The automobile after sales space is a complex industry, particularly in Nigeria with lots of institutional voids.
These pre-existing challenges, which range from lack of trained, competent personnel, to little or no government regulations, to massive infiltration of adulterated automobile parts, often frustrate the efforts of entrepreneurs playing in the space.
The Idea
Gerald Okonkwo (CEO) having had several terrible encounters with workshops, car washes and technicians teamed up with Schneider Komolafe (CTO), the duo who were however not perturbed by these challenges decided to face them head-on.
Founders' Background
Gerald is a graduate of computer engineering from Madonna university where he met Schneider, a graduate of electrical engineering.
Gerald’s entrepreneurship journey started while in school in 2012 where he started Wefix Maintenance Company a facility management company which pivoted to become iFixng.com an online platform for engaging the services of handymen and artisans and eventually Parkit in 2018; a technology driven vehicle care company Headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria.
Schneider was an integral part of the team responsible for developing irecharge; a fintech platform for making payments, and was a part of the team conducting research on mini / portable servers at the National Space research and development agency (NASRDA). He also worked with the United Nations as a technical consultant. Schneiders experience as a software developer and IT consultant spans over 12 years.
The Beginning
While starting Parkit; Gerald realized how challenging and fragmented the vehicle after sales industry was and chose to start with the autocare vertical, consisting of car wash and auto detailing.
“Our business was founded in June 2018 to use technology in making the customer journey for car washes very seamless by automating payments, training, helping them acquire the right tools and consumables for the job and providing professional care services that were not available in-country,” he said.
The Technology
Parkit developed the technological infrastructure required to seamlessly run a vehicle care outlet; from accepting and processing payments digitally to managing consumption and requisitions of vehicle care products, to staff management, overall insight on sales and general business performance.
Car wash and auto detailing outlet owners can now via the use of this technology get an overall view of their outlet’s performance at just a glance.
Disruption
The team didn’t stop there, but also developed a training curriculum on best practices for carrying out car wash and detailing services as well as the production of 5 different vehicle detailing variants; car shampoo, upholstery cleaners, tyre and engine wash liquids, vehicle polish and air fresheners.
According to Gerald: “When we started, we had to import most of our consumables and materials which made no economic sense due to the ridiculous exchange rates, but today, we provide quality car shampoo, upholstery, tire and engine wash, polish, and air fresheners. This is just one of many success stories that this acquisition has berthed.”
Impact
As at August 2021; parkit had processed over 50,000 vehicle detailing transactions, trained over 100 professional detailers and had produced over 15,000 liters of vehicle detailing consumables.
The Market Size
In 2018, the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recorded that there were 11.8 million registered vehicles in Nigeria, of this number, 39% (4.6 million) were privately owned, 56% (6.7 million) were commercial vehicles, 1.1% (135,216) were registered as government-owned, while 0.4% (5,834) were registered for diplomats.
These numbers give a fair representation of the total addressable market the Parkit team hoped to cater to.
Next Phase
For Gerald and Schneider, operating in the autocare vertical was just the entry point to the automotive aftersales industry, vehicle repair and general services were next in line due to the many challenges faced across the entire space.
Acquisition Background
In July 2019, the cars45 vehicle after sales services team contacted Parkit to extend a hand of partnership, to offer their vehicle wash and detailing services for vehicles procured before being re-sold.
This partnership commenced in August 2019, with Parkit offering vehicle wash and detailing services to Cars45. This eventually extended into co-locating on vehicle detailing centers with the first location being situated at Wole Ariyo in Lekki phase 1, Lagos State.
Following the emergence of Fixit45, an autotech platform dedicated to redefining the automotive experience for car and fleet owners and facilitating value-creating interactions across stakeholders around July 2021, we knew that industry was ripe for further disruption. Fixit45's avowed ambition spans across verticals that include auto repair and maintenance services, fleet management, auto parts sourcing and delivery, auto care, refurbishment and upgrades, repair financing and workshop solutions software as well as pre-purchase inspections, underlying these with moderation for transparency, compliance and accountability.
Acquisition
By September 2021, the Fixit45 team approached Parkit for an acquisition, according to the Co-founder CEO of Fixit45; Justus Obaoye “We found synergies in what they were doing at the time, and we approached them to join us in this journey to fix and build the aftermarket ecosystem, which has culminated in the acquisition. Parkit has been fully integrated into the Fixit45 family, and we look forward to providing market leadership.”
Parkit was eventually acquired by the end of September 2021, with Gerald and Schneider taking up roles in Fixit45 as the Vice-President of Business Development and Software Engineering Manager respectively.
The Acquisition will now go on to see Gerald and Schneider’s long term dream of playing in the entire vehicle after-sales vertical come to pass.
