After just 3 months as an Analyst at OCA, I began my placement at Xpose Ltd,  an events consulting and equipment rental company based in Kenya. Given my recent career change, from petroleum engineering to management consulting, I was excited and curious about the opportunity to work with my first client after completing my training. I got the chance to work directly with Maxwell Mululu and Anne Mueke, who founded and grew Xpose for over a decade.

One of the hardest hit industries by the 2020 pandemic was the events industry, with Covid-19 guidelines dealing a huge blow to event companies’ revenues. Xpose wasn’t spared, with the reality of the need to adjust to the new normal becoming more apparent by the day. Despite the company’s impressive incorporation of virtual events, they still needed to think of ways to stay ahead of the curve in the changing landscape. Additionally, they needed to find ways of becoming more efficient across all their operations, as a way of managing costs in the short-term, and preparing for opportunities to scale in the long-term.

I began by conducting research on the events industry, identifying emerging opportunities that the company could tap into, that would match its capabilities and resources. This involved estimating market sizes for the opportunities as well as assessing potential market share for the company. Thereafter, I built three dashboards, namely a sales dashboard to track leads and customer conversion, an operations dashboard to record and track the movement of their rental equipment, and a dynamic financial dashboard to record, view and project financial performance.

Following the research I conducted, the company got a clearer understanding of its position in the market, and was better placed to chart a path for growth, in line with the future of the industry. The dashboards increased the senior management’s visibility across the company, as well as provided a cost-effective way of running the various functions of the business, that would otherwise be handled by costly off the shelf systems. Throughout the project, I worked closely with the Xpose team to ensure that the solutions I was working on were not only realistic for their business but would also be implemented seamlessly. I am confident of Xpose’s position on the path to exponential growth, and I look forward to working with them in the future!

John Mwakio, OCA Analyst