Lean HR systems for SMEs

You can run a business.
Running a team is different.

We fix the 4 foundations every growing team needs - hiring, structure, performance, and contracts in 90 days. So you can focus on growth.

Check If You Qualify See how it works

The cost of waiting

6–12

months of salary lost per bad hire at manager level

Our promise

If your HR foundations aren't in place within 90 days, we keep working — at no extra cost.

Sound familiar?

The gaps that slow
every growing team down

Nobody plans for this. You hire because you need the help, then you hire again, and at some point the way you used to run things stops working. Here's where it usually shows up first.

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Hires that didn't work out No clear hiring process means you're betting on gut feel, and expensive mistakes.

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Everyone's busy, no one owns anything Things fall through the gaps because responsibility is assumed, not defined.

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Underperformance going unaddressed Without a performance framework, hard conversations get avoided, and problems grow.

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You're still answering the same questions Day-to-day issues keep coming back to you because there's no system to catch them first.

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Contracts that don't protect you Grey areas in employment terms create unnecessary risk — and you know it.

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Your best people are getting restless Top performers leave when there's no clarity on expectations or growth.

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None of this fixes itself. The longer it sits, the more it costs you - in people who quit, in hires that don't work out, and in the hours you spend on stuff that shouldn't be on your desk.

What changes

What your team looks like
after 90 days

This isn't a binder of policies that sits on a shared drive. By the end, your team is running on systems they actually use day to day - and you're spending a lot less time on people stuff.

Hiring

You stop making expensive hiring mistakes. A clear process means you attract the right people and spot the wrong ones before they cost you.

Structure

Everyone knows what they own. Clear roles and responsibilities mean nothing falls through and you stop being the default answer to every question.

Performance

You know exactly who's delivering and who isn't. No guesswork. No avoided conversations. Just a simple framework that makes managing people easier.

Contracts & Systems

No grey areas. Your contracts protect you, your policies are clear, and your team has the tools they actually need — not a manual no one reads.

The process

How we fix it in three steps

Simple, focused, and built for small teams. No bureaucracy, no unnecessary complexity.

Week 1–2

See what's broken

We review your current team setup, hiring process, contracts, and how performance is managed. You get a clear picture of exactly what's missing - at no cost. No vague audit, a specific action plan.

Week 3–10

Fix the foundations

We rebuild your hiring process, define who owns what across your team, set up a practical performance framework, and tighten your employment contracts and key policies. All of it.

Week 11–13

Make it stick

You and your team get the tools and processes that are simple enough to actually use day-to-day. Handoff, walkthrough, and you're running. Your team shouldn't need us anymore, and that's the goal.

One thing worth knowing: We only work with 2 SMEs per quarter. Not as a sales tactic, because this kind of work requires full attention, and we're not willing to do it any other way.

Scope

What this is - and
what it isn't

This isn't outsourced HR. We're not here to handle your day-to-day people admin. We build the foundation so your team can run without you, and without an HR department you don't need yet.

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Payroll processing or benefits admin
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Handling daily employee queries and grievances
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Unnecessary HR documentation and bureaucracy
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Ongoing retainer or indefinite support

This is for you if:

You're an SME founder or senior leader with a team of 10–100 people. On paper things are fine. But you know it's not as tight as it should be. You're spending too much time on people issues that shouldn't reach you.

You don't need a full HR department yet, you need the systems that make one unnecessary for now.

Check if you qualify →

Why work with me

I've seen what happens when teams grow without structure.

I'm Keith. For 7 years, I worked inside venture capital and financial services, watching portfolio companies at every stage of growth. The ones that struggled weren't struggling because of the market, they were struggling because of people problems that had gone unfixed for too long.

Bad hires. Unclear ownership. Performance issues avoided until they became crises. Contracts that protected no one. After a while you start noticing the same handful of problems show up in almost every company. Four of them in particular.

This isn't corporate HR. Everything I build is:

Simple enough for small teams to actually use
Focused on real problems, not theoretical best practice
Designed so your team runs without depending on you

★★★★★

Keith helped us build our HR structure from scratch. With his keen insights and detailed knowledge, we were able to custom-build a robust HR foundation accommodating both our company's modern temperament as well as legacy structures and policies. Keith made this process seamless and straightforward. We look forward to working with him again.

Aisha COO, Truly Kenya

★★★★★

The HR setup was done professionally, on time, and to our satisfaction.

Dick Mutothori CEO, Avionicare EA Ltd

FAQ

Questions worth asking
before you decide

What do I actually get at the end of 90 days?

Everything you need to run your team properly - a functioning hiring process, clear role structure, a performance framework, and tight contracts. Set up and working, not just documented.

Why not just hire a HR person instead?

Because you'll still need the systems. Most SMEs hire HR too early and end up paying for admin rather than strategy. We set the foundation first, then if you hire HR later, they can actually add value.

We already have some HR in place. Do we still need this?

Probably. Most teams have bits and pieces - a contract here, a policy there. We turn it into a coherent system that actually works as you grow, rather than a collection of documents nobody reads.

How much of my time will this take?

Minimal. We'll need your input upfront to understand the business and team. After that, the goal is to reduce the time you spend on people issues, not add another project to your plate.

What if it's not done in 90 days?

Then we keep working until it is, at no extra cost. That's the guarantee, not a 90-day sprint with a rushed handoff at the end.

Is this for us if we're not based in Nairobi?

Yes. The work is done remotely, and the core people challenges are the same regardless of location.

You can run a business.Running a team is different.

The gaps that slowevery growing team down

What your team looks likeafter 90 days

How we fix it in three steps

What this is - andwhat it isn't