By Maurice Momanyi.
Many Kenyans wish to engage in different types of income generating activities but do not know where to start and how to maintain them.
For instance, for those who desire to establish and sustain a thriving car hire business, here is free advice from an expert.
According to Christopher Isura, founder and Managing Director of Isura Car Hire and Tours Ltd, the secret to survival in this kind of business can be summarized in four important approaches.
He cites a lean staff, discipline, good working relationship with competitors and rigorous vetting of clients to avoid cases of fraud.
The aforementioned four factors, according to Isura, are intertwined, explaining that it is easier to influence discipline in small staff than in a larger one, while building good working relations with rival service providers is capable of earning more customers by referrals in cases where competitors don’t have the required vehicles.
Isura further confides that fraud thrives through a larger human network, hence discouraging it by a lean team.
The youthful businessman controls about forty vehicles some surrendered by business partners, whoare largely close relatives, to enhance trust.
“We work with competitors in different parts of the country where we regularly get referrals from them when they are approached by clients who can’t find preferred vehicles,” says Chris.
He informed this writer that he developed enthusiasm for cars from an early age, intimating that hestarted as a broker of the car hire service back in 2013 after quitting a journalism career before his passion drove him to register his own company using his little savings supported by family members and bank loans.
Isura Car Hire offers self-driven cars of different makes as well as chauffeur-driven luxury vehicles like Toyota TX, Toyota V8, Toyota Prado, Mazda and Mercedes Benz among others.
Self-driven hire cars cost ranges from Ksh15,000 to Ksh30,000 depending on the model and distancecovered, among other factors.
“We prefer to use our few chauffeurs on rotational basis because of the experience they have in defensive driving,” said Isura.
They also offer VIP drives from entry airports to different offices 24 hours a day. Special occasions like weddings, anniversaries and graduation ceremonies are also covered.
He says vetting of walk-in clients is one of the most challenging experiences in the business, saying they were forced to be going to clients’ residences to guard off incidents of disappearance, which can deal a big blow to such a business.
“We hope to diversify to car sales and are looking forward to becoming a one-stop shop for all car hire, tours and sales services in the country,” says Isura.
Contacted for comment on this kind of business, Transport and Infrastructure Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen affirms that the car hire sub-sector is critical in complementing public transport and enhancing trust and efficiency between operators and their clients. “Yes we can’t ignore this very important division of public transport because it helps build trust and enhance customer safety,” said Murkomen on phone.
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