Automobile-repair business

Jackson    Mar 13, 2013

Hi lenders? first and foremost i would like u to recieve my sincere apologies for the silence observed. i am just letting you know that business for me has been so tough and the major reason is the general elections that were taking place in my country Kenya. Due to fear of a repetition of the 2007/08 post election violence,most of the clients took their valuable assets to their upcountry and this made me also run for safety.i have just come back to Nairobi and am still financially unstable.i just trust this finds you well and i promise to make it up to you as soon as possible.May God.bless the entire Zidisha team.
regards
Jackson

Vivien    Jul 29, 2012

Hello Lenders,

My name is Vivien Barbier and I’m one of the Zidisha current client relationship interns for Kenya. Today, I visited Jackson Wachira in Ongata Rongai and we had a long talk about his business.

It was a tough month for Jackson. At the beginning of July, his business was expulsed because the building where used to be his garage had to be destroyed and replaced by an apartments building. He moved all his equipment in a small storage building. On the top of that, Jackson got sick and had to go to the hospital for a few days.

This was a difficult time, but now he is ready to turn the situation around. He is looking for a new place to rent for his garage. Prices for garage places are very high so he is trying to find partners to open one with him. In the meantime, he is going mobile and visits customer to repair cars in different places. The advantage of being mobile is that he can charge customer a higher price because of the visit. The disadvantage is that his business is less visible so new customer are less likely to come. Jackson told me also the word-of-mouth is working well to attract new customer and that this is why the quality of his service is so important. Due to the problem he had with the garage, Jackson decided not to buy the diagnostic kit but only the spanners and a starter.

To diversify his activity and to reduce the impact of the expulsion on his family, he decided to launch a small chicken breeding business. His wife and child went back to their hometown to take care of the chicken until they become big enough to be sold.

Jackson has also great plans for the future; in a few days he will pass a level-3 exam to become a certified car mechanic. This diploma will help him to win the trust of new customer. After the level 3, he will still have to pass the level 2 and 1. He will then have the choice either to continue his garage business or to look for a job in a big company.

I was impressed by Jackson’s courage, this month must have been very difficult but he is still full of energy and decided to put his business back on track. Even if his son is still very young, he knows that he will need to grow a stable business to pay for the college. I’m convinced that with all this motivation he will manage to turn around any situations.

Vivien
28th June 2012
Nairobi, Kenya

Jackson    Jul 21, 2012

I was admitted in hospital for three days and this made me loose some of my frequent customers because i had to travel to upcountry to heal up from there after being discharged from hospital.This has had a very big impact on my business.am kindly requesting you to lengthen my repayment schedule so that i can stabilize financially.Your assistance towards this will be highly appreciated.Thanks.

Jackson    Mar 17, 2012

Lenders thanks for lending me your money .it really helped me very much.Thanks to God may his blessing follow you all.I am sorry i have not been able to update you about my business but i have prevailed even in tough times,I am not in a position to submit my first installment due to some personal problems i had this month and i wish you can understand me ,I wish to start paying in the next month so please bear with me
Jackson Wachira

torelizer    Jan 4, 2012

my best wishes for 2012!!!

Jackson    Dec 22, 2011

Thanks a lot to zidisha lenders May god bless you all and i wish you merry Christmas its the best Christmas ever to me Knowing about zidisha you are an extra ordinary blessing to many families and many blessing will come to your families and the work you are doing.Happy holidays

Jackson    Dec 12, 2011

Thank you Zidisha for giving me an avenue to raise funds to support my business.