Tired or too busy to go to the salon or supermarket, or run errands? Worry no more: Savvy businessmen and women have raised the bar. From groceries to clothe, books and furniture, convenience is driving the changing face of city life, writes LYDIA LIMBE
City living in Kenya is taking a different dimension. A dimension where convenience is at the centre of the new style of doing business.
“Convenience, the luxury and comfort of my home and the personal touch is the reason why I have my beautician do a house call when I need her services,” shares Annemarie Kinoti.
Grace Kinyanjui, the proprietor of Escalava - Beauty on Wheels is busy doing Annemarie’s manicure while her feet soak in the foot bath in preparation for a pedicure afterwards.
Grace is one of the entrepreneurs who have based their businesses on convenience for the clients.
“I used to work at a salon, and occasionally, I’d get requests from clients to attend to them at their homes. Then it occurred to me that I could turn this into a full-time business,” Grace shares as we weave through traffic on the way to her next appointment.
She has not regretted her decision: The need for her home-delivered services grew, to the point of handling whole families at one go. Her clients often call her for full beauty regimens, that is, manicure and pedicure, facial, waxing and, sometimes, body massage.
“When a family calls for complete grooming, I take with me a barber and a hair dresser to help out with the additional needs of my clients,” she adds.
Third party
Grace is not the only one who is cashing in on this need for convenience.
Winfred Gacheri Ikatwa was looking to start a business that would not require huge amounts of start-up capital.
Her mind constantly resonated with the idea of starting an online shopping business for food, which she would deliver to her customers. She bolted into action when she saw someone on television doing the same kind of business.
“It was then that I zeroed in on shopping for items other than food, and went ahead to register the business, called Epepea. Now, I not only do supermarket shopping, I also shop for vegetables and construction materials, amongst a host of other items that clients ask for,” she tells me, while driving from Githurai Market where she went to shop for a client.
The convenience of her online shopping business is not only benefiting residents of Nairobi. Kenyans living in the diaspora use her services to deliver various goods, including live goats and chicken, to their friends and relatives.
“Sometimes when you send money home, the money is not used for the intended purpose, and this causes discord in families. Therefore, to maintain peace, many people prefer to use a third party to ensure certain items are bought, and this is how I come in,” adds Winfred.
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It is evident that the type of services being delivered at home are widening — depending on the flexibility of both the buyer and the seller.
“Initially, I used to take my car to the garage and wait while it was being serviced, which would sometimes take hours. Now that I have a rapport with the mechanic, when it’s time for the car to receive its regular service, I simply call him and he’ll come take the car, and when he’s done, he’ll drive it back,” says Rajesh Singh, a resident of Nairobi.
Gloria Akinyi-Mwangi is also full of praise for home-delivered services. When she needed a new sofa, the fundi came to her house and showed her his designs, then they agreed on a price. The seat was delivered within a week.
“I’d just had twins, and every day I was getting visitors who sometimes had to sit on the floor as the seats I had were not enough. Obviously, at that time, I could not leave the house to go shopping for furniture,” says Gloria.
“I heard about Soko Kuu on Facebook, visited it and found a vendor whom I thought would deliver what I required. We initiated contact by phone and I explained what I wanted.
“The first time he came to my house was to show me the sample materials so that I could make my choice. He didn’t even ask me for a down payment as is the norm for fundis.
“One week later after our initial phone contact, I got a call from him early in the morning, notifying me he would be delivering the sofa later that day. True to his word, he delivered it, even set it up for me in my living room.”
The trend is quickly catching up in other cities in Kenya.
Vincent Odhiambo Onyango, a resident of Kisumu, decided to start a mobile library business as his way of encouraging a reading culture within the city.
“I’d noticed that people love to read, but sometimes are inconvenienced by the process of going to the library or bookstore. I then started my library with books my brother had sent me from the United Kingdom,” Vincent says.
This business has been operational for two years, with a library of about 2,500 books.
His clients are increasing by the day.
“I only need to call him, then he tells me the books he has with him at the time. By now, he knows the kind of books I like and even goes out of his way to look for books I want. Once I’ve selected one, he drops it at my office at the weekly lending rate,” explains George Gumbi, a resident of Kisumu who regularly uses the mobile library services.
The library is stocked with different genres of books, as Vincent takes upon himself to ensure he meets all his client needs.
“I always take time to talk to my clients to know their taste. If they ask for a book I do not have, I will look for it and inform them when I get it. Some books are more popular than others, therefore I have several copies of them,” says the beaming businessman.
The first assumption that comes to mind is that convenience comes at an extra cost — hence the tendency of many people to shy away from taking advantage of mobile services. This is not true for both Vincent and Winfred.
Free delivery
“I deliver for free, and do not charge any extra fee for late returns. We just handle it as another week borrowed. Each book is lent at Sh50 per week,” Vincent says.
And Winfred tells me: “For goods worth more than Sh2,000, we deliver for free within the Central Business District in Nairobi. Out of town but within the country, the fee is a flat rate of Sh800. All the other costs incurred are catered for by the client.”
But for Grace Kinyanjui, the additional cost is met by the client.
“I have to charge a little extra to cater for the fuel and time costs to getting to a faraway client. If the client is far off and they are calling to book for one service, I advise them to add others, so that it’s cheaper at the end of the house call.”
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