Our forum is now a well oiled machine—when we organise events, the turn up is massive. From crowdfunding initiatives, tours, meetings and shows. The trending initiative on the forum is premium chats where members share valuable experiences and insights. This is a must watch show and yesterday our host was Patie Gumbo or Magumbo who is into car parts selling.
How did she start?
She conducted a market research of the cars in her area and the auto parts required. She figured out that the popular model was Honda Fit used as mshikashikas and the parts that quickly wear out with the car are suspension related. She networked with car owners and garages with her first break being getting parts on credit from local shops and selling to garages for cash.
Crowdfunding Model
She raised capital this way before linking up with other importers of auto parts to crowdfund and order auto parts for resale. They buy auto parts worth US$18,000 and share transport expenses. The sector has one of the highest returns in the country of 300%.
But the industry is flooded?
If you have built strong networks and a reputation of delivering value for money, then you need not worry much about competition. So far so good for the former teacher turned entrepreneur.
How to import auto parts
She orders parts in countries such as Japan, Pakistan and Dubai. With her group, they have contacts in those countries who process shipments and it generally takes 3 weeks before containers arrive in the country.
There is a lot of information she shared including answering various questions from members. Awesome presentation and selfless dedication to inspire members with hard to access information.
Next week we get another presenter covering a different topic.
