Globally, the automobile business is mainly controlled by men, but Arinze Chinazom the founder of Autogirl, is not deterred from an industry dominated by the male gender.
Chinazom, a law graduate, was inspired to establish Autogirl owing to her love for cars and the challenge she faced during her undergraduate studies.
She identified an opportunity in the automobile industry and grabbed it with both hands.
“I have always loved cars since I was younger, but Autogirl did not start until I was faced with some monetary challenges in school,” she notes.
“My dad is in the construction industry and like many others; his business was affected by the economic situation of the country. I had to step in and augment whatever my parents gave me by looking for opportunities and my options were real estate and automobile,” she recalls.
So, it was tough paying for my school fee and other bills. To help out, I started looking for opportunities and my options were real estate and automobile,” she recalls.
“But the former was stressful for me. So, I went with automobiles and started working with my friend that used to send cars down to Nigeria from Canada,” she explains.
Chinazom formally established and registered Autogirl in 2019 as a one-stop shop for vehicle sales and rentals, Private Jet, Boat/Yacht rentals, and security escort services.
“Autogirl started as a regular car dealership; selling cars and getting commissions. When I saw that it was ludicrous, I ventured into it fully and did not look back,” she says.
She states that one of the reasons for expanding beyond sales to rentals was the gap in the market she identified.
“I discovered that some Nigerians could not afford to buy a car outrightly, while others – particularly those in the diaspora visiting the country for a limited period – do not want to spend money purchasing vehicles,” she notes.
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“This is why Autogirl was remodelled to include vehicle rentals as a solution. Now, Autogirlng is a peer2peer vehicles rental company that helps vehicle owners earn and save money through their vehicles,” she says.
“We have three vehicle categories namely; cars, boats, and private jets.”
The business has grown steadily since starting. “The business customers’ portfolio has grown to 443 since its inception and followers across all our social media platforms are over 21000.”
She also states that the business encourages female inclusion and empowerment. The business currently has a women empowerment programme that equips and trains young women who want to venture into the industry on how to establish and grow their brands. “Autogirl has eight employees and 12 female affiliate marketers,” she says.
The young entrepreneur plans to expand her business beyond Lagos and Abuja in the short run and become a household name for car rentals across Africa in the long run.
Speaking on the challenges facing the business, Chinazom notes that getting good drivers remains the major challenge confronting her business. Also, she identifies multiple taxations as another major challenge facing the business.
To overcome the challenge of getting good drivers, she notes that her business has engaged the service of a driver recruitment firm to recruit its drivers, saying the drivers have been doing a good job.
On the multiple taxation issue, she calls for government intervention.
“Some of the taxes are unrelated to the business,” she says.
“There is also the issue of the e-valuation introduced by the government for imported cars, the cost has gone up and is now twice as expensive as it used to be and it affects the cost of sale of cars and subsequently the number of clients.”
Arinze says the government needs to take a look at the cost of valuation for cars and reduce them as sometimes the cost of the valuation is as much as the purchase price of the vehicles.
On her advice to other female entrepreneurs, she says, “Do not limit yourself, it is possible.”
“There is no level that is unattainable,” she says. “If you put your mind to it, you can do it,” she advises.
