Raheem A. Akinola, Chairman, Akinola R. A. Ventures speaks about how he got into care hiring business, the various stages of the company"s growth, development strategies and challenges
When did you start car hire
business?
Let me say about its six years ago that I got into car hire
business but before this business, I worked in two places. First, I worked with
Texaco Nigeria as a motor boy. This I did for between three to four years and
after that I got employed with Coca Cola Company where I spent about 10 years
out of which of that period, I worked as a truck boy and later graduated to
become a salesman on the formalization of my appointment. As a salesman, you
have to be in the office by 7am latest so that before setting out for the field
job, you have to attend the normal daily conference and when it became
impossible for me to keep that time schedule, because then I had to move from
Badagry where I have my house to the office everyday and since I would not want
the 10 years spent in the company wasted if I was to be sacked for
inadequacies, I then resigned my appointment with the company.
So what happened after your
resignation?
It was a tough experience after
my resignation, tough in the sense that as a family man, to keep faith with
obligations to my family became a difficult task since I was not drawing salary
from anywhere again. I could hardly feed my family but when the situation
became unbearable, I had to put my private vehicle on the road and I started a
commercial shuttle service running Aradagun in Badagry Local Government Area to
the Badagry Township ferrying commuters. I did this for about three years but
having stressed the vehicle under such engagement and for too long, it started
developing mechanical faults on nearly daily basis and there was no money to be
servicing it or replace it with a fairly new one.
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| Raheem A. Akinola, Chairman, Akinola. Ventures |
Can one then conclude that it was
that brief stint you had in commercial transport business that spurred you into
Care Hire business?
No that wasn’t the reason, what actually
happened is this, when the commercial transport operation stopped as a result
of the unhealthy nature of the vehicle I was using, I approached somebody who
was into Car Hire business and who later became my boss to seek for help for
job. So if he was then into an entirely different business probably that would
have been my area today but because he was into car hiring and when he offered
to help me, the only opportunity opened to me then was to work with him as one
of his drivers. What happened then was that when I met him, he was ready to
assist and the day I would start with him, he was on his way to his office at
the airport in Ikeja, Lagos. He suddenly announced to me that we would be going
to his office together in his car and that I would be the one to drive the
vehicle and without any hesitation I took the key from him and we headed for
the airport. On getting to his office, alighted and while I was handing the car
key to him, he said he had conducted a test for me and found my driving perfect
so I should start working with him as one of the drivers in his company.
How did you eventually break away
from that company to commence your own business?
My leaving the company after
spending about three years was not as a result of any misunderstanding. I must
let you know that when I was to leave I got his blessing even though, I had
started my own company while under him but without his knowledge. To this, he
was not happy when got to know after all and such feeling expressed by him is
natural but he over looked it and eventually let it go off his mind. He so much
trusted me that I was the one assigned to operate the first Toyota Prado Jeep
to be used for Car Hire Service at the Murtala Muhammed Airport and owned by
his company had superior offices but that I met in the company but for reasons
well known to him he handed the key of the vehicle to me to be in charge.
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| Chairman, Raheem Akinola in branded company Shirt |
It was while I was driving the
vehicle, and of course you know that, customers that would normally come for
that brand of vehicle would be high class personalities. And by the grace of
God, it was during this period that I was in charge of the Jeep that I met a
topnotch officer of a company known as Brickwall Nigeria Limited and I later
discovered to be the chairman of the company. The company was one of good
customers and anytime the chairman is moving I would be the one to Chauffer
drive him but on a fateful day that a turnaround would come my way, I was
taking him in the vehicle to somewhere when he tried to know of my plans to
have my own business. We had a chat which eventually led to a deal for me and
from that moment I got it. The company started patronizing my Car Hire business
and that was how our financial based began to expand. The patronage from Brickwall
became very encouraging and lucrative and my company R.A. Akinola Ventures
continues to grow. I started with a Toyota Camry car then later acquired a Lexus
Jeep but today I have in addition to that Toyota Prado Jeeps. All this period,
I was still working for my boss. Now to answer your question as to why I exited
from that organization, it got to a point that I was losing deals because,
according to the rules of the job you can’t take phone calls while chauffer
driving a client and most times customers who would want to use my vehicle
would call my phone severally but because of the standing rules I would not
attend to their calls. Most times they were left with no option than to
approach another company.
When I found that I was losing a
lot, I approached my boss and let him to know I would be leaving to attend to
my personal business. He was happy but like I mentioned earlier, he expressed
his disappointment that I failed to intimate him with my plans from outset. I
will tell you that till this moment, we are still together having good
understanding of one another and cooperating very well in the area of the
business. I give him a lot of the respects due to him.
Going by your good business sense
and your background as a sales representative for a big company like Coca Cola
what are the innovations you brought into your car hire business to give you an
edge over others in the same circle?
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| Akinola R. A. Ventures Fleet |
Let us look at a situation which
a passenger forgets to take any of his personal effects with him when alighting
from your vehicle. How do you guarantee retrieval?
This is not a common experience
with us but then it happened twice. The first time, it a hand phone set and the
second was a large amount of money. When we were contacted by the owners, we
made them to understand that the items were left in our vehicles and the
drivers brought them back to the office. Interestingly, the one that forgot to
down with his money was on his way to Dubai but when he got to his destination,
he called to confirm if he left the money in our vehicle meaning that he was
not even sure of where he missed it. I told him he should not be worried that
our drive found the money in the vehicle and brought it back to the office. He did
not return from his trip until after two months but when he visited our office
the money was intact handed to him.
I could see that your business
includes room reservation and ticketing. How are you fairing in these areas?
We are not fully into those
areas. Yes, we have cooperation with the hotels and travel agencies whereby we
link our clients to them and this we are doing at no cost. We have benefited
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| Prado Jeep |
Do you take details of your
clients movements and document same for security purpose?
Yes we do, when you want to
engage our services, we ask questions as to your destination, the purpose for
which you are using the vehicle. This is apart from having trackers in all our
vehicles to monitor movement of the vehicle. We do this because we may have a
situation where law enforcement agents would stop our vehicles conveying
clients for a search or other security reasons. That documentation will help to
let the law enforcement agents to know the kind of business or relationship
between our company, our driver and the occupant of the vehicle, so we do
proper enquiries before we give out vehicles.
What does the business look like
now compared to what it was five or more years back?
Well we thank God for His mercy that we are still in business, and we can pay our staff salaries and also keep the company running. This is possible because people and goods are moving from one point to another every minute. As a result, our business has continued to go for us when
We can be connected on the following mobile numbers : 09035369950, 07088911317
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Garba Shehu
Acting National Chairman, PDP, Uche Secondus
