When in 2008 Alfred Mburu sold his dairy cattle to buy a car, some of his friends and neighbours thought he had lost it. What they didn’t know was the driving force and the tenacity that the founder of Ziwaki Enterprises and Ziwaki Car Hire, Nakuru, possessed.
Starting with a single second hand Nissan B12, Alfred has today grown his enterprise to an 18 fleet company. I addition, he now has a motor vehicle insurance brokerage company.
After operating on the streets of Nakuru for some time, Alfred sold his first car and bought another one. Later, his bank with which he had grown a relationship gave him a loan to buy a second car and the rest has been making history.
From the days he used to charge Kshs. 3000 per day, Alfred now can charge up to Kshs. 80,000 for just two days.
“These days, even if you want a limousine for your wedding, I can get it for you from my partners in Nairobi,” reveals Alfred. He, however, adds that the service is not cheap as a 12-hour lease for a limousine goes for 80k.
All has not been easy for the founder of Ziwaki Enterprises and Car Hire services though. Over the years he has faced a number of challenges including one of his cars disappearing for over six months.
“A client took my car and the next thing I knew I could not trace it because the tracker had been removed. It took the CID officers over six months to find the car which they eventually found at Kiambu,” reveals Alfred.
In addition, he says the period between 2009 and 2010 was full of criminal activities and criminals would hire his cars to use in their criminal activities.
“They would use the rented cars to commit a crime and once in a while pay using fake money,” says Alfred about some of the challenges he has faced in the business.
Ten years after embarking on the transport business, Alfred says business is not that bad though the competition has grown over the years.
He, all the same, manages to stay ahead of the competition mainly because of his exemplary service to his clients.
“I always have a car for my clients in addition to the fact that my rates are very competitive. I’ve managed to build a very good working relationship with my clients over time and this always keeps me ahead.
Ziwaki Car Hire, Nakuru has a wide variety of vehicles including, 4×4’s, Saloon Cars, 7 seaters and minivans, Station wagons / Sedans, Crossover SUVs and Luxury Cars.
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