Tunde Ayeni is the managing director and chief executive officer of Parable Cooling Systems, a business that diagnoses, repairs, installs, services and maintains car air conditioning systems.
Ayeni, a banking and finance graduate, in a bid to address societal problems, was inspired to establish his business.
“I chose to dive into automobile air conditioning systems repairs and maintenance when I saw the plight of people with their car air conditioners users,” he said.
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Before venturing into air conditioning repairs, Ayeni was a successful debt recovery manager at Orkila Nigeria (now Azelis) until he identified and opportunity he grabbed with both hands.
To equip himself with the needed skills to succeed, he took a certificate course at Field of Skill and Dream (FSD), Agidingbi, Ikeja.
“I had been having repeated issues with my house electrical and those electricians were not nice at all. So, I just said I should go for the three-month training on electrical so I could fix my Electrical issues myself.
“When I got there, the slot for electrical was already full. As I was about to enter my car a guy just beckoned, and said, sir, let’s do this domestic air conditioning installation course together since you are not into it to make money. The rest is history!” he said.
Driven by this burning quest, he established his company, Parable Cooling Services, in 2019. Ayeni and his team established the company to make a unique difference in the industry.
According to him, “At Parable Cooling Systems, there is no room for guesswork. This is as a result of the availability of new technology and equipment which has enhanced accurate diagnosis.”
Ayeni explained that the major challenge facing the industry is the low patronage resulting from the surging economic crunch in Nigeria.
“Since the removal of fuel subsidy, prices of materials have skyrocketed. Car owners no longer have sufficient money to fuel their cars.
The few who can afford to drive cars no longer use AC. Hence, it has imparted our business in no small measure,” he said.
He revealed that customer loyalty through referrals has been a major source of sustenance in the business.
“The glaring problem is the unstable rate of exchange, bad roads, and electricity. The economy itself is not stable. The government policies are not stable. Prices are not stable. You can’t predict what will happen in the next one hour,” he noted.
However, even in face of the economic hardship, one ray of hope for the industry is Nigeria’s quest for cars. According to the according to Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS), private car owners in Nigeria are over 4.8 million people.
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Given the above, Ayeni disclosed that as long as the earth remains, Africa’s weather will always be hot and humans will require something to stem the tide.
That, according to him, is an indication that air conditioning services will remain valuable even in winter.
He hopes to have more branches across the nation and specifically move to the company’s permanent and corporate head office in the next five years.
To achieve that, he said the company is committed to establishing loyalty with its customers and investing in human capital and resources because without humans such a goal will not be achieved.
“We train and re-train more technicians and expose them to the usage of modern tools and equipment,” he said.
Ayeni counsels young automobile air conditioning service providers not to go into the business if they don’t have a passion for the business.
“I mean to solve people’s problems because we solve problems every day. Ensure customer satisfaction and integrity. Those will help them a lot,” he stressed.
