Rinchi
TechInAfrica – Huston Malande is a 30-year-old Kenyan entrepreneur who founded Skyline Design in 2008. He is always passionate about design and technology. His curiosity about technology started when he was 12 years old. Together with his brother, they began their experiments with computers.
During the gap year between 2007 and 2009 after finishing high school, Malande learned the programming using his father’s laptop. He learned about cybercafes and after becoming a college student, he promised himself to learn how to create websites for global platforms.
His passion for technology and design were a blessing for him as it helped him to get clients and referrals. These skills led him to start a business, Skyline Design which was registered in 2008. Four years later, the business turned into a limited company with subsidiaries, including Digital Legion, Martian Effects, Mobile Matrix, Rolling Lens, and Red Planet.
At the beginning of his business, his first clients were his friend’s family who owned a training college. As they needed a website to promote their courses, Malande was asked to build a website for them.
His business grew bigger after he wrote a blog in 2010 titled: Top 25 Web Designs in Kenya which drove traffic to his website and positively affected the growing businesses. As he wrote more about his business, the more he got clients.
At the early days of Skyline Design, Malande did everything himself, including for the finance, design and business development. He met his two co-founders who had different specialties, helping business to grow as they could cover with their skills.
At first, it was only serving top clients with an average cost of US$10,000 to US$20,000 per website. It would take two months to make the design so that they often turned down small budget clients as they had no much spare time. However, later on, they decided to establish a subsidiary company that could serve smaller clients.
Now he has been 11 years in the business world. Alongside his business journey, Malande has received three awards including Forbes Africa Top 30 Under 30, UNICEF Youth Advocate, and Airtel Future Shaper. As his business keeps on growing, he has long term goals for the sustainable growth of his business.
Source: howwemadeitinafrica.com
