From caretaker to a business owner

When Kelvin Mwaniki looks back at the frequency at which he had to fix bulbs or flush handles for homeowners, he is certain he would have made a good income. Being a caretaker in one of the residential complexes became an eye-opener for him. “Any time I got complaints such as broken flush handles or malfunctioning bulbs, I realised there existed of a huge gap in the residential service sector. Sometimes I called a plumber, but they would take ages to arrive at the scene of work,” he says. Through such incidents, he was able to list down various issues raised by customers that he could address. He formulated a business plan and set up Toptech, a company focusing on providing home-based services such as plumbing, electrical works, carpentry, cleaning, painting, paving, and repairing of loose cables with just a simple phone call. Business conscious Fortunately, Mwaniki was always keen on business growing up; that is why claiming a stake in the cutthroat business of service provision wasn’t hard for him. All he needed to do was establish a website and hiring service providers such as plumbers to make his business work. The business is based on the ‘on-demand’ premise, where plumbers, painters and other service providers are deployed to different places with clients that needed service, depending on the urgency. “When I started Toptech, the only problem I had was identifying a plumber and tracing his location. This was the only capital I needed because they would come with their own tools and get paid for the service afterwards,” he says. Having gained a good network through the years by providing services to various people, Mwaniki has been able to leverage on it. He not only has a lot of contacts within his clientele but is also reachable on phone, where he schedules a convenient time for the customer to be attended to. Linking the customer to the worker is not as hard. Toptech finds a worker closest to the client to attend to them. “After they receive the service, the customer pays me and thereafter, I pay the employee based on the work done. The worker will definitely get more than what I take as my cut. Through this, I am able to balance their income and mine,” Mwaniki says. The Bachelor of Science and Civil Engineering graduate charges between Sh500 and Sh3,000 depending on the service provided. “I just wanted to have a one-stop-shop for anyone experiencing problems with their house and needed it solved. However, this was achieved by the great team I came up with that always helped in keeping time, especially when a job came up,” he says. His strong social media presence, through which he markets his business also helps in boosting his profile. Dream fulfilled Toptech not only enriched him with the skills of getting better at starting and running a business, but it also sees him fulfil his dream of creating employment. “I am able to work with so many people around Nairobi and through this, I have provided employment to plumbers and anyone who has an interest in painting,” he states. Although he had a relatively smooth ride from the start, Mwaniki experienced some hiccups along the way, which he learnt from. “I made a mistake of putting all my eggs in one basket as I had a lot of expectations on the business at first. I lost some money, and it has been an uphill task to recover it,” he explains. Currently, Mwaniki has been able to employ over 100 workers situated in different neighbourhoods such as Ruaka, Pangani, Kasarani, Kilimani and Umoja. He plans to develop an app, on which he will provide services and eliminate the need for clients to go an extra mile and sweat out while looking for solutions to household problems. His parting shot to anyone interested in starting a business is to study the market and coming up with a good business plan that would flourish.

From caretaker to a business owner

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From caretaker to a business owner

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