Nyaiboye Charles Robi, popularly known as Obama, has built an impressive car business in Mombasa.
He is said to have been the third African to open and operate a car yard in Mombasa, an industry that was previously dominated by Arab, Indian, and Pakistani businessmen.
Today, Obama owns seven car yards in Mombasa, with about 300 new and used vehicles available for sale.
However, his journey to success was not easy. This is his journey as told by WoK:
In a recent interview with The Star, Obama disclosed that he was born in 1984 in Girigiri village in Kuria, Migori County.
His father had four wives, and Obama grew up in a polygamous family of 30 siblings.
After completing his primary school education, he joined Matare Boys High School in 1999, where he reportedly trekked 12 km daily.
However, he later transferred to Siria High School in Trans Mara, where he sat for his KCSE exams. He was often sent home over lack of school fees, and he spent many a school day working on his family farm.
Obama began hustling at an early age. His first job involved loading gravel on lorries at Maasai Mara, where he was paid a measly KSh 200.
After high school, he returned to his home village in Gigiri, where he opened and ran a small retail shop until thieves stole everything.
Obama dusted himself, armed himself with ksh 600 and two sets of clothes, and relocated to Kricho to start life afresh.
He arrived hungry and fatigued and spent his first night in a dilapidated Telekom call box. The next morning, he hit the ground running and started to hawk pineapples.
After hawking for several days, he met a former classmate who introduced him to the business of selling small merchandise such as pens, handkerchiefs, and socks.
The job involved working for a company which required Obama to travel to towns such as Kisumu, Sotik, and Kisii.
He worked for this company for a while until he decided to buy merchandise himself and sell at a profit, following his employer’s business model.
With time, he expanded to other towns such as Kitale, Kakamega, Kisumu, and Mombasa, where he became one of the largest wholesale sellers of merchandise.
Obama decided to settle in Mombasa and used his savings of KSh 20,000 to rent a shop, after which he borrowed KSh 150,000 to stock merchandise.
Over time, his business grew steadily, and he became one of the largest wholesalers in Mombasa.
A staunch Christian, he joined a local church, where he met various car dealers and gained interest in the trade.
He took a Sh 300,000 loan from his wife and bought his first car, a Toyota Vitz. He sold the car at a profit and bought his second car, a Toyota Spacio.
However, setbacks arose when he was abducted by thugs while withdrawing Sh 415,000 outside the bank to buy stock. The thieves took away all the money.
Luckily, Obama had built rapport with some traders from Eastleigh, who gave him another loan to recover his business.
Despite various setbacks, he worked hard and set up his first car yard, with mentorship from friends like Anthony Kimani. Becoming the third African to own a car yard in Mombasa.
Today, his car yard, Robimax Auto Trading Ltd yard, has seven branches in Mombasa, with at least 300 new and used cars on sale.
Obama now guides and mentors his employees, making sure that they follow the same disciplined path that he has followed over many years of doing business.
“I don’t want my employees to simply be employees. I want them to be entrepreneurs, so I hold their hands, just like some people held my hand in their small ways,” he said.