Since 2016, Arafat Mentor, as he is popularly known, has been the CEO of Your Main Sponsor (YMS) Events. In that time, he has managed to nurture and grow YMS Events into a respectable brand across the region. He grew the brand from its conceptual form to what it is today as a student at Maseno University.
He has expanded YMS Events’ focus beyond organizing closed events to running marketing services and campaigns for key brands in the country. He is adamant that there is still enormous room for growth and possible acquisitions to expand the brand portfolio. Today, YMS Events offers promotion services, social media campaigns, product activations, online billboards, and Public Relations services. He has a sizeable team that he says has been crucial in organizing events, event planning management, marketing, and face-to-face activations. YMS Events has recently ventured into social impact activities like offering support to underprivileged children in care homes and visiting prisons.
Arafat Mentor talks about brand management, inspirations and how he manages to keep employees motivated in this exclusive interview with Hivisasa Africa.
You started YMS Events while still on campus; what inspired you to start it and how did you manage to balance studying and managing the company
When I started YMS Events, I did not really envision that it would grow to what it is today. The initial concept was to have a platform where we would organize birthday parties for students on campus. This was back in 2017. I drew my motivation from that. The first birthday party I organized was at a club called Triple T in Luanda (a town in Vihiga County – about 5 miles from Maseno University along the Kisumu Busia highway). The turnout for that party was really huge. I remember getting about 200 guests. From that event, I learnt that it was possible to organize any scale of an event and rally people to attend as long as it is relevant tot them. That was where I got the inspiration to venture into event organizing.
Any start is always rocky, mine was no different. Luckily for me, I had a team of friends who were close by and with whom, I shared this passion for event organizing. This is what pushed me through and made it easier to balance the demands of my studies and making an impact in society.
What has been your biggest challenge as CEO of YMS Events
The biggest and recurring challenge I have had across my years as CEO of YMS Events has been acquiring venues for the events I organize. In most cases, I would book a venue for an event; say for example a restaurant; but then on the date of the event, the manager of the restaurant turns around and says they do not like events. In most cases, I have found that people leasing venues for events find it hard to honor agreements.
Another challenge is that you can organize an event to the very last detail and then you have very few people turning up. It is usually disappointing and comes at a great cost but it is what it is.
How are you managing to adapt to the changing events industry to keep up with the trends?
The events industry is very people-centered. This means that you have to always innovate, improvise and come up with event concepts that will be appealing to the people you want to have at the event venue. Without people, you have no event. You therefore have to keep monitoring to be at par with what people want. You also have to closely watch the happenings in the industry to pick the success stories and learn from some of the most common mistakes. There is a lot of alignment and realignment and that is what you have to do on a daily basis to stay ahead and always deliver the right impact.
Arafat Mentor On Lessons Learnt
As a young CEO, how do you manage your team and what lessons can you share with other young CEOs out there
My message is to always ‘Never Give Up.’ Nothing is given in this world and sometimes, you really have to step up and toil for what you believe in. Event planning is one of those ventures where it is possible to fall so many times. What defines you is how many times you are able to rise. There shall be instances where you will invest a lot of effort and money to make an event successful but then it just sours towards the end or the number of people that show up are way below your expectation. Whenever you have such disappointments, it is always good to look at how you can better deliver the next event. Learn from the mistakes but do not let them hold you down.
What qualities have been most important in running the day-to-day activities of YMS Events
Patience is everything. They say patience pays. In event management, it really does pay to be patient. I had so many disappointments when starting, but patience made it possible to do incredible things as time went by. There were times when I invested a lot of money in putting together an event only for a handful people to show up. I never gave up and remained patient knowing that a time would come when I would be able to reap the fruits of my patience.
Along the line, I have been able to meet people I never thought I would meet. I still fully understand that it is an ongoing journey and I know there are greater things to come. Being patient feels like one of my greatest investments so far.
How do you handle setbacks as CEO; and how do you keep your team motivated whenever you encounter setbacks in your work planning
My message to my team during setbacks has been to ‘always remain focused.’ We have set goals for ourselves and I always encourage my team to not lose focus of these goals. We are a close-knit family and we do everything together. We always plan together, strategize and go again in the face of insurmountable setbacks.
Are there any upcoming events/activities that you are excited about? What should your followers look out for?
We have the Mr and Miss Maseno beauty pageant coming up this year. We are finalizing on the planning and will make the big announcement shortly. We always have it at Carnival Grounds in Nairobi, but this year, we are looking at having a slight change to organize it at an alternative venue. We feel like the growth and popularity of the event has grown tremendously and its only fair that we decentralize it from traditional event venues to have the maximum impact on our targeted markets. We also have the YMS super tournament coming up alongside the YMS National Awards event coming up in August. In between, we shall have a number of small scale events organized as part of our Community Engagement initiatives.
What advice would you give to young entrepreneurs looking to follow in your footsteps or emulate your journey?
To a young entrepreneur who is who is coming up, he or she should always remain focused and never give. It also helps to be creative. Creativity is crucial in overcoming adversities. Put your wits to work and learn from your environment to keep growing.
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