Ride away your troubles: When your car breaks down, this mechanic is just a call away

MBA graduate from IoBM offers one-stop shop for all car needs.


Sohail Khattak July 12, 2014

KARACHI:


If you struck with a broken down car in the middle of a jam-packed road, rest assured there is a mechanic who is just one phone call away.


Shakaib Khan, an MBA from the Institute of Business Management (IoBM), has been running his SK Motor Syndicate - a one-stop shop for all your car needs. Without a personal workshop, office or employed mechanics, the business serves as an intermediary between the customers and its authorised service providers for car maintenance, periodical inspections, engine modification and complete overhauling, interior fabrication, CNG installation and everything else a car may need.

Idea

The idea to set up this unusual business came to Khan in October 2008 when he was taking a class on entrepreneurship in his final semester of BBA. He went straight to the market and printed business cards for himself for Rs800. This was his entire investment into this business.

Six years later, the syndicate has a chain of 18 vendors with around 75 mechanics who maintain and repair around 140 cars. Khan has 80 regular customers and the business is increasing with an 18 per cent growth rate.

“I believe in quality,” he said. “People do businesses to make more and more money but, for me, the real profit is when a customer tells me that I provided him the best services.”

Mechanic at heart

Khan had been an automobile enthusiast since his childhood. He used to spend his summer vacations in automobile workshops and worked as a ‘chota’ [pupil] with Ramzan Ustad at a workshop in Gulshan-e-Iqbal. “I have been dealing with mechanics in Pakistan since 2001,” he recalled. “In 2005, I repaired my mother’s car engine and I could feel which part needed fixing as I drove it.”

This passion for mechanics is, according to Khan, the secret to his success. After working with mechanics, Khan has understood the weaknesses and strengths of those working in the field and he uses this knowledge to run his business successfully.

“Our mechanics are less educated and can’t deal with the customers properly,” he said. “They give false timelines and then fail to fulfil their commitments.” For example, a mechanic will give you two days to fix your car without properly calculating the time it will take to actually fix the car. Once the work takes longer, they start stalling the customers, Khan pointed out.

“We conduct fair dealing,” he said, explaining how he downloaded car manuals, translated them into Urdu and then handed them out to the mechanics so they can fix the car based on the guidelines. “I never give false dates and hand over the cars on time. I have dirtied my hands in the business but I made it clean for people.”

Khan picks up his vendors based on the quality of their work and gives a seven-day workmanship warranty to his customers. He takes his commission from the vendors in return for giving them a steady business as well as advisory services.

“Similar to international practices, we fill out a job order form and the customer signs it before we start the repair work,” he explained.

Step forward

For the first few months into the business, Khan was only making enough money to secure some pocket money. It was after his meeting with the team at Shell Tameer that he decided to turn his motor syndicate into a complete business.

“Before I met Shell Tameer I was doing this work to make my pocket money,” said Khan. “But then, through the support of Shell Tameer, I learnt that my business is innovative.”

The Shell Tameer team helped arrange meetings and workshops at the Institute of Business Administration and with experts of the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority. “They showed me my strengths and weaknesses, which is why today I am at my current position,” said Khan. “If Shell Tameer did not support me, I would be in the same position as I was in 2010.”

Developing enterprises for the youth of Pakistan is meeting a significant need by providing alternative career options and helping individuals achieve socio-economic stability. Shell Tameer is working with its partners to transform young people into entrepreneurs that are not only self sufficient but who catalyse sustainable social development within their own communities. Join Shell Tameer to create opportunities for the youth of Pakistan by contributing generously to any of the following enterprise development funds. Your contributions will be matched by Shell.

For SOS Technical Training Institute Enterprise Development Fund: Account No. 01-1334859-02 Shell Livewire Trust - SOS Technical Training Institute. Standard Chartered Bank.

For The Hunar Foundation Enterprise Development Fund: Account No. 01-1334859-01 SHELL LIVEWIRE TRUST - The Hunar Foundation Technical Institutes. Standard Chartered Bank.

Visit our website,
www.shell.com/pk for information about our partners and how you can support them.

*Contributions will be matched only during Ramazan 2014 to a maximum of 100 trades per organisation

Published in The Express Tribune, July 13th, 2014.

COMMENTS (3)

amir | 9 years ago | Reply

LOL .... News papers in Pakistan are so funny.Peace of Crap .. this newspaper is ruining the image of Tribune ......

atif | 9 years ago | Reply

how much tribune takes for these kind of promotions?

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