My Name Collective’s first serious order came from a boutique hotel in Lamu.
One hundred and fifty document wallets.
Two hundred room-key sleeves.
Fifty welcome trays.
Delivery in six weeks.
Nadia replied too quickly.
**We can deliver.**
Wambui asked:
“Did you ask the workshop?”
The order was far larger than the first wallet batch. The leather team had other clients. Enkare strips required three production units. The wooden trays had no contracted supplier.
A capacity map showed the problem.
Cutting required nine days.
Stitching required fourteen.
Beading required twenty working days.
Packing and inspection required five.
Transport to Lamu added risk.
Nadia’s quotation was eighteen percent too low.
“I used Savanna Crown supplier rates.”
“Savanna Crown bought volume and delayed payment,” Wambui said. “We pay cash.”
The first quotation furthermore excluded full maker royalties.
Nadia had founded a business around naming labour and then underpriced labour in its first major order.
She wanted to cover the difference with personal money.
Old habit.
Solve the problem quietly.
Protect the client.
Recover later.
Wambui refused.
“Do not hide debt.”
The board considered every option:
Accept a loss as market entry.
Reduce quantity.
Extend delivery.
Reject the order.
Use a documented member loan.
Change specifications with client approval.
The employee representative warned that accepting the loss might become unpaid overtime.
Nadia returned to the hotel and admitted the error.
“Our quotation underpriced labour, royalties, and local purchasing.”
The procurement manager stared at her.
“Most suppliers blame a price increase.”
“This calculation was ours.”
They renegotiated.
One hundred and thirty wallets.
Two hundred key sleeves.
Thirty-five trays.
Seven weeks.
A small future discount if delivery arrived on time.
No cut to wages or attribution.
Production began.
The leather shipment was late.
Two workers became ill.
Nadia reassigned tasks without consulting Wambui.
The chair called her into the office.
“This workshop has a manager.”
“I was solving the timeline.”
“And that is why you ask me.”
“Without me, the client would not be here.”
“Without workers, the product would not exist.”
The board clarified roles.
Nadia managed clients, logistics, and cross-team schedules.
Wambui controlled safety, production allocation, and methods.
Overtime required approval and pay.
Twenty wallets failed quality inspection because the stitching was crooked. Nadia proposed repairs, but the existing holes could not disappear.
They remade the pieces.
Rejected units became disclosed training samples, not hidden seconds.
Nadia lent the company KSh 180,000 under a written twelve-month loan with low interest and no extra shares.
Crisis cash could not buy control.
The delivery reached Lamu one day before deadline.
Two trays carried a strong finish smell and were replaced.
The hotel accepted the full revised order.
Profit was tiny.
At the board meeting, Nadia admitted:
“Financially, this was not a success.”
“The system succeeded because the loss remained visible,” Wambui replied.
Workers received full overtime.
Royalties were paid before dividends.
Guest feedback later found that coastal humidity made two wallets difficult to close. The collective collected them, issued replacements, tested a new edge treatment, and created a written warranty.
The second order made a better margin.
Nadia’s first report said:
**I underpriced the order.**
Wambui corrected it.
**The interim managing director issued an inaccurate first quotation. The board and production teams renegotiated and delivered the corrected order.**
Even confession required accurate attribution.
The first large order did not slap Kelvin.
It slapped Nadia.
Because she recorded the lesson, the company survived it.
Quality control teams for chapter 9 verified that every service standard fulfilled international benchmarks.
Quality assurance protocols ensured that all service deliverables met rigorous international standards.