From old van, tour firm now highend business

In her mind, the second-hand van she had just bought could start earning instant cash if she turned it into a matatu. But the transport manager of the company that was disposing off the vehicle discouraged her.

“Just keep it for hire. We shall be hiring it when there is work,” the manager told her. But Ms Eunice Kaigai did not find that tenable. She wanted to earn immediately. The manager egged her on: “Alternatively, you can seek out other tour firms to hire it.”

Ms Kaigai accepted the advice and in a few weeks, tour firms started to hire it. However, the celebration was cut short. During a trip, the van was stolen. She was dumbfounded. Luckily, she had comprehensively insured the van and was compensated soon after, at 30 per cent lower than she had bought it.

“ I had already learnt the tour industry was a busy field. When I got the money, about Sh500,000, I decided to start my own firm,” says Ms Kaigai. That was in 1996.

Thirteen years down the line, Safari Line Africa Ltd, the tour firm she started, is a top vote in holding breathtaking excursions in the country. Through networking, it has had big groups from various parts of the world, moving from one corner of East Africa to the other.

Early in the company’s life, Ms Kaigai was forced to hire vehicles, an extra cost at that, at a time business was low due to the Kikambala bomb explosions in 1997, which resulted in travel advisories against Kenya.

She now owns two land cruisers. “We can easily outsource for comfortable transport when need arises,” she says.

“Tourism was hit hard. I only managed to set up a small office and hired two people to help me coordinate safaris,” says the entrepreneur in her office at Karen Connection. The firm now has seven full time staff and more than 10 others on contractual basis.

From an initial capital of half-a-million, Ms Kaigai is reluctant to disclose how much the company now earns, but when pressed, she says: “It is several millions. We could soon hit Sh30 million a year, if the tour environment improves just a little.”

Having left Ngara Girls High School in 1990, Ms Kaigai ventured into various businesses and had no chance to further her education. But after running the firm for two years and getting married to Mr Robert Glenie, she left the country in 1998 to study business and tourism at Plymouth University.

“I realised I had to train in the courses so as to keep pace with the high profile business strategies,” she says. She still managed and marketed her firm as she studied. “I made a lot of connections in UK and US,” she adds.

Her safaris have taken visitors to the Kenyan coastline, Zanzibar, Malindi, Maasai Mara, Pemba and Madagascar.

In March this year, she hosted a group of Canadian motor-bike enthusiasts who rode all the way from South Africa to Kenya, through four other African countries.

“If you give your visitors memorable safaris, they always refer others to you,” she says.

Though the industry has been affected by the recession and aftermath of the post-election violence, Ms Kaigai’s firm has remained afloat. “Our clients are high-end because our safaris are exclusive,” she explains of why external factors have not brought her down.

First million

She earned her first million in 1997 through a United Nations group from Ethiopia. “Soon after, another group came from the US Embassy in Ethiopia.

They opened doors for Army Groups from Djibouti,” she says tracing how the firm turned to top clients and adds, “Over the years, we have hosted several student groups from US colleges.”

With each group requiring a clear- cut package, it is hard to state how she charges per group. For example, my first group spent over a million. The larger the group, the lower the cost,” says the 38-year-old businesswoman.

To tap in more clients, Ms Kaigai and her husband set up an exclusive Sh100 million lodge at Olchoro-Oroigua Conservation ranch in Maasai Mara. “The lodge is ideal for couples. We are now receiving more domestic visitors,” she says.

As a service industry, setting up a tour firm is not hard provided you can give your clients good service. “Honesty is vital. Tourists are very sensitive,” she warns new tour operators.

When visitors accompany her, she says, they will normally end up in places they can enjoy guarded bush walks, bush dinners and breakfasts, and of course close range game drives.

[email protected]