Erick Wokabi is the co-director of Carnversations Motoring Agency.
He also runs a YouTube channel dubbed, Carnversations, where he does automotive reviews, myths and consultancy.
With 258 videos, the channel boasts a total of over 8.2 million views and over 122,000 organic subscribers.
WoK looks at Wokabi’s love for cars and how he managed to start a YouTube niche channel on cars.
Interest in cars
Wokabi developed an interest in cars while he was a little boy.
In an interview with Nation, the automotive consultant recalled a life-threatening incident which he said it would have not been a big deal if her mother had a car.
While he was five years old, he suffered an asthmatic attack after inhaling smoke from a passerby who was smoking around their compound.
After inhaling the smoke, he could not exhale since he had respiratory issues.
Wokabi noted that his mother came to his aid but as fate would have it, the nearest hospital was several kilometers from their home.
At the time, 1999, cars were few and this forced his mother to strap him on her back and walk all the way to the hospital.
Wokabi survived the ordeal and after being discharged, he thought about how easy getting medical help would have been if the mother had a vehicle.
He thought of he could help his mother get a car and even participated in a competition which had seven cars up for grabs although he did not win.
Anyway, his mother managed to buy a car later on.
Writing about cars
As time went by, Wokabi’s interest in cars grew and he started writing about cars and shared on his Facebook account.
His passion for cars came with fame within car owners and he started the Toyota Hiace community which still exists to date.
Wokabi found a way to monetize the community, and he would publish eBooks and sell to subscribers of the community.
He recalled an instance where he made over Ksh 30,000 from selling the eBooks in under three hours.
While still at it, motor dealerships approached him and he would survive on tips and commissions for selling cars.
He worked at a dealership for a while before eventually deciding to leave his daily job and venture into content creation with a friend.
“Filming is not easy, Ibrahim had the equipments and I had the content… The team is bigger now. We have a legal team, an accounting department, plus technical and editorial,” Wokabi said.
Content creation
Wokabi runs a YouTube channel dubbed, Carnversations, where he does automotive reviews, myths and consultancy.
He works with MotorHub, a car dealership company, which hives him cars for reviews in exchange for advertising.
“It’s an expensive venture and you need to have strong partners to back you,” Wokabi said.
