Kamau, or otherwise known as Kamaa Wa Tududuu is the proprietor of Shaq Motors Company situated in Umoja Three Estate along Kangundo Road.
The businessman is known for selling affordable hatchbacks, locally known as kadudu, hence his moniker Wa Tududuu.
However, before venturing into the business, Kamau previously worked as a kamagera, tasked with filling matatus with passengers at a small fee.
Here is his story as told by WoK.
Background
Kamau hails from Oloitoktok, Kajiado County although he was brought up in Nairobi’s Kariobangi South.
In an interview with Sikika Safety, the car dealer noted that his first job was working at construction sites.
He noted that he has built many residential properties in Kariobangi South and other areas within the city.
“If I take you around this area, I’ve built many apartments. I can identify apartments that I built,” Kamau noted.
After working at different construction sites, Kamau said that a friend introduced him to the transport industry.
He first worked as a kamagera, where he would fill matatus with passengers and get paid by the vehicle’s tout.
Kamagera also disguise themselves as traveller to dupe passengers that the vehicle is almost full.
“I would get in the vehicle and when it’s almost full, I’d alight and get in the next vehicle on the line. I was being paid Ksh 10 for each vehicle,” Kamau explained.
Kamau worked for a while as a kamagera and after mastering the basic skills, he approached the Sacco’s office and requested for a job as a tout.
While at it, he noted that he wanted to complete school having posted good results in his Kenya Certificate of Secondary School Education (KCSE).
He enrolled at the University of Nairobi (UoN) for a Bachelor of Commerce (BCOM) course.
While studying at UoN, he was offered a job to work at a call center by one of the students that he interacted with.
“I took the job because at that point, it was impossible to turn it down. When I joined UoN, I was still working as a tout,” Kamau said.
He worked at the call center for four years before quitting.
Car business
Kamau explained that he developed interest in cars when he interacted with a friend who worked as a taxi driver.
The driver would let him drive around with his car, even though he did not have a driving license at the time.
Kamau was inspired to own a vehicle and in the course of it, he met two car dealers who introduced him to the car dealership trade.
“I was interested in the business and I wanted to know how much he was earning and if it was a job that I could undertake,” he said.
He eventually met the two car dealers and started working as a broker, and he would be paid per commission for every car sold.
Kamau would earn up to Ksh 50,000 commission, although it depends with how much the car has been sold for.
While working as a broker, he would also engage the car dealers regularly and learnt the basics such as distinguishing the fake and original car logbooks.
It was not long before Kamau got his first ever car, a Mazda Demio at Ksh 390,000 and later sold for Ksh 550,000, making a good profit.
“Being a broker is quite difficult because someone can shortage you and you cannot do anything because there is no written contract,” he revealed.
Kamau went on to establish Shaq Motors Limited.
He explained that he purposely specialized in selling hatchbacks because of its ready market compared to vehicles selling for above Ksh 2 million.
“Instead of getting a Ksh 2 million car, I’d rather I get three hatchbacks which I’m sure I’ll sell them within a short time,” Kamau said.
Kamau has employed five people in his yard who handle different tasks to ensure smooth running of the company.
