Meet Parkit: A tech-driven vehicle care service company

This week’s Business Spotlight is a company that focuses on providing the best services for vehicles.

Parkit is a tech driven vehicle care service company located in Lagos & Abuja. They take care of different types of vehicles ranging from saloon cars to cargo trucks either in their physical locations or at home. The tech part of this service allows you go on their website, select your preferred location, select the various services you would like and pay.

Parkit provides an affordable service and peace of mind to customers. With their Public liability Insurance, Parkit covers any damage that may occur while taking care of your vehicle.

We sat with the CEO of Parkit, Gerald Okonkwo to talk more about his tech driven car wash.

How did you come up with your business name?

I’ve always had an eye for good names, recognising the name of your company is literally the first representation of the company, I was intentional about selecting the name, a name that sticks and sort of depicts what we want you to do.

Does your business have a stated mission statement, the reason that this business exists? If yes, please expand

Our mission is to redefine the vehicle care industry in the entire African region, providing premium services and developing a world class workforce.

How would you describe your customers?

Our customers are vehicle users who require professional car wash and vehicle care services.

Why do you think your customers select you over your competitors? What do you offer differently?

Our value added services such as vehicle complimentary air-freshening, insurance for vehicles while at our location, safety and security of vehicles, ease of payment via online channels to mention but a few are some of the reasons why customers prefer us to competitors.

How does the business improve or impact the lives of people

So due to the poor economic situation in Nigeria, and parts of West Africa at the moment. It has gravely affected the purchasing power of people and what happens is that people tend to maintain the vehicles in their custody as opposed to replacing them when they are damaged, or when something wrong happens and that’s exactly where we come in, because people often times look for affordable vehicle repair services, car services and we don’t just offer that, we also offer professional services across our different locations so people can easily drive in and get their vehicles professionally attended to.

Why is this work important to you?

So, why this work is very important to me is the social impact. Across our various locations, we often hire about 6–10 people. So imagine the amount of people we give jobs to. We currently have about 5 locations and each of those locations has about 10 people. So we are getting 50 people onboarded in what we do. The social impact is all of it for me, and it gives me joy knowing that we can offer jobs to people depending on the amount of locations we are able to open.

What is the future for your business? Where do you see your business 10 years from now?

Our vision in 10 years time is to have morphed into a fully integrated 360 degree vehicle care service; leveraging technology to offer services such as vehicle 1st level repairs, servicing as well as major repairs.

What do you think is the greatest contributor to your business’ success so far

Team and staff investment has been a contributor to the business success. We are very intentional about the levels of training our technical staff especially have to go through prior to attending to customers vehicles.

What challenges have you faced while running your business and how did you overcome them?

The major challenge I have faced on my journey while building Parkit has been the impact of mob and arson in the malls during unrest as most of our locations are situated in popular malls. We’ve been able to mitigate the impact of this to a large extent by purchasing insurance policies, but it’s never enough.

Why did you decide to try Brass

Brass offered me what I was looking for at the time; opening a corporate account without going into any bank hall.

What has your experience been like so far?

Brass has made the onboarding process of getting banked very seamless. I literally opened my business account on the same day which has never really happened because I dread going to the bank, filling multiple forms, its very tiring. But with Brass, I was able to complete everything online and I got my account number almost immediately. It makes it very easy for me to conduct my business.

Visit the Parkit website and get a free car wash service every 4th time you wash at any Parkit locations.

Follow Parkit on Instagram