Mitumba hawker cycled his way to the millionaires’ club

By ONESMUS NZIOKA

Now a celebrated entrepreneur in Makueni County and in the country, Mr  Stephen Ngei has grown from a household items’ hawker to a motor vehicle dealer.

Mr Ngei, founder and director of Makindu Motors Limited, a motorcycle and vehicle assemblage and distribution company has cycled his way from a Sh1,000 entrepreneur to a multimillionaire.

He ventured into business in 1992 as a paraffin vendor, and occasionally hawking low-priced second hand inner wears to women especially in bars and other meeting places where he was assured of a ready market.

“I would walk into bars within Makindu town and other small shopping centres along the Nairobi-Mombasa highway with bundles of clothes and jewels strapped on my shoulders. The bar maids and revelers were ready customers for my wares and my business grew quicker than I had anticipated,” says Mr Ngei.

It is after accumulating substantial income from the hawking business that Mr Ngei later ventured into selling second-hand bicycles and other scrap items, mainly to teachers.

He says the company mainly targeted the rural population especially teachers who at the time were the only group of civil servants in the rural areas able to obtain loans.

“My intention was to help teachers solve the transport challenges to schools and selling them bicycles proved to be a viable venture. The teachers were in a position to obtain loans from their savings cooperatives so working with them proved conducive,” says Mr Ngei.

Desire

“While some of our customers ran away without completely paying for bicycles that we sold on credit, the teachers paid for them up to the last cent even without us going after them,” he adds.

Mr Ngei says the desire for quicker means of transport forced the company to venture into the sale of motor cycles and once more, teachers were the main target of the company.

In 2002, armed with Sh1.6 million that the company had made from the sale of old motorcycles and bicycles, the company ventured into the emerging Dubai market and shipped in 25 new motorcycles, most of which were sold to teachers.

Surprisingly, Mr Ngei says 23 of the imported cycles were sold on credit and only two were sold for cash.

This time, however, he says the debtors did not disappoint and the following shipment saw the company double its import capacity to 50 motor cycles.

According to Mr Ngei, the importation of finished motorcycles from Dubai proved challenging as some of them would arrive in the country smashed, leading to huge losses for the company.

The company’s breakthrough came in 2004, after a Chinese trade fair in Nairobi to showcase the Chinese new and cheap maintenance motorcycles.

After the trade fair, Makindu Motors Limited through its proprietor landed a dealership for SkyGo motorcycles in Kenya.

Assembling plant

The sweetest part of the deal was that the company would import the cycles in spare parts and with the help of the Chinese manufacturer established its assembling plant at Makindu in Kenya.

This, Mr Ngei says, has reduced the company’s losses from smashed cycles and theft of motorcycles that had threatened the profitability of the company especially with the Dubai deal.

The company has since landed three other deals to sell Chinese manufactured motorcycles and motor vehicle brands in Kenya.

The brands are Ya-Maana and Flyboy motor cycles as well as JAC light trucks, cars and farming tractors, all assembled at the Makindu assembling plant.

Stiff competition

The company according to its managing director is also planning to build Sh150 million state-of the-art car park at the Makindu assembly plant that will serve as a showroom.

Mr Ngei attributes a combination of factors to the success of the business.  They include  a well-defined Corporate Social Responsibility culture, aggressive marketing strategies, patience and taking individual responsibility.

Besides sponsoring education for vulnerable children, the company engages in environmental conservation through tree planting, carrying out educational  investment workshops for the local residents and helping its customers with vehicle registration.

This, Mr Ngei says, has kept the company in touch with its customers and also increased the volume of business.

The journey to this end has not been a smooth sail for Mr Ngei.

His company continues to face stiff competition from other cheap brand Chinese companies that have eaten into his once traditional market.