MEET SHEM KARIUKI, THE MAN WHO WASHES YOUR CAR WITHOUT USING WATER.
Have you ever thought that you could have your car washed without using a drop of water? Now you think that I am nuts or something. 25 year old Shem Kariuki would just pass you as another ordinary youth Thika Town but he a brain to recon with. Raised up in Mununga Village near
Abadare Ranges, he developed a passion for nature at a very tender age.
After completing his Primary education in 2005 where
he topped in my class and at the zonal level, he joined his dream secondary
school, Njiiri school. The hard work of his parents
always motivated him to be smart in his studies. He was a student who liked
mathematics and Physics since he likes to be in a challenging environment. He
developed an interest in data and he pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Statistics
from Meru University.
As an entrepreneur he identified the opportunity of car wash
business. Using his HELB savings, and some assistance from a friend and relatives, he managed to purchase the Pressure car wash machine. He identified a strategic place and started the business.
Just like any other venture he was faced by many challenges. There was no piped
water and he had to depend on mkokoteni guys who used to fetch water from a
reservoir at Mwea Irrigation Scheme and it was very expensive. Since it was no
clean water, he was adversely affected by the polluted water, dry skin and
rashes.
He went to Mwea Town to conduct a research on the opportunity the town could offer. At an M-pesa agent where he had gone to withdraw money to buy lunch, he came across some chemicals and detergents. After inquiring from the attendant about the same, he revealed that Shem could make a fortune by just selling the stuff. He decided to take the risk. With just five hundred he bought these chemicals and made 20 litres of cleaning detergent. It was a big opportunity for him and immediately he started the lucrative business with just Kshs 500.
He used to hawk from home to home, waking up at five in the morning , walk from morning to evening till he had sold his 20 litres of his detergent, making a profit triple his starting capital. After just a period of one week, he had made more than Kshs, 7,000.
As fate would have it, he lost his grandmother on the fateful day his business was peaking. They were also recalled back to the university making him close down his business. He used the money he had gotten from the detergent business to repair the pressure car wash machine and moved with it to college where he partnered with a friend to open a car-wash business. They operated the business smoothly despite the challenge of lack of frequent supply of water.
After one month, they had acquired good cash to open up a second business. After long consultation and research, they opened a milk bar. They made good profit from it leading to them thinking to expand further. A third opportunity presented itself in the middle of their second month in business and they acquired a wines and spirit joint business.
It was nearing exams and he had to make a choice, either to manage all the businesses or to liquidate his businesses. It was his final exam and he had to give up his business passion for exams. He completed his exam on April 2015 and went for an industrial attachment from May 2015 to July 2015.
For his loves nature and he understands nature reciprocates the same way you treat it, he joined Envise Green Group in planting of indigenous trees in his home town with the aim of planting the trees in the whole country and beyond. He also spearheaded the Arbadare hiking to create awareness on the conservation of the forest.
He returned to his car-wash business at home but this time, he was faced by many challenges including machine breakdown, lack of water, environmental concerns which was adversely affected by use of water from morning to evening. Looking back at the challenges he had faced in his car wash business, he decided to seek innovative ways to clean cars since he knew it was a lucrative business. As he brainstormed and toyed around with crazy ideas, he asked himself a few questions such as "What if the world had no water? What happens to persons living in desert areas? How will the world be if we kept on polluting and damaging its blood Water? and so on. He came to the realization that water was the world’s blood. Eventually, this pondering bore his crazy idea of washing car without water.
He founded his brand company Eco shine in August 2015, a water-less car washing company with great vision of revolutionizing the cleaning industry in Kenya and beyond, quite a new concept in Kenya. He decided to come up with a formula to make cleansing detergent that he would clean the cars without the use of any water. After several futile attempts, he was able to come up with a perfect product. He tried it on several cars cars for free at first and the results were amazing. Eventually, he shifted from washing cars using water to doing "dry cleaning" of his clients' cars.
However, just like any new technology, he is faced with numerous challenges such as getting funding to his enterprise as well as marketing his brand.
Government (i.e the national government and the county governments)
through the Ministry of Water and Environment conservation have all it
takes to protect and conserve the future of the next generation, surprisingly, we borrow the future from our kids and we have the debt to
pay. Eco Shine is in a mission of conserving a lot of water wasted
in the traditional ways of cleaning cars.
We waste millions of litres of
clean water and at the same time pollute our fresh water from the
vehicles paints, grease, oils and other pollutants. Eco shine is
launching a campaign, #Save Water Challenge to create awareness on the
need to conserve water, recycle waste water for other purposes. The
campaign intends to involve the government (both national and county) and other organizations
directly involved in water conservation.
Shem believes that our future needs to be
protected since we do not own it but we owe it to our kids. We have
borrowed it from the future and it is our mandate to conserve and
protect it.
He is calling on all revant government departments, environmentalists, conservationists and well wishers to help him achieve his dream of making Kenya a green country by coming to his aid in finding solutions to the Challenges his venture is going through. Lack of funds to expand his business, accessing the raw materials to make his products. Since they are not locally available it is usually a challenge for him any time he runs out of stock for he has to import them. He also lacks funds to advertise and market his company.
You can contact Shem through cell phone number 0710 640 357 or e-mail him at shemkarik90@gmail.com
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