Ignatius Mwimbi and Patrick Waihenya, Partners Integrity Movers
After completing his Law degree from Catholic University in 2009, Ignatius Mwimbi went to the streets to sell eggs, sausages and fruits to cater for his newborn baby.
During the evenings, after the street hustle, Mwimbi would visit Cyber Café owned by Patrick Waihenya seeking for and applying for jobs online.
Both Mwimbi and Waihenya never knew that they would become business partners in a booming business. Waihenya had worked in an IT Firm prior to opening his Café.
Mwimbi recalled how he religiously went to the Cyber Café almost every day seeking for a job with no lack.
“In 2013, I was fed up, and had to look for something better to do with my life, I approached Waihenya and we started looking for options but our options were limited since we didn’t have any capital,” Mwimbi recalled in an Interview with Capital FM Business.
He said, after consultations, the duo decided to try the moving business as the demand exceeded supply and required no capital to start.
“I just recalled supervising for my cousin as he moved houses with a moving company and thought it was a nice idea to begin with, so we formed the company Integrity Movers Limited, it was very hard at the start, we didn’t have any clients or experience and it was hard to pitch, in this business, people rely on referrals and we had none,” he said.
The duo would then get a deal to transport one client, who was moving from Nairobi to Kisumu, they had to hire a truck and pay their staff from the money they got from the client.
For almost six months, Integrity Movers struggled to add another client in spite of showing potential clients what they could do.
However, their zeal and persistence would eventually pay off and business started picking up, based on the referrals and aggressive marketing on social media.
The company now has over 25 jobs every month with their yearly turnover in the millions.
Challenges
The Nairobi Traffic is one of their major challenges, making it hard for them to meet clients demand on time.
“We have to wake up very early and be in the office as early as 4AM,” he said, adding that the company also has to deal with difficult clients who are out to defraud them.
“Some clients will lie about having an item in the house that was literally not there, as they demand compensation,” Waihenya said.
There are a lot of opportunities for the duo as they plan to open up offices in other countries in the East African Region; they advise young people not to wait for white collar jobs, but think of ideas that can generate income.
“There is a ready market, package your idea and advertise,” Waihenya concludes.
