Kenya is globally known as the home of world marathon champions, from Eliud Kipchoge to Catherine Ndereba who dominated the race for years.

This is what inspired Navalayo Osembo, co-founder and chief executive officer of Enda Shoes, to create a product that is Kenyan owned and associated with the running culture to further put Kenya on the world map, not only as the home of marathon champions, but also as the home of running shoes.

Navalayo has always been passionate about sports. Before Enda Shoes, she had a tennis academy. The idea was to work with top players to get them into the ATP, a worldwide top tier tennis tour organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals, in 10-15 years.

However, the idea didn’t work, but she still wanted to be in the sports business. After much thought and research, running became her next big idea.

It was like a light bulb moment, how come I hadn’t thought of running? After that, it was like do we make running apparel or running shoes, but we thought running apparel is something anyone could make, but running shoes from the home of running, which is Kenya, was just like something that needed to be done. And that’s how we ended up at running shoes,” she says.

Apart from her passion for sports, Navalayo felt that Kenya was missing out in the running footwear industry especially riding on the fact that the country is home to some of the greatest world athletes. Different countries are easily known for the products they produce, for instance, Germany is known for ‘German machines’ that is cars such as Mercedes, Audi, BMW, and Volkswagen among others.

The Enda CEO felt that apart from Kenya being known as the home of runners, the country should have corresponding products to support the sport and provide income to Kenyans.

In 2015, she developed the idea of making shoes and together with her team, put in the work for a year to create a prototype and use it as proof of concept to the market and investors. Navalayo later ran a kick starter campaign that would yield fruits and enable her start mass production in 2016.

The first shoe series was produced in 2017 and named Iten, a famous town in the Rift Valley, which plays host to some of the world’s best runners who have won multiple marathons and set world records in athletics.

The second series of the shoes known as Lapatet was developed in 2019, this was after about 18 months of research and testing. Lapatet means running. Navalayo says the shoes are uniquely designed to incorporate aspects of their country of origin and the communities.

Enda shoes have now grown to a lifestyle brand, taking advantage of the rising jogging and running trend, not only in Kenya, but also globally, with most of its market being abroad. Locally, running has been known as a sport mainly for competitive athletes, however, there has been a rise in recreational running.

On a typical Saturday afternoon, individuals or groups gather in hundreds at Karura Forest or can be seen running around residential areas. Before the pandemic, many would show up for corporate sponsored marathons to keep fit and support good causes, however, more Kenyans are becoming health conscious and are investing more in products and sports activities to keep them healthy including running; a market that Enda shoes are tapping into.

Running has now come down to ordinary people who recognise the benefits. In terms of the brand itself, when we started, our market here was small compared to the export market. But it’s also been steadily growing and we are hopeful that we’ll be able to launch a retail location very soon,” Navalayo says.

There have been remarkable moments for the business, she says seeing the prototype for the first time was the highlight of her business. She knew then that it was actually possible to develop the shoes. Oscar award winning actress Lupita Nyong’o wore the shoes too and it was a major highlight for the footware brand and they went on to be the second runner up at the Africa Business Heroes challenge, which Navalayo says elevated the company and gave them credibility and assurance that they were on the right path.

In 2020, Enda sold more than 7,000 pairs of shoes, 90% of the orders were from the US. 2% of the revenues go to community projects and initiatives. The company also occasionally sponsors athletes, as their feedback is crucial to the development of the shoes.

Navalayo says actualization is the hardest part in doing any business. One can have an idea but actualizing it and making it a reality is what makes the difference. She advises women who would like to venture into business to break down their goals and make sure that they achieve something every day that is geared towards making their business a reality.

“So, if the dream is to maybe own a beauty brand or a fashion brand, what I need to do today is register that business, you know, or make a business plan. Just do the small things that will eventually help you to get there,” she says.

Women are known to always come together to crowdfund through chamas and table banking. Access to credit and capital especially for women has been difficult, however, this should not be an excuse, Navalayo advises women to take advantage of these social avenues to access capital or credit and start building their businesses one step at a time.

About the future of Enda, the CEO says she sees the company as a multinational and the go-to lifestyle brand from Africa in the next few years.

“If you think of what shoe is from Africa, it has to be ENDA, and not just from a lifestyle perspective, but also sharing the cultural bits of it,” she concludes.