report of study trip to slovakia 2016

Study Trip Report May 2016: The Fifth Kenyan Staff Trip to Slovakia. Compiled by Gift N. Mtambo

Copyright 2016

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Table of Contents

Introduction...............................................................................................................3

Itinerary.....................................................................................................................4

Business Architecture............................................................................................5-6

Azylo Workshop Gallery..........................................................................................7

Knowhow and experiences from Slovakia Hubs..................................................8-9

Hubs Gallery….…..................................................................................................10

Visits to the Slovak High school………….............................................................11

Slovak School Gallery.............................................................................................12

Slovak Aid meeting and CEE CSR Summit...........................................................13

Conclusion and Testimonials ……………………….............................................14

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INTRODUCTION

Between 8th May to 17th May 2016, from the Sote HUB Kenya, four Startup

founders (Gift N. Mtambo- Admin Assistant- Sote Hub and CEO- Rogim designs

Agency, Robert Mburu- UX/ UI Designer- Sote Hub and Creative Director-

Rogim designs Agency, Lucia Muthoni- Community & PR Assistant and

Secretary- Redecor Company and Elizabeth Njoki- Community Assistant and

CEO Redecor Company) had the opportunity to visit Slovakia for a study and

exchange programs with Slovak Companies, Tech & Business hubs and high

schools. This was the fifth trip Kenyan staffs were making in Slovakia since the

project inception in February 2010 and it was one of the most memorable and

educative trip we had. The participating Sote Hub staffs compiled a report which

we hope will be a learning tool and a useful guide for all the startups incubated in

the Sote Hub, TaitaTaveta as well as future partners and friends. Major areas

covered are; Business Architecture i.e.Business idea business strategy, product,

communication strategy, visual identity & idea making, communication channels,

customers, customer services and returning customers, Brainstorming skills and

techniques, marketing and competitive research, and lastly experiences of the hubs

in Slovakia.

We would like to give out our sincerely appreciationsto the guys behind the scene

who facilitated the trip. Many thanks to Jakub Simek, Ivka Ulicna from Pontis

Foundation and David Ogiga from Sote Hub.

The itinerary belowprovidesa good mix of learning new skills, getting experience

and free-time. This allowed the entire team to learn a lot about the Slovak Hubs,

Companies, schools and also explore different places and landscape of Slovakia.

Ten days were an ideal length of time for this trip due to the large number of

activities involved, though short and hard time to leave the nice landscapes and

people we got to know and interacted with.

Please see the itinerary below:

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INTINERARY

Day/date People/Startups Place Details

7th May, 2016 Sote Hub Staff Nairobi, JKIA Departure

Day 1: 8th May, 2016 Rogim designs Austria Vienna

Airport, Impact Hub

Arrival in Slovakia and attending

Hackathon event

Redecor Pontis Foundation

Meeting and presentation from

Marek and Noro

Day 2 &3: 9th& 10th May, 2016 Rogim designs Azylo Agency-

LiptovskyMikulas

Training on how to conduct a market

and competition research.

Redecor Nevadzova Business

Academy

Doing presentation and interacting

with students.

Day 4: 11th May, 2016 Rogim designs Azylo Agency-

LiptovskyMikulas

Training on the business architecture

and how to build business foundation

i.e. Nice/ viable business idea,

business strategy and product.

Redecor Watsonova Business

Academy

Doing presentation and interacting

with students.


LiptovskyMikulas

Business architecture - training on

communication strategy, visual

identity & idea making and

communication channels.

Redecor Bratislva, Orange

lab

Meeting with a lady from AJty VIT

Girls IT Education


LiptovskyMikulas

and Hotel Academy

Brain storming and wrap up meeting

with the Azylo Agency on what we

learnt and also made a visit to Hotel

Academy high school in

LiptovskyMikulas.

Redecor Connect hub Know-how of the hub

Day 7, 14th May, 2016 Rogim designs Bratislava Ten senses Trade Fair- networking

with different people.

Day 8: 16th May, 2016 Sote Hub Staff Slovak Aid Office,

University of

Recycling Biomass

and Rubixlab in

Bratislava

Meeting and presentation about Sote

ICT project at Slovak Aid,

information about the university and

lastly, getting to knowhow Rubixlab

works.

Day 9: 17th May, 2016 Sote Hub Staff Bratislava and

Austria Vienna

Airport

Attending to CEE CSR Summit and

going back to Kenya.

Day 10: 18th May, 2016 Sote Hub Staff Nairobi, JKIA Arrival

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BUSINESS ARCHITECTURE

Business Idea:

This is the stage to brainstorm and come up with a strong and viable business idea which will

fit and serve the market.

Business Strategy:

This is a long-term business plan. It may cover 3-5 years (sometimes even longer)the

following are examples:

Think mobile first; over half of visitors of a business are doing so on a mobile device.

Make your website mobile friendly for longer audience.

Improve the customer experience;

Get personal = connect with them personally and listen to their feedback.

Entertain = offering entertainment helps in spreading of brand info, attracting new clients

and retain customers.

Product:

A substance/article manufactured for sale.

Identify the personality of your product. For example:

Rogim designs is reliable, friendly, creative and community-minded.

Rogim’s products are:

Graphic design

Web site

Photography

Communication Strategy:

This is a plan that is created in a business for people to communicate effectively and meet

core organizational objectives.

Given Examples;

Account manager: he communicates with the client about the whole work.

Project manager: ensures all projects are completed on time

Visual Identity:

These are concrete symbols (name, logo and slogan & design scheme) that you use to present

your company.

Communication Channels:

This is how information flows within the organization and with its client’s e.g.

Website, Social media, Business cards, Word of mouth (creating content e.g. blogs, videos)

and Email signature.

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Visual Identity

In visual identity, we learnt about a Design Manual– this is a document that helps the

organization’s communication to be consistent.

It has the following information;

1. Core message - character of the company & client.

2. Logo -contains brand name. It should be simple and memorable.

3. Typography -header, body & footer should be the same.

4. Additional elements -all documents should match with the company colors and

personality.

5. Stationary (these are the applications)

Design Process

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AZYLO GALLERY

Part of Azylo’s office inside layout. Robert undergoing training on designs by Thomas

Design process training. Rogim designs and Azylo guys posing together.

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KNOWHOW AND EXPERIENCES FROM SLOVAKIA HUBS

During this trip we also got an opportunity to visit 6 different hubs in Slovakia namely;

Impact Hub, Fab lab, Rubixlab, Travok lab and Orange lab in Bratislava and Connect

hub,Eastcubator hub in Kosice.

Impact Hub

At this hub we managed to spend a half an hour

where we got the chance to see different startups

doing 5 minute pitch before judges and

investors. Through this opportunity we really got

experience on how to present startup ideas in

five minutes and convince a judge or investor to

choose your idea and invest on it.

Fab Hub

This lab is inside one of the Universities in

Slovakia. It has different digital machines

like 3D printer which students use to make

prototypes and models for their project. We

also saw some models which were already

printed. Later our two ladies had fun

hovering with the hover boat for their first

time

Rubixlab

Rubixlab is one of the best co-working

spaces in Slovakia. This hub helps in

connecting viable and strong startup ideas

from Europe and Africa with investors.

From this experience we managed to discuss

the possibilities of establishing partnership

between Rubixlab and Sote Hub. We also

got the know-how of helping Kenyan startup

strengthening their ideas from the

foundation, marketing process till the

ideasare viable and successful.

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Orange Lab

This Hub concentrates more with production of

models and prototypes using different digital

machines like 3D printer, laser cutter etc. But

despite that it provides small co-working space

where people can settle to Skype, surf or do online

research. In this hub we got the opportunity to see

different machines, how they operate and work to

produce different models like bulb holder among

others. It was really amazing for us.

Eastcubator Hub&Connect Hub

Social media is a strong P.R weapon to use.

For instance the hubs have different Facebook

pages for different purposes. They also have an

Instagram page to keep their members in close

proximity. They also allow their paying

members to be editors in some of the Facebook

pages so as to also market their goods and

services. Also, they initially offered the co-

working space for free so as to attract more

members then started charging them for the

space later on.

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HUBS’ GALLERY

Lucia holding her first print Picture showing different models at Orange lab

Lizzy and Lucia at Fab lab

Lucia and Lizzy at Connect hub. Lucia holding a model printed by 3D

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VISITS TO SLOVAK HIGH SCHOOLS

During this visit, we also managed to visit 3 different schools, i.e. Hotel Academy in

LiptovskyMikulas, Watsonova Business Academy in Kosice and Nevadzova Business

Academy in Bratislava which are partnering with some of our schools in Kenya. We did a

presentation about Sote Hub and Sote ICT school program to the Slovak schools and they

were really impressed and ready to create more cooperation with Kenyan students.

Furthermore, they also presented us their practice companies that they have and we were

really inspired with their Practice Companies’ methodology and experience.

Hotel Academy

At this School, Gift and Robert who runs a

creative agency called Rogim designs managed

to make a nice presentation about their company

to the students on how they started till now. The

students were really inspired and motivated

from the presentation that they had from Rogim

designs.

Nevadzova Business Academy

In this school we learnt that it is important to

have good looking and well-made documents.

For instance the students who had a practice

firm which in the coffee making industry made

their brochures and catalogues in the shape of a

coffee cup. That automatically enlightens the

customers that the business is a café.

Watsonova Business Academy

Here we learnt that, having a partnership with

real companies gives them a better

understanding about their business field. The

students have good presentation skills which

help them get more customers. During their

trade fair they dress, set up their stall and act in

reference to their business field. For instance a

modeling agency would dress their models for

the modeling showcase close to their stall.

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SLOVAK SCHOOLS GALLERY

A student from Hotel Academy making a presentation about their practice firms.

Lizzy and Lucia interacting with students from Nevadzova business academy in Bratislava.

Cool pose with Watsonova students. Watsonava students taking Lucia and Lizzy over different deptments.

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SLOVAK AID MEETING AND CEE CSR SUMMIT

SLOVAK AID MEETING

On Monday 16th of May in the morning four us together with Jakub Simek visited Slovak Aid

who is our donorhaving a brief meeting and some discussions with Nina- (the Project Manger

of Kenyan projects) over our Sote ICT and Sote Hub project in Kenya. Four of us introduced

ourselves on the positions we are holding in the project, the successful things that we have

achieved and what are we planning to do next. In addition to that, we went ahead and discuss

more on how to improve, support and sustain startups which have been incubated in the hub.

Furthermore, we also talked about the launching of the hub and 2nd Student Trade Fair, which

is planned to take place in July. The discussion was nice and fruitful.

CEE CSR SUMMIT

We also got a privilege

to be invited and attend

the CEE CSR Summit,

whichwas held on 17th

of May in Bratislava.

This Summit was

organized by the Pontis

Foundation, among

other NGOs to bring all

the successful business

owners and CEOs met

together and discuss the

ways which they can

improve the European

Economy. We had a

nice time to hear from different CEOs and successful entrepreneurs who had strong

inspirational talks. Despite having nice talks from great speakers, we also got a big

opportunity to create networks with great successful guys and CEOs.This was also a great

day for us.

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CONCLUSION AND TESTIMONIALS

Conclusion

The trip was awesome and educative since we learnt a lot and gained more experienced from

the people and places we visited. We had nice accommodation and hospitality wherever we

went to visit. This was one of the memorable trips ever. We would like to appreciate the

following people who gave us skills and experience and also made our trip successful: Peter,

Anton, Thomas and Zuzan from Azylo Agency, Peter’s parent from LiptovskyMikulas,

DusanDufek and his Colleagues from Rubixlab, Ann Kiapsova and students from Hotel

Academy, Marek, Noro and the Pontis Foundation fraternity and all who contributed to the

success of this trip.

Testimonials

- “This was one of my memorable trips ever. I really gained more experience and skills from Azylo

Agency, Slovak hubs, different people and high schools. The landscapes and the snow in High

Tatry Mountains were super nice to me. I want to thank and pass my sincere regards to all who

made this trip successful”.- Gift N. Mtambo