That Girl Boina: How worker theft is hurting small companies in Africa

When well-liked Kenyan meals creator That Girl Boina took a two-week vacation to Europe, she anticipated to calm down. Every week into the journey, an Instagram direct message uncovered an issue that might in the end result in the closure of her industry.

“I used to be at your studio, I preferred every part. The solely downside was that I used to be requested to ship cash to a unique quantity. It wasn’t the quantity on the wall,” a buyer wrote to her.

Boina had opened Waxaholic Studio, a waxing and hydrafacial parlour in Nairobi’s central industry district, on 1 September 2024. A 12 months later, she had employed a receptionist and two specialists and felt assured sufficient to take a two-week vacation, her first transnational journey of the 12 months.

“I trusted them. It’s two rooms and a reception – how do you mess that up?” she remembers considering.

“It by no means occurred to me that perhaps I used to be getting shoppers and another person was stealing from me,” she tells the BBC.

The discovery prompted Boina to look at the industry extra intently. Although the industry had made a revenue within the first few months, proceeds started to fall in early 2025. She initially dismissed the decline as a seasonal droop however then realised there was an issue.

“Everyone round was creating wealth other than me,” she says in hindsight.

She had already thought-about closing as a result of it was not making a revenue, however her preliminary funding, three workers relying on the industry and her imaginative and prescient for it saved her going. The buyer’s message grew to become the turning-point.

“If I’m not creating wealth and I’m keen to attend and see the place this goes and also you guys should not giving me the identical power, then why are we nonetheless open?”

Rather than confront the workers, Boina determined to shut the studio. That weekend, she put it up on the market however discovered no purchaser. She offered a few of the gear and took others, together with decorations, dwelling. Waxaholic Studio closed in October 2025.

“I keep in mind my buddy taking me to a restaurant, and I began crying. We have been each silent.”

“What else would we do?”

Boina describes the expertise because the worst feeling she has ever felt. The closure was not only a monetary setback, however the lack of one thing she had constructed to safe her future.

In September, practically a 12 months after the industry closed, Boina shared a video on TikTok recounting the expertise, explaining that she had wanted time to heal earlier than talking publicly about what occurred.

The video went viral after being reposted on X, previously Twitter, garnering shut to 1 million views. It drew responses from many Kenyan industry house owners who described how theft, starting from cost diversion to inventory theft and the sale of high-priced gear, had pushed their companies to the brink, forcing them to fireplace workers, promote their companies or shut down.

“Although I’ve recovered emotionally, I’m but to recoup the cash I invested in establishing and operating the studio,” says Boina.

The response to her story confirmed that worker theft is a big downside for a lot of small companies house owners in Africa, the place a handful of workers could management funds, inventory and provider transactions, typically with restricted oversight.

A 2022 survey by PwC, one of many globe’s greatest consultancy companies, discovered that 63% of respondents in East Africa stated their organisations had skilled financial crime, in comparison with a worldwide determine of 46%.