Loss of job inspires woman to launch own travel agency
Shian Tours & Travel Ltd managing director Jane Macharia-Gituto at her office on 5th Ngong Avenue in Nairobi. Photo/Salaton Njau
When the global airline that Jane Macharia-Gituto had worked with for more than two decades stopped its Kenyan operations and dismissed all its employees, Ms Macharia-Gituto decided to exploit the occasion to venture into her own business.
She set up a tours and travel agency in October 2003 with a starting capital of Sh300,000 and one employee. With her wealth of experience in the airline industry where she rose through the ranks to serve as sales manager at Air France, she was determined to be her own boss.
This is how Shian Travel was born, a firm that offers ticketing, tour packages and travel solutions. The business now grosses more than Sh500 million in revenues, has employed 18 people and has two offices in Nairobi and another in Thika.
“My husband challenged me to start my own business. I took up the challenge despite all the risks and it has paid off,” Ms Macharia-Gituto said.
She says it was not easy getting into business as she had a mortgage, a three-year old baby and no steady source of income.
Last year, Shian Travel was ranked fourth in the annual Top 100 Mid-sized survey which ranks the fastest-growing SMEs in Kenya. The firm also bagged the overall award in the tours and travel category.
Ms Macharia-Gituto’s firm has also been recognised by several airlines for posting high ticket sales.
The growing trade ties between Kenya and Asia, especially with China and Dubai, is a boon for Shian Travel.
“Most of our customers are merchants who head to China and Dubai to buy goods,” she said.
However, due to challenges in the industry such as travel advisories by Western countries and the volatile nature of the Kenya shilling, the entrepreneur is looking to diversify her income sources.
To cut reliance on service fees charged on clients making airline bookings, Ms Macharia-Gituto wants to develop more tour packages which offer higher returns.
Already, airlines have withdrawn paying commissions to travel agencies hence the businesswoman has to devise innovative streams of income.
“We want to develop tour offerings to service several niche markets, both local and international destinations,” she said.
“Increasingly, we’re seeing more Kenyans take up holidays with their families. It is an area we can explore more.”
Another big challenge for her is access to credit facilities, given the prevailing high interest rates charged by commercial lenders. This is further complicated by the fact that some clients access her firm’s services on credit and fail to pay up in good time.
Furthermore, technology has made it that travellers can reserve, book and pay for air tickets online or through mobile platforms, threatening services offered by travel agents. But Ms Macharia-Gituto says the services of travel agencies cannot be wished away.
She says corporate clients, who make up 70 per cent of her business, will always need to engage travel experts to handle their travel because it comes with added advantages.
“We provide clients with value-added services such as visa assistance, travel insurance, baggage and change of ticket particulars such as date of travel,” she said.
Seated at her corner office on the eighth floor of the 5th Avenue office suites in Nairobi, the 45-year-old entrepreneur has set her sights on regional expansion into the EAC bloc.
Shian Travel is set to open shop in Arusha, Tanzania by the end of this year and later plans to establish its presence in Uganda and Rwanda.
“Arusha is a favourite tourist destinations yet it lacks enough professional travel agents,” she notes.
Ms Macharia-Gituto is banking on the expected dividends of the peaceful Election to further grow her business.
