I was born to be in car business

Samwel Kariuki has been in love with cars all his life.

“My love for cars started when l was still too young to comprehend or appreciate the engineering that enables movement of ‘four wheeled objects,” he says

Mr Kariuki adds that he was always fascinated by fast, expensive and classic cars.

“Due to my admiration for cars, it was only natural that I would land in the automotive industry after graduating from Kenyatta University in 2016,” he says.

His entry into the industry started when he started selling automotive paints in a business partnership with three other strong-spirited and talented young entrepreneurs around 2017.

The partnership ended after two years. However, he had already had hands-on skills in management and general car care experience.

Both aspects came in handy when he decided to go it alone by starting a company that offers car care products and services in Nakuru County.

Inspired by the mythological tale of Greek King Midas, the Midas Auto Care Company Nakuru was born in late 2018. The Greek king is popularly remembered for his ability to turn everything he touched into gold. Mr Kariuki hoped to have even a fraction of the Midas powers.

“We offer variety of services including auto surface coatings, particularly spray painting, panel beating, paint correction, polishing and waxing,” he says.

“We recently also introduced interior works where we replace worn out seats with high quality leather seats and offer interior pimping services for decorative purposes.”

His charges range from Sh45,000 per car, depending on the extent of damage and car type, and whether or not the car is insured.

“Working on a saloon car that requires basic work for example, would cost you between Sh40,000 and Sh45,000,” says Mr Kariuki, who holds a degree in community resource management.

Mr Kariuki and his team mostly work on cars that have been involved in accidents. The extent of damage informs the cost to the client.

Despite the successes he has attained, it has not been all rosy for Mr Kariuki.

Counterfeits and lack of funding, he says, are some of the biggest challenges he faces.

“It is high time we thought of manufacturing high quality auto care products as a country to avoid some of these hiccups in the industry,” he says.

He also cites high licensing fees and charges by county governments as major stumbling blocks to startups and youth seeking to start businesses.

“These annual charges ought to be reduced to enable more young people to venture into the automotive space,” he says.

Mr Kariuki is also advocating for an association that champions and represents entrepreneurs in the automotive industry at the local level to address some of the hurdles they face.

The pandemic has brought its own set of challenges to the industry and Mr Kariuki’s business in particular.

Some raw materials and spares have also run out of stock because Covid-19 has constrained travelling and shipping.

The demand for Mr Kariuki’s services has also gone down during the pandemic, with people prioritising basic needs.

Despite the these setbacks, Mr Kariuki is banking on tech to drive the growth of his business and the entire sector.

“Kenya is one of the countries in Africa taking the lead in technology. The sector is increasingly shifting towards the digital space like use of e-commerce,” he says.

Mr Kariuki says his plans is to ride on quality servives to grow his brand and take it beyond Nakuru.

“I intend to push my brand beyond Nakuru County and open up branches in other parts of the country. ”