was only available at the government offices and it never materialized. I spent a lot of time learning coding in the campus computer lab, then one day I saw a student designing things and I got very intrigued by it all. I started to try it and soon enough I could also do it. I started my first business as a graphic design and printing agent, this business failed because I couldn’t finance any big jobs yet I needed to grow. I went back into employment as a graphic designer for 6 years growing through and after my third agency, I decided to give it a second try and that is how TreeAgama was born.

I come from a large-scale wheat and maize farming family and as a young girl I learned quite a lot especially when it was harvest time and we needed to go through all the processes and sell the produce, there was some good negotiation, money handling and customer dealings. That evoked in me a desire to be a business owner someday.

“We are a boutique agency and that makes it easy for us to offer personalized services to all our clients.”

“Our future growth plan involves being affiliated to an internationally renowned agency and to be innovative beyond conventional marketing and into technology marketing.”

What are your future plans and aspirations for your company?

TreeAgama started out as a boutique design agency and through demand expanded to become a fully-fledged personalized marketing agency offering integrated marketing services based on need analysis. Our future growth plan involves being affiliated to an internationally renowned agency and to be innovative beyond conventional marketing and into technology marketing.

What gives you the most satisfaction being an entrepreneur?

Solving a challenge for a customer and seeing them thrive in an area that they once struggled in. For example; if a customer has a company culture that is choking the business and then we come in and develop a corporate culture strategy, implement it and then start to see the changes taking place. That is fulfilling.

What's the biggest piece of advice you can give to other women looking to start-up?

Starting a business is easy, sustaining it takes a lot of resilience and strong will, you have to be determined in finding ways of making your business rise above every challenge especially through learning and speaking out to other business owners and especially people in your industry who have done it before.

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Why LoA loves it…

What we love about TreeAgama is that founder Monica Kabui has taken all her personal experience and expertise in brand, strategy and design and built a business that specializes in a personalized service approach to brand building. In a sector that has a lot of players, large and small, she has found a boutique market niche that allows her business to stand out, based on service delivery and track record. We look forward to seeing TreeAgama continue to build its reputation and grow its own band for many more years. — Melanie Hawken, founder & ceo, Lionesses of Africa