COURSE NAME: ENTREPRENEURSHIP

CODE: MSD 06201

PROGRAMS: ODACC,ODIRM, ODBF, ODTM, ODCS, ODIT, ODSP

KONDE LIMITED

Konde LTD is a classic rag to riches story of a hardworking Tanzania who built a formidable
business from the ground up. Josephine Jakonde had been working as an executive secretary
to the managing director of one of the hotel chains in Tanzania. Given her strategic position at
the hotel, she would meet many clients who were running seminars and conferences at the
hotel. With time, she befriended some of them and within no time they were giving her part-
time gigs to type their documents, purchase stationery, and print materials.

She was ambitious and quickly saw the opportunity to work with such clients as their printing
and stationery supplier. She quickly hired a small office in town, employed one assistant, and
resigned from her job to concentrate on the printing and stationery orders from her clients
which were already increasing by the day. She took less than 3mil TZS from her savings and
decided to invest in this small start-up. Every day, she would drop her husband at his office,
then head off with the family car to visit all their friends at the offices and ask them for orders
to supply printing and stationery. After getting an order, she would rush to Kariakoo, purchase
the materials, and deliver.

As the orders increased, they moved the office to a bigger space, bought a second-hand digital
printer at the price of 50mil TZS, and employed four more people to handle the machine and
production. Konde LTD now had the capacity to print all business cards and stationery in-
house. This improved the business profit margins which Josephine re-invested back into the
business. She bought a second-hand screen-printing machine which cost her120mil TZS for
making T-shirts, caps, and other promotional materials. She also employed a full-time
salesperson to serve the growing clientele. The product line also grew to include signages and
fabrication.

By their third year, the business moved to a much bigger godown and bought state-of-the-art
printing, branding, signage, and fabrication equipment at the cost of 350mil TZS. In total,
Konde LTD invested approximately 520mil TZS by the end of the third year inclusive of
machinery and equipment. The new equipment attracted orders from big clients and within no
time, Konde became the go-to reproduction house for a multinational company. The staff
complement also grew as the business grew. By the fifth year, Konde was the undisputed
market leader in their business with teams of technicians and vehicles servicing clients in all
parts of the country. Everything look up, and the business was growing in leaps and
bounds. They also refocused their attention on five multinational clients who contributed more
than 90% of the total revenue for Konde LTD.

During the same time, Josephine gave birth to two beautiful twins. Since the business was
doing great, Josephine and her husband decided to take part of the money from the business
account to build a house for their family. They build a very big mansion at Mbweni Dar es
Salaam and furnish it lavishly. Furthermore, as the company grew, Josephine also employed
many of her close relatives and friends to work in the business. Everything seems right.

Then the global financial crisis happened in 2008. The Multinationals were adversely affected,
and they started cost-cutting in all areas including procurements from Konde LTD. The
multinationals were not giving much business and most of the equipments were idle. The sales
for Konde LTD stagnated then started dropping. By 2010 when the elections happened Konde
LTD was already exploring options to reduce its costs including laying off half of the
employees close to 50 staff. When it came to laying off some of the workers, it was very
difficult to choose who would be let go and who would stay on.

Required:

1. In which category of MSME’s does Konde ltd belong?

2. Explain the importance of Konde ltd in Tanzania
3. Explain five challenges face Konde ltd
4. As an expert in entrepreneurship or MSME sector, what advice would you give
Josephine regarding Konde ltd?