LivelyHoods is a grassroots distribution company based in Kenya that uses sales agents to sell household appliances and durable goods to customers in urban and urban sprawl areas.

In Fall 2016, LivelyHoods engaged Starbird Consulting to help inform its strategy on expanding or replicating internationally. We conducted detailed interviews to gain insight into how LivelyHoods worked, and focused on finding opportunities for launching, licensing, or powering a branded distribution system outside of Kenya.

We then extracted 100+ variables and used them to produce four distinct, dynamic, custom-made Excel models, each fed by and dynamically using the same source data. By playing out these four international expansion scenarios imaginatively, we highlighted the implications (strategic, operational, financial, human resources, etc.) of each mode of expansion.

Finally, we produced written recommendations distilling salient factors and realities. LivelyHoods was thus equipped to sensibly make decisions on international expansion, choosing to focus urgently on unit profitability of its branches, financing of local customers through a layaway program, and national expansion to Western Kenya.

(*This work with LivelyHoods led to Starbird Consulting’s Sensitivity Analysis Tool being selected and used in an Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs training of impact investors in Mexico City in January 2017. Contact us to learn more about using this tool to further your business.)