Enterprise

Carwash opens door for entrepreneur’s success

wash

Touchless Carwash managing director Harry Nyamodi at work on Lang’ata Road, Nairobi, September 18, 2017. PHOTO | DIANA NGILA | NMG

Going to university means better prospects of getting a job. But Harry Nyamodi shied away from employment even after he graduated with an economics degree from the University of Nairobi.

Mr Nyamodi,33, has a dim view of employment, saying it makes people unproductive as they lack the drive to work hard for higher earnings. Worse, he adds, employment locks one “into a perpetual timed routine”.

“I believe in setting targets for myself that determine how much I earn, when I have to work long hours or take a rest,” he says.

So after working in a bank and then in the fast-moving consumer goods sector, he decided to strike out on his own. His first venture, supplying meat to hotels and schools, didn’t take off.

He ended up “living on the road,” spending too much time collecting and then delivering meat.

His second venture is a car-wash business with a difference.  Mr Nyamodi told Enterprise that he invested Sh2 million in acquiring water sprayers, a motor vehicle hydraulic machine.

Luchar Carwash recycles water, which is mixed with car-cleaning shampoo with the rest of the water used to flush toilets. The firm, started last year, makes an average of Sh1.5 million a month.

READ: Car washer beats the odds to become fuel station owner

As clients started streaming in, Mr Nyamodi transformed his one-roomed office into a soft drinks outlet. He expanded the waiting bay and put up a pub.

“I serve highly health-conscious customers and they challenged me to put up a traditional foods outlet complete with boiled and roasted meat.

This has created a new line of income for me since many customers now prefer to eat here as they have their vehicles washed,” he says.

The strategy seems to pay off as customers can also have their hair shaved at the barber shop while ladies can have manicures and pedicures.

“This is a four-in-one enterprise that started off with seven workers but we now have 21 workers. My strategy is to listen to what a customer needs and provide it at a fee,” he says.

To boost his flow of clients, the father of two has taken to social media to market his enterprise. He hays his dream is to build Luchar into a known brand that could be replicated elsewhere in the country.