Methodical Sisa Mbanxwa is the owner of Siyakhanda Sure, a business whose line is provision of service and maintenance plans for motor vehicles. In view of the skyrocketing cost of repair and replacement of motor vehicle parts increasingly becoming unbearable in tough economic times, the company’s services could not have come at a better time. Transform SA Online reporter, Zinhle Motsepa, finds out more about the company’s services on a visit to the company’s premises in Mndeni, Soweto.
TSA: How long has Siyakhanda Sure been in the industry? It has an aura of an organisation that has been around the block for light years?
SM: Thanks. We take that as a compliment. Well, you might be surprised that we are not even a year old. In fact, we have been in existence for 8 months, during which we have been mobilising financial resources and aggressively marketing our business. Though we have made considerable headway, marketing is an area in which we still ample ground to cover. Thus, this year our aim is to double our marketing drive.
TSAO: The provision of car service and maintenance plans is a sector in which Black South Africans are conspicuously absent. You are a trailblazer. So, what attracted you to the sector?
SM: I did an extensive survey and discovered that the average motorist cannot afford the complications of servicing their cars. This results in unroadworthy vehicles plying our roads, a menace which is one of the highest contributors of road accidents. I am sure you must have heard about the alarming statistics of road accidents during the festive season. This is what we are looking at addressing.
TSAO: There are many players declaring to be “world-class” service providers? What you do consider as exceptional about you services?
SM: We have tailored our service plans to be exclusive to typical customer requirements, not only through direct selling but also direct marketing. To boot, we have another distinctive service, Siyakhanda Mobile Workshops, which involves mechanics go to a client’s house with all the equipment to maintain and service a vehicle.
Funnily enough as it might sound, our selling strategy is mainly referral business and networking. If a customer refers us to a colleague, they earn a discount.
TSAO: Where would you like to see the company, say in 10 years?
SM: Growing big is definitely high on the agenda. At some point, when the time is ripe, we aim to be a multinational company, a point of reference in in auto motor products. But first things first; one step at a time.
TSAO: there are young people at the crossroads of life, what words of wisdom can you relay to them?
SM: Start-up finance is not necessarily the main obstacle, but procurement. As you can see, I used my own resources, without even a cent from any lending institution, but the company has survived.
