 a degree in economics and statistics and also has a diploma in sales and marketing. Currently Mlinge is a small and medium enterprise prenuo, venturing in the business of selling spare parts and garage for three wheel tuk-tuk. You are so much welcome to the program tonight. Okay, thank you very much for being with this opportunity. As you say. My name is Wycliffe Koma Mlinge. I am a business man or rather an entrepreneur. My name, okay, I am a graduate from the University of Nairobi where I got a second class helper. So that explains I didn't go into business because maybe I failed in school or anything. So take us through your career life, the expectations that you had and what is at hand as per now. First of all, I'd like to thank God and you for giving this opportunity to be here. I sincerely appreciate it. In campus, I thought that maybe if you study well and you are very serious in books, you'll be able to get a job opportunity how to immediately. So after my coursework, I went for an internship at Consolidated Bank and I was placed at two departments. I was working concurrently with two departments. One was retail and SME which involves small and medium-sized enterprises and marketing. So those are the major components of a bank. So from there, I used to see when people are applying for financing for their businesses, I used to see a ton of us and I was a bit intrigued by this and I thought maybe this could be my way, this could be a path that I could follow. All right. So where did you get the courage to say that you know what, I have to stop looking up to the papers that I have and get outside and do what I have to do. First of all, I know that you always need to have something that drives you. So I thought maybe even if I'm looking for a job opportunity out here, one, I have to look for something else that I'll be doing part-time because I used to see there are people who are making a lot of money out there and they are still working. So that's one thing that drove me. So I said I'll chase the both of them and I'll kill two birds with one stone, yeah. So let's talk about the spare parts. Is it a profitable job? I must say it's a profitable job because anytime that you're selling anything that is, first of all, is imported. Secondly, it's rare. It's very hard to outsource the items from abroad and it's not a basic commodity. So it's profitable, I must say. What does it take to be an expert in this venture? What qualities and skills do I need to satisfy if I want to be an expert in this particular venture? First of all, time is very important in this. Everything that you need to do, anything that you put your hands into requires time. Skills. First, if you go to school, you get the technical skills. Technical skills, you get the book managing and bookkeeping skills. You also get the managerial skills so you can be able to manage, let's say, the human resource, the financial resources that you have, marketing skills. You also get them from school. So school is not something that you can overlook in this. So you need first to be keen with the institutions. Like, so for now, to be able to be good at this, you have to put your time and also whatever you learn in school you implement it and also be keen and enthusiastic in this. Yes. Now with the emergence of a lot of fake products in the market, how are you people? How do you tell that I've purchased fake products? Every product, every company that has their products out there, usually is aware that they must be account of it goods. Now every company has to put checks and balances for the same. Say they have watermarks for their products, they have product awareness to their customers that this is how you can be able to know account of it good and this is how you can be able to distinguish account of it good from adjoining good. And also the government is really helping us in that because now KRA is really keen and Kenya Bureau of Standards is very keen on whatever goods are coming from other countries and it is really fighting the idea of dumping products that are substandard in our country. All right. When you talk of dumping products, I understand that China has a lot of their goods in our market. Is this in any way affecting your business at any point? I wouldn't say China goods are bad. I wouldn't say that because if it's not for countries like China we know some countries like us we can't even manufacture razor blade but we can import razor blades from China and we have been using them for a while. All we can do is they are good products from China and their substandard qualities from products from China. What we can be able to do is maybe try to be keen enough for wherever you're buying, maybe check the prices and be able to liass with the original producer of those goods to be able to check if this good is counterfeit or not because there is a lot out here. Even with the recent smartphones you can be able to Google up and say and maybe check if this thing is existing what is supposed to be in the market. What is the price? Where can I get genuine stuff? Product awareness from the manufacturer is very important and that's what we rely on. Yes, together with the experience that we have from maybe using because let's say you have used something and you know this thing when I use it it will last for me two months and this other one will take me like one year. So have these products, the foreign products like posted a higher competition in the market? Okay, you know when these goods come here they are usually very cheap and when they are cheap it means if let's say it's half the price that the genuine parts are going to fall. So if it's half the price of the genuine parts are going to fall it will post that because many customers will be tempted according to their pockets because you see now we are dealing with small and medium size customers. Customers that are really not having a lot in their pocket, you know. And so it does affect by if the products are there and they are cheap they'll have to go for these cheap ones and now they'll have to learn through the hard way. All right, maybe you can take us through how you deal with legal formalities in this particular sector, the spare part trade, how you pay your taxation rates and if there are any. Okay, I've dealt with two people, two people that import the spares and they should tell me that these due diligence that is supposed to be performed at the KRP where they're supposed to pay for the taxes whatever it's supposed to be entering to the country and now to my part I have, like I say I have three premises. First of all I have to pay the county governments for the same, for the business permits, yes. So why did you decide to venture into automotives like the Tuk-Tuk? First of all I saw the market niche where people, there was a lot of Tuk-Tuk's coming around and the spare parts were rare, yes. Maybe you can talk to us a bit about if maybe you are interested or are you willing to do another job in the near future aside from this and maybe what you studied for? Okay, I did have fashion in economics and I did have fashion also in sales and marketing whatever I'm practicing is related in sales and marketing. Now I will look for an avenue whereby I'll be able to promote whatever I'm doing right now to prosper. Let's say if I get an opportunity that is telling me whatever I'm doing or rather it's going hand in hand whatever I'm doing I will go for it, yes. So are you currently like mentoring people because your story is one in a kind? It's a distinct story and it can give somebody a platform to rise up and decide, you know what, let me not continue looking at my papers anymore. Have you heard this platform where you speak to young people and courage them and tell them that education might not be everything? Okay, let me say education is almost everything. Yes, education is almost everything and if you think education is not everything, try ignorance. So what I can say, I usually tell my peers and the younger ones if you are going to school, go to school with a passion and when you are going to school, look for other opportunities that you can be able to exploit. Now if you are in school and you have a passion in music, please do music and you are still in school because a career will always save you eventually. Now if you are a footballer and you feel like you are in school and you feel like you want to play football, do the same, entrepreneurship is a skill and it's not a talent. So it's something that you can do and you can teach yourself that you are still in school. That's what I can say. Let's talk about unemployment. You have been a victim of unemployment and you are currently running your business. Have you taken the initiative of employing other people, especially the young persons of this? Yes, most of the times, I have tried to mentor people, especially last year, last year, but one, I used to tell people, come and join me on board, I have this idea, can we try and push it? Can I show you how you can be able to make some money out of this? Can you be, and at the same time, when you're mentoring people, you should show them that you have satisfaction in whatever you're doing. I have tried to mentor people because now when we're dealing with these two, you have to look for drivers for the same, you have to look for mechanics and technicians for the same and that's how I come and mentor them. All right, now, do these people come while they know the job that they are coming to do? They have trained or you train them yourself? I have trained several. I've even trained a graduate, I've even trained from four liver, I have trained several people. Okay, so graduates also show up to be true. Yes. There's this myth that that job is specifically for those people that were not gifted with or given a platform to education. Is this true? No, it's not true because I would say mechanics, mechanics is a very technical thing and you must be brilliant and have the capacity to be able to know how these things work and how it functions and it is very technical. Yes. Let's talk about technology and what you're currently doing. How are you using technology platforms to ensure that you fight the setbacks that are there as far as the growth of technology is concerned? Could you kindly come back again? How do you plan to work with technology to ensure that it doesn't hinder your productivity rate in the near future? Okay, technology is something that we should embrace. Technology can never hinder whatever we are doing. So technology is very important. Now, let's say I have a client here and I have to send them a parcel because sometimes I have to deal with customers that are very, are distantly away from me and I have to rely on technology. Like, say, M-Pesa for them to pay. Even if a person doesn't have cash, they can pay through pay bills and all that. Technology is very important in business. Yes. So somebody is asking me, does it require for one to have a Facebook platform where you advertise it or you just use your person-to-person explanation? First, you must go to the ground because most of the people you deal with you find that they are not in the social media platforms. But again, it's a very helpful venture to be able to get to the social media platforms. It really goes a long way. Yes. Now, let's talk about the government. What would you recommend the government should do to enhance penetration in this particular sector? First of all, government should be lenient. It's really, I would really like to thank the government so far. It's doing a very good job because for them to allow, let's say even begin with motorbikes. No, no motorbikes came and they have really employed many youths. So I'd like to hail the government and really congratulate it on that. Another thing, tuk-tuks. If the government doesn't want these things to really be in the country, it wouldn't allow them. Yes. But what I can say about the government, it could maybe try and create a good environment for the businesses. Maybe through maybe trying to reduce the taxes, trying to be a little bit lenient in regards to... Not to be really strict in regards to the quality and not to be also very lenient in regards to the quality. And now that we are addressing the government, what challenges have you seen in this particular line of business? The challenges first is the counterfeit goods. The second one is financial support. Capital. Yes. If, let's say, individual wants to buy a tuk-tuk, you need to have like 450,000 for one unit. You see, that's very expensive. Yes. If you go to... Let me mention a company. If you go to the car in general, the list one they are selling at 435,000 or something. 435,000 for a tuk-tuk. Yes. So the government could try and increase funding for the youth so that they may be able to acquire this one. Maybe giving interest free loans, loans that would not require many guarantors or you don't have to have collateral, but they do follow up for starters. And also the government could start and maybe finance startup businesses and do follow-ups to see if they grow. Thank you so much, Wiklif. Maybe as you wind up, you can just give somebody a word of advice, rather that person that is out there and they are still in their cocoon. They think, I just want to do something that is related to what I went to school to Paseo. Okay, I will tell you. First of all, you have to pray to God and ask him to show you the way. Now if he shows you the way you'll be able to, maybe if it's your career path, he'll label to direct you according to your career path. And if it's another route that you have to follow, he will show you. And I can tell you that just keep... Have hope and faith that there will be a better tomorrow. And whatever you put your time and your energy to, God will be able to bless it and it will be able to multiply. So it's about putting God first, putting maybe your efforts to what you want to do and doing your best. Thank you so much, Wiklif, for coming through. Really great insights from you there. Thank you very much for giving me this opportunity. It's an honor to host you. I sincerely appreciate it. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for finding yet another time to join us on the business desk and keeping me company. My name is Yvonne Annula. Now coming up next is the forex report. Enjoy the rest of your viewing.