A Letter From Us, The Scale Team
2019 was a difficult year for most businesses in Kenya. Doing business has always been difficult and especially so for SMEs… As we begin 2020, we have been hard at work building a solution that will be integral to your success this year.
It took us months before we learned how to properly respond to a tender. After that, it took us three years to finally win our first tender. And in the years since, we have been through it all. The fact that we are still here lays credence to our resilience, our unbreakable entrepreneurial spirit, and our insatiable drive to succeed. Scale
We have spent nights at the office trying to finish a tender response to beat deadlines.
We have camped at offices chasing inexplicable mandatory documents that you didn’t expect but are asked for by the procuring entity.
We have printed, reprinted, and filled all the tables in our office with paperwork as we try to organize the tender documents just right.
We have done joint ventures that gave us nightmares when compiling documents from the different companies as we try to put together as a united front.
We have been on Boda Bodas weaving through traffic just to submit a tender in time.
We have also been those guys in offices carrying huge boxes waiting for procurement officers because the tender response was too big to fit in the tender box.
And after all the headaches of tender preparation and submission, we have also been on the receiving end of those dreaded rejection letters when we have lost.
“What has been conspicuously missing are local solutions that specifically respond to problems facing SMEs like us.”
We have hit our heads against the wall when the reasons for losing were flimsy, like forgetting to serialize/paginate the documents, or forgetting to do a site visit, or not filling the form of tender, and the worst one of all for us, submitting documents that have just expired and we didn’t even know.
But we have also won. And those award letters are paper gold. And the feeling, indescribable.
All of the above is why we are here and why we are writing to you today…
As an SME, the tender preparation process is an absolute nightmare and it has been our strong belief that surely, this process should be simpler. Throughout our entrepreneurial journey, we have come across many solutions that have been developed to help businesses in one way or the other.
Kenyans have always been first through the door when they spot opportunities presented by new technologies. M-PESA, Facebook, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, and Twitter have become integral to how SMEs operate in Kenya. Larger companies have continued their use of established systems such as SAP, Oracle, IBM, Microsoft, and many others to aid the various facets of their operations.
But what has been conspicuously missing are local solutions that specifically respond to problems facing SMEs like us whose primary source of income is dependent on tenders from either the Government, the Private Sector, or NGOs.
So, after looking around in vain for ways to make it simpler, we simply decided to build a solution that could serve us. One that could remove all the anxiety, costs, inconsistencies, errors, and the general chaos related to tendering, and enable all of us to not only apply for more tenders but also increase the chances of winning.
Introducing Scale – A whole new world of tendering!
Scale is a platform that contains tools and services for streamlining the process of applying for tenders. It helps users to organize, compile and update all relevant paperwork, while simultaneously managing multiple tender applications.
Our solution removes the barriers that entrepreneurs and SMEs face during the tendering process by enabling you to:
- Always Be Properly Prepared. Digitally manage and organize all your tender application documents ensuring you are always ready to apply for any tender at any given time.
- Never Miss A Tender Opportunity. If there’s a tender out there for your business, we will find it and deliver it straight to your inbox. We don’t just stop at tender notifications, Scale partners with you throughout your entire tender application process, pointing out what matters most as you respond to your tenders.
- Stop Making Common Tendering Mistakes. With Scale, you can forget the intimidating technical jargon and numerous documentation required when tendering. Scale makes certain your tender submissions are accurate and consistent, ensuring that your next tender submission is always better than your previous submissions.
- Win More Tenders. Our primary goal is to ensure that you win more tenders. Scale makes tendering fresh, friendly and effortless, allowing you to confidently, cost-effectively and easily apply for more tenders and significantly increase your chances of winning.
Because 2019 was a challenging year for most of the businesses in Kenya, we want you to start 2020 on a better footing. That is why as the Scale team, we are giving you a 2-months FREE access to Scale when you sign up, so that you can get yourself organized and use Scale to apply for as many tenders as possible.
Let’s get you set up for success on scale.co.ke!
Karibu sana!
The Scale Team.
We are Scale, a technology company focused on growth. Economic Inclusion is at the heart of everything we do. It drives the partnerships we develop, the opportunities we provide and the technologies we create.
