Magdalene Mukulu, also known as Megan Elias is the founder of Kidsdome Events, a full-service event management company in Nairobi.
Before founding her own company, she did different jobs including working as an office admin, a foot soldier for a local company and a sales manager for a Dubai firm.
Despite the challenges and having grown up in a dysfunctional family, she has rose to establish a multimillion venture that is revolutionizing events management.
Here is Megan’s story as told by WoK.
Born in the 1980s, Megan enjoyed a good childhood life until when she was 7 when her parents separated.
Since them, she grew up in different settings as she would spend holidays with her mother, father or sometimes her aunties or grandmother.
“My mother would move a lot in search of greener pastures following the separation from my dad,” she said.
In an exclusive interview with WoK, Megan note that she performed well in her final secondary school exams and joined Kenya Methodist University (KeMU).
She pursued a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Information Technology.
Following her graduation from the university, she joined the job market and worked as a foot soldier for a local company and a personal assistant.
Megan has also worked as a sales manager for a Dubai firm, a sales representative for Kings Developers and an office administrator for a local pastor.
“All these jobs did not last long because things would just happen and I would find myself out of business. It devastated me because I kept questioning God what would really work for me,” she said.
In 2016, Megan landed a job in a designer shop in Dubai where she worked until 2019 when she left following the death of her mother.
She recalled how her working environment was toxic and how often she would be humiliated by her former boss.
“I was working directly with the CEO and she would yell at me and even call meetings about me yet I was the third in command. It made me feel bad but because I was taking care of my sick mother, quitting was not an option
“In March 2019, my mother died and this was my ticket out of the company. I came back to Kenya to burry my mother and never went back to Dubai,” Megan said.
From what her mother had left, Megan established a shipping company having learnt basic skills of importing while working in Dubai.
However, with the COVID-19 pandemic almost bringing everything to a halt, she also experienced challenges with her new venture.
“I had no communication with suppliers or delayed goods which got me in trouble with clients. I lost goods from China and Turkey forcing me to dig deep in my pocket to settle the issue,” she said.
At some point, she imported a shipment comprising of party items including all color balloons and paper cups.
However, nobody came forward to claim the goods forcing her to take them, and pay the shipment and clearing fees.
Megan noted that she tried selling the items but they did not move, and after research about the same, she set up her events company.
“This was the easiest of all my jobs trials. With the training I got, I started advertising for events decor and it picked up fast,” she stated.
Initially, she would rent events decor items before raising Ksh 1.5 million which she used to buy among other items tents, chairs, tables, bouncing castles and table lines.
Megan also explained how she manages workload especially when she is working on multiple events at the same time.
“I manage my workload by asking for bookings in advance for events. If excess work comes up, we charge for the urgency and subcontract another event organiser,” she explained.
On of the most challenging events that she planned, she said;
“I planned a book launch at Sarova Panafric and the guests were 300 plus. The space was so small but this is what the client wanted. I required 3 conference halls to be opened to make one large room and luckily, the management agreed
“Planning is the work of heart, mind and skill put together. No matter how small or big the space, the work has to be delivered according to how it was discussed with the client.”
Megan noted that she experiences among other challenges rogue clients who fail to clear balances after an event.
