Office Hours by M‑Kyala Ventures is one‑on‑one advisory support for women entrepreneurs who are serious about growth. It exists because after spending years walking alongside thousands of women entrepreneurs and seeing too many carry the weight of critical business decisions alone, we realise that many entrepreneurs don’t need more information. Instead, more often than not, they need someone who will listen, tailor advice to their specific challenges and hold them accountable for following through.
This is a selective experience for entrepreneurs who are ready to do the work, who are actively building and who want a board‑level partner in their corner. Our aim is to help you think through your next steps, and hold you accountable for taking them.
Contents
Background
Each week, entrepreneurs make decisions that shape the future of their businesses. Should I hire? Should I pursue this partnership? Should I raise capital now or wait? Why is my growth stalling? How do I move from surviving to scaling? What am I missing?
These are not questions that can wait for the next accelerator cohort or ones that can be solved by sitting through another webinar. And rarely are they solved by generic advice either.
Yes, the East African entrepreneurship ecosystem is full of programmes, trainings, workshops, bootcamps and events – many which prove useful for founders, but for many other founders, they often attend multiple of these programmes, leave with notebooks full of frameworks, but often return to the same walls they were at before.
This is why we are launching Office Hours.
Not another programme
Let’s start with what Office Hours is not. It is not a training course, an accelerator, a mentorship programme, and certainly not another initiative that looks good on paper but delivers little value to entrepreneurs.
What we are focused on is providing support that is highly useful when entrepreneurs are facing real business challenges.
Sometimes an entrepreneur does not need six months of programming. What is often needed is a focused conversation with someone who understands business, growth, asks the right questions and helps them identify the next step forward. Someone who will challenge their thinking and who will help them see opportunities they may have overlooked.
For entrepreneurs who are serious about growth
Office Hours is designed for entrepreneurs who are actively building. Those navigating growth, solving problems and trying to move their businesses to the next level.
We are especially interested in working with women entrepreneurs who are ambitious about the future they are building and are willing to do the hard work required to get there.
This is a selective opportunity because we believe quality matters. Our goal is not to serve the largest number of people possible but to create meaningful value for the entrepreneurs we engage with. We would rather have fewer conversations that genuinely transform businesses than hundreds that lead nowhere.
More than advice
When you meet with us, we begin by listening because we want to understand your business, your challenge, your goals, and your context. From there, we work with you to identify practical actions, opportunities and solutions that can move your business forward. And if your challenge requires specialised expertise, we will connect you with the right people.
Accountability matters
We are not interested in conversations that end when the meeting ends, we will hold you to the agreed next steps. If you commit to a next step, we will ask how it went and if you encounter obstacles, we will work with you to think through them.
In many ways, we see Office Hours as helping entrepreneurs access something every growing business needs: thoughtful strategic challenge and accountability. Many early-stage businesses do not yet have boards or advisory structures, but every entrepreneur benefits from having people who ask difficult questions, challenge assumptions and help maintain focus on what matters most. That is the spirit behind this initiative.
How to apply:
- Step 1: Apply. Tell us about your business, your challenges, and what you want to achieve.
- Step 2: Choose your package. We have two categories: Youth (20-28) and Next Gen (29+). Each comes with a per-session option or a six session package that includes team assessments and a field visit.
- Step 3: Schedule your first session.
- Step 4: Make your payment.
Pricing:
- Youth (20-28): 6,500 KES/50$ per session | $500/65,000 KES for 6 sessions
- Next Gen (29+): 16,000 KES/125$ per session | $800 USD/103,000 KES for 6 sessions
The first three applicants in each category receive a 30% discount on their first two sessions.
We believe the only thing that should block an entrepreneur from getting the support they need is their commitment and not their cash flow. Thus, we also offer a flexible instalment payment option, lipa polepole, so you can spread the cost in a way that works for your cash flow. In addition, we can help connect you to crowdfunding for up to 50% of the total cost if the fee is a barrier.