Finding Success in Entertainment Industry

Denis Sume Meso (pictured), is in his early thirties and was until three years ago working with Ipsos Synovate, a research company, and decided to go into self-employ in the entertainment business at the end of his contract. The man who confesses a love for anything showbiz from back in the years is today the manager of an entertainment company by the name of Mesox Entertainment.

What is this business all about and why the choice of the name?

Mesox Entertainment is an entertainment business based in Nakuru that deals in offering professional and quality services in events like emceeing, quality sounds, disc jockeying and band services. I settled on the name Mesox Entertainment as it is derived from my name and also because I wanted the clients to identify the person and the business at the same time.

How did you start and how long have you been in operations?

I started with Sh50, 000 which was mainly savings from the earlier job and bought a few sound equipments to start me off. As business began picking up, I added more equipments with the growth. Currently, the business is three years in operations and doing well.

What was the initial journey like and do you think you made a wrong choice?

At first, it was hard going as there were few others in the industry, but I did not sit about and had to be on the move marketing my business and bagged clients in the process. I don’t regret venturing in entertainment business as I had this love for showbiz or events emceeing from long, and I was sure that entertainment is where my love, drive and passion was at. Also, I had noticed events were not professionally managed especially in my hometown of Nakuru and clients were also not getting professional services. Moreover, the field of emceeing was not well tapped and I saw a big potential here.

Is the market receptive?

The demand is currently high now as many people want their events run by professionals more than novice entrants. Nowadays, like almost on a daily basis, you will find events of every kind being hosted and that’s where our services are required. Weekends are usually busy days.

What are some of challenges with this kind of business?

Like in any business, entertainment one comes with its fair share of challenges as well. Initially, some clients would refuse to pay at the end of the event and this was despairing for the business as I have employees to pay. To address this, we nowadays engage the clients first through signed contract agreements where a certain percentage of money is paid upfront and the rest after the event. As there is competition, some services providers chooses to undercharge in name of attracting clients against the set standard charges as they are not at par with everyone. Clients then complain others are charging less than us, which forces us to discount for them a bit as trying to convince them why rates are different is difficult.

How much do you charge for an event?

Our charges are affordable and custom made according to what a client needs and wants. The rates varies as what we charge for events like wedding, corporate, product launch, road show, ruracio, etc., is not the same.

How do you market your services?

Mostly, we’re referred to others when they are satisfied with our services. Apart from the word of reference, I do marketing on social media platforms as this is where one can get a large potential client reach. To attract new customers, we offer discounted rates like running promotions on discount offers from time to time.

How many are under your employ and how much can the business make in a given month?

I have ten employees and I can say I’m proud of them. They are the reason for business success. The business generates a good amount per given month but the returns are determined by peak days or month. The much we make in a month is from Sh90, 000.