Founder Diaries Podcast

Yvonne Kanyi
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Daily

Founder Diaries Podcast is a podcast that tells everyday entrepreneur stories. Hosted by Yvonne Kanyi, a Founder and a creator, sharing honest conversations about building, growing and leading a business. This podcast dives deep into what it truly takes to go from idea to execution the wins, the stumbles, the turning points and everything in between. Each episode offers listeners and everyone watching practical insights, raw reflections and human moments from those who’ve built something remarkable.

  1. 1d ago

    SN3, Minisode 21: Don't Force Yourself Against Your Architecture

    When we started the strengths test with the business coach we hosted in Seasons 1 & 2, the plan was to do it quickly and move on. It ended up shaping a lot of how I’m moving forward. The test led to a bigger realization: everyone is built differently. Some things come easier to me and some come harder, and knowing that changes how I work, how I lead, and how I decide where to put my energy. In this minisode, I share what that realization looked like in practice and why it matters for founders. Watch to the end to find out what my 5 strengths turned out to be. The takeaway: lean into your strengths and operate from that angle. Don’t force yourself against your own architecture. This episode is brought to you by: 🔹 Beauty Square KE — Your go-to destination for premium, quality beauty essentials. Visit and patronize at beautysquareke.co PARTNER HIGHLIGHT 🤝 We’re honored to have Sarova Hotels as our Season 3 partner. From creating beautiful spaces to curating unforgettable experiences, Sarova is the best fit for your staycation, business meeting or that special celebration. Visit their website to check out their facilities and services at www.sarovahotels.com Our other Season 3 partners are: 🎥 Royal Reel — our audio-visual partners / royalreelph. . 💄 Makeup City — on makeup / makeupcityy. . 👗 HAWI Ready To Wear— on the wardrobe https://www.instagram..... Follow Founder Diaries on socials: Instagram / founderdiar. . Tiktok / founder.diari. . Spotify https://open.spotify.c.... Follow our host on socials: Instagram⁠ / yvonnekanyi. . TikTok⁠ / entrepreneurm. .

  2. 2d ago

    SN3, Episode 11: Half a Million Profit, Yet Zero Cash | Joan Ogutu on Building Kids Street

    For our final full episode of the season, we sit down with Joan Ogutu, founder of Kids Street, a brand focused on premium baby care products in Kenya.Joan takes us through her journey from the start: her early experience working at Safaricom as an agent, and how her own pregnancy led to the idea for Kids Street when she couldn’t find premium baby care products in Kenya. She walks us through the real cost of setting up their first business location, and how the business grew from baby gear like car seats and strollers into consumables like diapers.We also get into the part of inventory businesses that rarely gets talked about: managing money well when your profit is tied up in stock, and what it means to show a profit on paper without having the cash in hand.This episode also has a deeply personal side. Joan shares, with openness and courage, the story of losing her son during a family vacation, how she has continued to run her business through grief, and how that loss has changed the way she works as a founder and the way she sees life. We’re grateful to her for trusting us with her story. This episode is brought to you by:🔹 Beauty Square KE — Your go-to destination for premium, quality beauty essentials. Visit and patronize at beautysquareke.co PARTNER SPOTLIGHT🔹 DigiTax — Simplifying tax and invoicing for businesses so you can focus on growth, not paperwork. Learn more: ⁠https://digitax.tech/⁠ | ⁠+254795279403 DigiTax — your tax assistant in your pocketPARTNER HIGHLIGHT 🤝We’re honored to have Sarova Hotels as our Season 3 partner. From creating beautiful spaces to curating unforgettable experiences, Sarova is the best fit for your staycation, business meeting or that special celebration. Visit their website to check out their facilities and services at www.sarovahotels.comOur other Season 3 partners are:🎥 Royal Reel — our audio-visual partners / royalreelph. .💄 Makeup City — on makeup / makeupcityy. .👗 HAWI Ready To Wear— on the wardrobe https://www.instagram.com/hawi_rtw?ig...Follow Founder Diaries on socials: Instagram / founderdiar. .Tiktok / founder.diari. .Spotifyhttps://open.spotify.com/show/1CBpdVj...Follow our host on socials:Instagram⁠ / yvonnekanyi. .TikTok⁠ / entrepreneurm. .

  3. 5d ago

    SN3, Minisode 20: “I’ll Just Do It Myself” — The Founder Habit That’s Limiting Your Team

    Many founders, especially Type A personalities and first-borns (first-born daughters in particular), share a trait that quietly shapes how they run their businesses: hyper-independence, the deeply ingrained belief that “I can do everything myself.”It can look like strength, but in a business, it can do real damage. In this minisode, we explore how hyper-independence shows up in founders and why it can quietly work against you and your team. It feels faster and safer in the moment, but over time it stops your team from learning, growing, and reaching their full potential — because you’re not coaching them, you’re replacing and doing the work for them.This episode is brought to you by:🔹 Beauty Square KE — Your go-to destination for premium, quality beauty essentials. Visit and patronize at beautysquareke.co PARTNER HIGHLIGHT 🤝We’re honored to have Sarova Hotels as our Season 3 partner. From creating beautiful spaces to curating unforgettable experiences, Sarova is the best fit for your staycation, business meeting or that special celebration. Visit their website to check out their facilities and services at www.sarovahotels.comOur other Season 3 partners are:🎥 Royal Reel — our audio-visual partners / royalreelph. .💄 Makeup City — on makeup / makeupcityy. .👗 HAWI Ready To Wear— on the wardrobe https://www.instagram.....Follow Founder Diaries on socials: Instagram / founderdiar. .Tiktok / founder.diari. .Spotifyhttps://open.spotify.c....Follow our host on socials:Instagram⁠ / yvonnekanyi. .

  4. Oct 7

    SN3, Minisode 19: Your Most Asked Questions, Answered: GRWM Edition

    Today's minisode is a little different. We're pulling back the curtain and giving you a raw, unfiltered look at our production set — Yvonne, mid-makeup, answering some of the questions you've been dropping on our socials. No script, no polish — just real answers to the things you've actually been curious about. Grab a seat and enjoy the behind-the-scenes energy. This episode is brought to you by: 🔹 Beauty Square KE — Your go-to destination for premium, quality beauty essentials. Visit and patronize at beautysquareke.co PARTNER HIGHLIGHT 🤝 We’re honored to have Sarova Hotels as our Season 3 partner. From creating beautiful spaces to curating unforgettable experiences, Sarova is the best fit for your staycation, business meeting or that special celebration. Visit their website to check out their facilities and services at www.sarovahotels.com Our other Season 3 partners are: 🎥 Royal Reel — our audio-visual partners / royalreelph. . 💄 Makeup City — on makeup / makeupcityy. . 👗 HAWI Ready To Wear— on the wardrobe https://www.instagram..... Follow Founder Diaries on socials: Instagram / founderdiar. . Tiktok / founder.diari. . Spotify https://open.spotify.c.... Follow our host on socials: Instagram⁠ / yvonnekanyi. . TikTok⁠ / entrepreneurm. .

  5. Oct 6

    SN3, Episode 10: Building Africa's AI Operating System for SMEs | Ft. Abraham Mbuthia

    Before Uzapoint, Abraham Mbuthia actually wanted to be a DJ. In this episode, he walks us through how that early dream led him into tech instead, and eventually into building Uzapoint from the ground up, starting with clients paying as little as KES 500, to a business now generating 7-figure revenue across multiple markets. He is the CEO and Co-Founder of Uzapoint, which he describes as the operating system for SMEs in Africa — a platform built to help small and medium businesses digitize their operations, access financial services, and use AI to make smarter, more informed decisions. In short: everything a business needs to sell smarter, operate efficiently, and grow with confidence, all in one intelligent platform. In this conversation, Abraham shares his full journey into entrepreneurship, how he thinks through building a distribution strategy that actually works as you scale into new markets, what's changed about how he runs the business as it's grown, and how his team is using Claude to build internal work dashboards that keep things efficient behind the scenes. SPONSOR HIGHLIGHT This episode is sponsored by Faida Elimu Insurance Plan by Jubilee Life Insurance — a plan built to protect your child's education no matter what life brings. It gives you peace of mind knowing your child's education stays funded by Jubilee even if you're no longer around, with the flexibility to save monthly, quarterly, yearly, or as a lump sum, topped up whenever it suits you. Your named beneficiary is legally protected — no court, spouse, or divorce can override your choice and after 2 years, you can access up to 10% of your fund without closing the policy. Plus, in the event of a claim, your family receives instant relief with KES 100,000 in last expenses paid within 48 hours. Learn more about the Faida Elimu Insurance Plan: https://jubileeinsurance.com/ke/life-... Brought to you by: 🔹 Beauty Square KE — Your go-to destination for premium, quality beauty essentials. Visit and patronize at beautysquareke.co PARTNER HIGHLIGHT 🤝 We’re honored to have Sarova Hotels as our Season 3 partner. From creating beautiful spaces to curating unforgettable experiences, Sarova is the best fit for your staycation, business meeting or that special celebration. Visit their website to check out their facilities and services at www.sarovahotels.com Our other Season 3 partners are: 🎥 Royal Reel — our audio-visual partners / royalreelph. . 💄 Makeup City — on makeup / makeupcityy. . 👗 HAWI Ready To Wear— on the wardrobe https://www.instagram.com/hawi_rtw?ig... Follow Founder Diaries on socials: Instagram / founderdiar. . Tiktok / founder.diari. . Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/1CBpdVj... Follow our host on socials: Instagram⁠ / yvonnekanyi. . TikTok⁠ / entrepreneurm. .

  6. Oct 2

    SN3, Minisode 18: Debt Isn't the Enemy — Not Having Access To It Is

    Kenyans have an interesting relationship with debt, and this minisode breaks it down into 3 categories ✅Those who've seen debt go badly for someone else and want nothing to do with it ✅Those who know debt could be useful but have no idea how to actually access it ✅Those who understand debt as a tool and use it deliberately to grow their business. This isn't an episode trying to convince you to take on debt. It's a challenge to make sure you have access to credit, even if you never plan to use it — because the point isn't whether you borrow, it's whether you have the option available when an opportunity (or an emergency) presents itself, so whether you're pro-debt, anti-debt, or somewhere in between, this one's about making sure the choice is actually yours to make. This episode is brought to you by: 🔹 Beauty Square KE — Your go-to destination for premium, quality beauty essentials. Visit and patronize at beautysquareke.co SPONSOR HIGHLIGHT 🤝 Sarova We’re honored to have Sarova Hotels as our Season 3 partner. From creating beautiful spaces to curating unforgettable experiences, Sarova is the best fit for your staycation, business meeting or that special celebration. Visit their website to check out their facilities and services at www.sarovahotels.com Our other Season 3 partners are: Our other Season 3 partners are: 🎥 Royal Reel — our audio-visual partners / royalreelph. . 💄 Makeup City — on makeup / makeupcityy. . 👗 HAWI Ready To Wear— on the wardrobe https://www.instagram.com/hawi_rtw?ig... Follow Founder Diaries on socials: Instagram / founderdiar. . Tiktok / founder.diari.. Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/1CBpdVj... Follow our host on socials: Instagram ⁠ / yvonnekanyi. . TikTok⁠ / entrepreneurm. .

  7. Sep 29

    SN3, Minisode 17: Market Penetration Isn't About More Ads

    his minisode was sparked by a conversation with Manish about running digital ads — and it turned into a bigger question that keeps coming up across so many businesses: how do you actually penetrate your market?The instinct for most founders is the same playbook — get influencers, run Facebook and Instagram ads, and hope for conversions. But the businesses that grow faster often think differently about where their return on investment actually comes from. For Craydel, instead of pouring money into ads, their best move was going directly to high schools — because that's exactly where their future clientele already is, before they transition into university. For Hyrox, it's showing up at gyms and partnering with them, because their customers are already fitness people.This minisode is a challenge to think outside the standard marketing playbook: instead of relying purely on digital marketing, figure out exactly where your customer already spends their time, and find ways to meet them there directly.This episode is brought to you by:🔹 Beauty Square KE — Your go-to destination for premium, quality beauty essentials. Visit and patronize at beautysquareke.co PARTNER SPOTLIGHT Sarova:We’re honored to have Sarova Hotels as our Season 3 partner. From creating beautiful spaces to curating unforgettable experiences, Sarova is the best fit for your staycation, business meeting or that special celebration. Visit their website to check out their facilities and services at www.sarovahotels.comOur other Season 3 partners are:🎥 Royal Reel — our audio-visual partners / royalreelph. .💄 Makeup City — on makeup / makeupcityy. .👗 HAWI Ready To Wear— on the wardrobe https://www.instagram.com/hawi_rtw?ig...Follow Founder Diaries on socials: Instagram / founderdiar. .Tiktok / founder.diari. .Spotifyhttps://open.spotify.com/show/1CBpdVj...Follow our host on socials:Instagram⁠ / yvonnekanyi. .TikTok⁠ / entrepreneurm. .

  8. Sep 28

    SN3, Episode 9: I Lost Close to 400,000 | Anne Muhia on Employee Theft, Motherhood & Building

    Anne Muhia is an entrepreneur, founder of Winners Arena Africa, and in this episode, she takes us through one of her earliest and most painful business lessons: a butchery story, and how she navigated employee theft at the time. From there, we trace Anne's full journey: from working as a group finance manager, to quitting impromptu, starting her own business, and how motherhood has shaped who she is today — including the ongoing reality of raising a daughter who requires special care while continuing to grow her business.We also get into the mindset shifts that separate founders who scale from founders who stay stuck, then we close with a look at the key numbers every founder should actually be tracking.lA personal note: Anne's journey through motherhood continues alongside her business, as she cares for her daughter who requires special care. If this story moves you, her family has shared a support link below — any contribution would go a long way.🔗 Support here: https://www.mchanga.africa/fundraiser/138250 This episode is brought to you by: 🔹 Beauty Square KE — Your go-to destination for premium, quality beauty essentials. Visit and patronize at beautysquareke.co SPONSOR HIGHLIGHT This episode is sponsored by Faida Elimu Insurance Plan by Jubilee Life Insurance — a plan built to protect your child's education no matter what life brings. It gives you peace of mind knowing your child's education stays funded by Jubilee even if you're no longer around, with the flexibility to save monthly, quarterly, yearly, or as a lump sum, topped up whenever it suits you. Your named beneficiary is legally protected — no court, spouse, or divorce can override your choice and after 2 years, you can access up to 10% of your fund without closing the policy. Plus, in the event of a claim, your family receives instant relief with KES 100,000 in last expenses paid within 48 hours. Learn more about the Faida Elimu Insurance Plan: https://jubileeinsurance.com/ke/life-... PARTNER HIGHLIGHT 🤝🔹 DigiTax — Simplifying tax and invoicing for businesses so you can focus on growth, not paperwork. Learn more: ⁠https://digitax.tech/⁠ | ⁠+254795279403 DigiTax — your tax assistant in your pocket Sarova We’re honored to have Sarova Hotels as our Season 3 partner. From creating beautiful spaces to curating unforgettable experiences, Sarova is the best fit for your staycation, business meeting or that special celebration. Visit their website to check out their facilities and services at www.sarovahotels.comOur other Season 3 partners are: 🎥 Royal Reel — our audio-visual partners / royalreelph. . 💄 Makeup City — on makeup / makeupcityy. . 👗 HAWI Ready To Wear— on the wardrobe https://www.instagram.com/hawi_rtw?ig... Follow Founder Diaries on socials: Instagram / founderdiar. . Tiktok / founder.diari. . Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/1CBpdVj... Follow our host on socials: Instagram / yvonnekanyi. . TikTok ⁠/ entrepreneurm. .

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About

Founder Diaries Podcast is a podcast that tells everyday entrepreneur stories. Hosted by Yvonne Kanyi, a Founder and a creator, sharing honest conversations about building, growing and leading a business. This podcast dives deep into what it truly takes to go from idea to execution the wins, the stumbles, the turning points and everything in between. Each episode offers listeners and everyone watching practical insights, raw reflections and human moments from those who’ve built something remarkable.

Information

  • Creator
    Yvonne Kanyi
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    90
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Yvonne Kanyi
  • Show Website
    Founder Diaries Podcast

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