Entrepreneurship vs. Employment
Josim (K) Ltd. - a story of persistence & passion
W
hen a friend asked me to accompany them to Josim (K) Ltd for a car check up, I thought it would be “just another garage or service centre” where you would find mechanics covered in grease and halfbuttoned overalls that look like they have never seen a detergent or water since being purchased. What greeted me can only begin to be compared with what some of the large vehicle service corporates are
just starting to grow away from thanks to vision, strategies and ever growing targets.
Josim is set up in the backyard of Nairobi’s infamous shopping centre, Nairobi West, about 20 minutes drive from the city centre off Lang’ata road. It is a private company whose directors partnered for a
venture they had shared passion and vision for. Esteemed had the honor of speaking to John and Simon about their “baby” and this is what they had to say: (S - Simon,, J - John, E - Esteemed)
E: What is Josim and what is your core business?
S: Josim is a business enterprise that was started in February 1999 as a partnership between John Magunga and I (Simon Mwawasi). Josim’s core business
is Vehicle Security. That basically covers Alarms, gear locks, car identity systems
and soon, we look forward to providing more advanced security options to our
customers.
J: Due to increased customer demands of a one stop service shop, we have
also diversified into mechanical work i.e. vehicle servicing, key cutting and lock
repairs, sales and fitting of car accessories as well as spray painting – body
works
E: What constitutes who you are today?
S: We used to be work mates at what is today, one of our competitors. We used
to work as technicians earning very little. So one day we began talking and actually realized that we had more to offer customers if we were our own bosses.
J: We realized that to grow our business, we needed each other. You know two
brains are better than one.
We started with sharing
ideas and decided by working together we will cover
more ground. We then
decided to create a partnership. Out of this agreement
and with only Kshs.
20,000.00 as our starting
cash capital, came Josim
Auto Select Services right
here in Nairobi West; and
we only had four cars to
work on (that belonged to
friends) and two staff i.e. the
two of us.
E: What has it taken to get
to where you are right now?
S: Initially, the very thought of failure and being forced to go back to employment was enough to keep us away from giving up. The thought of what little
income we were getting from working hard for someone compared to what we
knew we could get if we were self-employed was a very big catalyst to our efforts
at making Josim grow. We began by being door-to-door salesmen for our service,
asking those who opened their doors to us, if they would like someone to attend
to their car in terms of car security. Then one day John met with someone from
Uganda.
J: For us, this was the break we needed. Operating from a fellow mechanic’s
premises, at a price of course, we fitted a security system on the gentleman’s car
and he went away. Soon after that the Ugandan got in touch again with us
through a telephone bureau phone which we used to give as our contact. He
wanted me to go to Uganda to fit some alarms on a fleet of vehicles. This was a
test for us because between the rent and normal daily running costs, the Kshs.
20,000/- was almost over. So buy borrowing from some friends and family, we
were able to raise enough money to buy the alarms and I left for Uganda. The job
gave us a major boost and we were able to repay the money we had borrowed
and the balance we invested it into the business.
We moved from the premises to a new location in the same vicinity 9 months
after we began the business. We decided not to change so much because our
few customers had just began knowing our location and shifting to a totally different one would have been a big blow for us. We were able to land on our feet
because of a two year contract we signed up for. This gave us a steady income
and we were even able to employ more staff to help us with the jobs we had.
S: Before we became established,
we used to do everything, clean the premises, marketing,
management work –
book keeping, mechanics, install the
alarms, customer
reception, everything
was on our shoulders.
J: Today, with 25
employees, our
service capacity on
week days is 15 cars
per day with weekends – Saturday
being highly busy.
We also had to shift
location again due to this increase in business.
E: What are the driving values of the business?
S: What drives us at Josim are values that we cultivate into our staff from day
one.
(1) 360° feedback. Without this feedback you cannot tell if your customer is
happy or if our staff are well equipped for the job. Feedback compliments our
market research as we are able to know what our competition is up to and what
we should be embracing as customer oriented solutions.
J: (2) Acceptance of Challenges and (3) Breeding of Patience. We do not believe in saying something is difficult or impossible if we have not even tried it. We do not give false promises to our customers about getting a problem solved but we try our best
and more often than not, it does generate some positive
results. (4) We are all equally important. Each person has
something to contribute to the success of the business.
S: (5) Outstanding workmanship – If we treat our customers wrong and unsatisfactorily, they will not tell others that we
are good. If we treat them well, they will not only tell others,
but they will also be loyal customers who bring us repeat
business. As managers, we also go out there to see that the
work being done on every car, is the best that Josim can
offer. (6) Value every job that comes in – a lot of people
look down upon the small incomes. At Josim, every job is
important, whether it is changing a bulb or replacing a wiper
blade, or re-spraying an entire car, it is all about the customer. (7) Take care of your workforce and they will take
care of your customers
E: What are some of the challenges you are facing?
J: Financial – some of our customers whom we have offered credit facilities have a huge amount of
outstanding debt which if paid up would be a big boost to the business.
S: Professional/ Academic – we are technical professionals but when it comes to running your own
business, you need more skill than that. We do not want to run the business to the ground.
J: Competition – It is growing every day and we can only keep ahead if we know what they are up to
and if we offer our customers a level of service that they cannot get anywhere else.
J: Rent – this is eating into our income in a very big way.
S: Infrastructure to access the premises – The roads leading to our present location are not
smooth and we hope that the responsible authorities will repair
as we are losing customers who may not want to drive
Amid the smiling, we them
their cars over such potholed roads.
could tell that this interview was also a trip
down memory lane for
the two men
E: Are there any plans for expansion outside or within other
parts of Nairobi? J: There are plans. As you know, a business
move has to be well calculated for it to have any level of success.
E: Where does your family fit into t he picture? S: Right from
the word go, our families have been very supportive; with advice,
spiritual support and financially.
E: For people who want to pursue a career in the business,
what would your advice be? S: Have – Passion – this will
keep you there even when the money stops flowing; Patience – it will keep you strong and hopeful
even when things don’t work out as you planned them; Determination – it will keep you fighting.
E: What is the biggest investment one can make in pursuit of his/ her dreams? J: Start with
what you know. Understand, learn and know the dynamics
of the business you are getting into.
E: If you were to relive your life all over again, would
you do anything differently? (Both answer the same)
While everything else remains the same, we would invest in
some business studies
E: What are the advantages of a partnership over sole
proprietorship? S: Business Continuity in one person’s
absence J: Capital boosting – capital resources are more
compared to if one was alone S: Shared ideas because
everyone thinks differently and that increases the viability
and performance of the business.
E: What are the major challenges of a partnership? S:
Disagreements on principles – for instance, he (nodding
off in the direction of John) may want us to invest in something but I express my reservations about it, and vice versa. J: Financial – The point worth noting
about challenges arising in partnerships is how the partners resolve them. Amicable resolutions
mean they (the partners) can work through the future.
E: Employment vs. Entrepreneurship? How do the two compare and what is more viable in
our current society?
(Both gentlemen are in agreement of this point.)
S: Entrepreneurship. It brings out the entire potential in the
individual as you have more room for exploration. J: In the
current economic environment, entrepreneurship has its
rewards, if you do not work at it, there will be no success.
E: Any regrets on your journey so far? None whatsoever.
It has been challenging but rewarding so far.
E: Where do you see your company in 2010? J: We see
ourselves having expanded by leaps and bounds.
Dishonest dealings behind your partners back can be
disastrous for the business.
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