(So) How's Business?

by Alma Mabachi

Season 2

Ep 26- She Quit Government Twice to Bet on Herself: Neema Moraa on Modeling, Content Creation & Building Flora by Florence

What does it actually take to walk away from a stable government job, twice, for a creative career nobody around you fully believes in? Neema is a model, content creator, and the owner of Flora by Florence, a Nairobi boutique. But before any of that, she was sitting in a government office feeling something in her go quiet. This episode traces the messy, honest path out: a spa that failed on location, a modeling side hustle that grew from 5,000 shillings a gig to a real income in a matter of months, and a mother who insisted her daughter open her own store. Neema loves the creative work. It is the thing that makes her feel alive. But she also knows modeling has an expiry date, and the business that lasts is the one she has to choose to focus on, even when it is the less fun option. This is a conversation about choosing yourself, pricing your worth, and the quiet cost of giving everything to work. If you have ever wondered whether the leap is worth it, listen in. Disclaimer This episode includes personal reflections on money, business decisions, and income. It is shared for context and storytelling and is not financial or business advice. #SoHowsBusiness #AfricanWomenEntrepreneurs #KenyanEntrepreneurs #WomenInBusiness #ContentCreator #NairobiBusiness #FashionBusiness

S2 · E26

Aug 18, 2026

1:04:30

Ep 25- Breastfeeding, Motherhood and Building LactaMama | Angel Nderitu

After losing her job while seven months pregnant, Angel Nderitu entered motherhood carrying uncertainty about her finances, her future, and what came next. When her breast milk supply changed unexpectedly after giving birth during the COVID-19 pandemic, she began searching for answers through nutrition, traditional foods, herbs, and lactation support. That personal experience eventually became LactaMama, a Kenyan maternal wellness company supporting mothers through breastfeeding nutrition, education, lactation support, and compassionate postpartum care. In this episode of So, How’s Business?, Alma Mabachi speaks with Angel about the realities of breastfeeding, building a business while raising young children, and navigating the pressure many women face to succeed professionally while caring for everyone around them. Angel shares practical insights on nutrition, hydration, rest, maternal wellbeing, and accessible foods that mothers may already have in their kitchens. She also discusses building a women-led team, managing the rising costs of manufacturing, asking for help, and learning to give herself more grace. This is not only a conversation about breast milk supply. It is about motherhood, ambition, identity, community, and what happens when women are expected to recover, achieve, care for others, and make it all look effortless. Because when a child is born, a mother is born too.

S2 · E25

Aug 4, 2026

1:10:59

Ep 24- Shamim Quresh, Koro Gaia: Building African Skincare

Shamim Quresh is the founder of Koro Gaia, an African skincare brand built around African botanicals and research for melanated skin. She talks about the realities of manufacturing in Kenya, including 60 to 70% tax on imported inputs, what happened when funding stopped and she shut the business down in 2023, and how third-party manufacturing helped her generate income while rebuilding. She also shares why founders need to ask more questions, even when they feel like “dumb” questions, and her vision for African beauty.

S2 · E24

Jul 21, 2026

55:18

Ep 23- Binti pads, Period Poverty, and the African Woman Who Refuses to Quit | Lorna Joyce

Lorna Joyce has lived several lifetimes in one. She lost her father, her brother, and her mother before she was 18 — and found herself caretaking, surviving, and building from scratch while most people her age were still figuring out what they wanted to be. That foundation of loss, faith, and raw determination is what eventually gave birth to Binti Marvels, one of Kenya's most purpose-led femcare brands. In this episode, Lorna takes us through all of it: the 100,000 pads she brought in with almost no capital and sold shop-to-shop from a van, the investor who pulled out and forced a full shutdown, the 30 employees she had to let go, and the therapy that finally helped her process decades of grief and control. She also shares why she came back — with Mrembo, Kenya's first locally manufactured pad designed explicitly for the African woman. If you've ever had to pause something you love and wondered whether to go back, this one is for you.

E23

Apr 28, 2026

1:29:31

Ep 21- The Cost of Doubting Yourself — Dr. Faith Wambura Ngunjiri on Imposter Syndrome, Identity, and What We Lose When We Shrink

Dr. Faith Wambura Ngunjiri is a certified Impostor Syndrome Informed Coach, Emotional Intelligence Practitioner, and leadership scholar with a Doctorate in Leadership Studies. She spent over two decades as a tenured professor in the United States before burnout, racial bias, and a heart attack brought her home. In Episode 21, Dr. Faith and Alma go deep on the real cost of imposter syndrome for African women, not just the emotional cost, but the financial one. The promotions we didn't go for. The tenders we didn't apply for. The businesses we kept small. The apartments we gave up without knowing it. They cover the five types of imposter syndrome, why the distortion of competence is the most accurate definition, whether women really experience it more than men, and what the $42 billion financing gap for African women has to do with self-doubt. Dr. Faith also shares her own story- from the village in central Kenya to a university in Minnesota, through divorce, racism, burnout, and a heart attack- and what it finally took to come home and thrive. This is one of the most honest conversations on the show yet. Find Dr. Faith:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drfaithngunjiri/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/faithngunjiri/ Nominate a guest: https://shorturl.at/S0zue Follow So, How's Business:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sohowsbusinessTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sohowsbusinessLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sohowsbusinessYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@sohowsbusiness #SoHowsBusiness #ImposterSyndrome #AfricanWomenEntrepreneurs #WomenInBusiness

E21

Apr 14, 2026

1:13:11

Ep 20- Seasoned Is Where the Magic Happens: Ritu Bahal on Building the Infrastructure Africa Needs

Ritu Bahal built a 37-year career in corporate Kenya beforeleaving to solve a problem she'd lived for decades. Her company KPM Tech makes Trackright, a logistics platform that gives trucking businesses real-time visibility across every stage of a delivery. The pitch sounds simple. The problem is massive: 90% of African truckers are non-digitised, and logistics costs account for 40% of what goods cost on Kenyan shelves. In this conversation, Ritu talks about rising from bookkeeper to CEO, getting fired while pregnant from her first job, an arranged marriage she negotiated on her own terms, and what it's really like walking into investor rooms as an experienced woman founder. Candid, sharp, and not pulling any punches.

E20

Apr 7, 2026

1:06:36

Ep- 17- From Demigod to Novice: Captain Bonni Mulinge on Losing a Dream and Building Another.

Bonni Mulinge was 6 years old when she decided she was going to fly. By 28 she was a commericial airline captain. By 37, a seizure with no known cause ended her career overnight. In this conversation, Bonnie talks about what it felt like to go from commanding a Boeing 777 to standing still and figuring out what comes next. She talks about the financial hit, the identity loss, the bender, the pivot, and how Jipe Apparel came out of a conversation over Jaba Juice with a friend. This is a story about grief and reinvention. About a woman who flew theworld and came home to build something that is entirely hers. So...how's business?

E17

Mar 17, 2026

1:14:16

Ep 16- Lawyer, Founder, Builder | Akoth Aluoch Gets Real About the Legal Entrepreneurship Path

Akoth Aluoch is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya and the founder of Triple A Dispute Resolution (Triple ADR) and AkothAluoch Media. She left a stable law firm career to build a boutique ADR practice full-time and a media platform dedicated to humanising law. In this conversation, she gets into what it really looks like to be in a building season, the businesses she ran on the side while employed, having her first child in third year of university, and why she walked away from a clear path to partnership to build something entirely her own. We also unpack the world of Alternative Dispute Resolution: what it is, why there is real money in it, and why Akoth believes it is the smarter, faster future of conflict resolution in business. Honest, grounded, and full of practical insight. This one is for anyone sitting with a big dream and a very present reality. So... how's business?

E16

Mar 10, 2026

1:13:43

Ep 15- Hard Truths Creatives Don't Want to Hear | Dija White, The Block Studio

Dija White is a multidisciplinary creative director and founder of The Block Studio, a brand design, strategy and experiential design company dedicated to spotlighting African talent. She is also part of the team running Village Creative, one of Nairobi's most interesting creative ecosystems. This conversation goes deep. We talk about what it actually costs to build a creative business, from the 3 million shilling mistake that took three years to pay back, to the client who paid two thirds and disappeared, to the friendships lost over work that went sideways. Dija is honest about the evolution from artist first to business first, why creatives struggle to pitch themselves in corporate rooms, and what it took to stop being the person who let everyone have a piece and start knowing her worth. If you are a creative trying to figure out how to take your work seriously as a business, or a founder who has ever felt personally offended by a budget negotiation, this one is for you. Tune in every week for honest, unfiltered conversations with African women building businesses on their own terms.

E15

Mar 3, 2026

1:03:03

Ep 14- From 800 Cupcakes to Accredited Culinary School - Yasmin Mohammed's Story

Yasmin started selling cupcakes at 50 bob each from her mother's kitchen at 25, with no formal training, no business plan, and no nozzle. Today, she runs Cake Hearts, one of Kenya's only internationally accredited culinary and hospitality schools, in partnership with BHMS Switzerland. In this episode, she opens up about building from scratch, navigating a market that doesn't take young women seriously, why she teaches entrepreneurship inside a culinary school, and what it really takes to bring international standards to the Kenyan market. If you believe that education should transform you, not just certify you, this conversation will hit home.

E14

Feb 24, 2026

49:09

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