23-year-old Dairo Damilola Opeyemi who hails
from Ibadan, Oyo State is the young Chief
Executive Officer of Autofactorng, redefining auto-
parts business in Nigeria.
In a country where buyers culturally show an
overwhelming distrust of salesmen in the
automotive industry, Dairo's innovative platform
sells genuine auto- parts at affordable prices and
delivers it to client's doorsteps nationwide with
warranties on every item sold is no doubt a breath
of fresh air to car users.
The young CEO's rise to becoming a nationwide
auto- parts supplier in less than a year of
establishing his firm is based largely on his
passionate ingenuity to provide car users in the
country with genuine alternative to both sub-
standard and fairly used auto- parts, 'Tokunbo'
which overtime leaves buyers cheated and
unsatisfied.
After graduating from Bowen University in 2012,
where he studied Physics and Solar Energy , Dairo
who said he has always had a flare for cars
ventured into the automotive industry in Nigeria by
providing solutions in the aspect of car body
repairs and painting.
"Like every other graduate, the next point of call for
me after leaving school is to get a job, but I know
there is actually none waiting out there for me. So I
went for a three months training in a workshop on
car painting and body repair after which I
proceeded to doing the business itself and this
noble step is what eventually led to the idea of
'Autofactorng'.
Citing that there are about 3 million cars in Lagos
alone, Dairo lamented on how worrisome it is to
find quality car parts in Nigeria. He explained that
he had an experiential knowledge of this problem
faced by car owners when he got into the painting
and body works business, "to make things worse,
some auto-parts dealers will end up telling you that
fairly used parts are better than new ones, how
possible can that be?" He queried. Dairo continued:
"Tokunbo products are not new products, they are
sold to users as genuine products which have been
used and can never be better than new ones.
To understand this, just Imagine that you are using
a year 2002 Toyota vehicle and you want to change
the shock absorber and you purchase it it as a
tokunbo, that means the part which was
manufactured in 2002 has been used probably for 3
years and you are now purchasing it as a product in
2015.
What it means is that the shock absorber is 13
years old. Does it mean it is good or will last long?
Where the problem lies for me with fairly used
products, 'Tokunbos' is the fact that they are not
safe.
The lifespan of fairly used products like that of their
sub-standard counterparts can never be compared
to getting new products from genuine
manufacturers. This is the reason we are in this
business to ensure that people get quality services
for money spent in the auto market in Nigeria.
Convinced that he has all the know-how needed to
transform the auto-part industry, Dairo revealed that
he funded his idea with a start-up capital gotten
from his personal savings and by sourcing funds
from relatives, "believe me, it was not easy, pushing
the dream to reality but overtime it paid off", he
said. The soft-spoken entrepreneur said his joyous
moments ever since he joined the league of
business owners come when clients give inspiring
testimonies about the quality of service delivery
they enjoy from Autofactorng, "We have had several
customers who call to say, they will no longer buy
parts anywhere else except from Autofactorng,
others say the whole idea is revolutionary and
besides some companies are already requesting
that we send them business proposals on
partnerships. " Narrating the challenges encountered
starting the business, he said, "One of the
predominant challenges we faced was designing the
exact website that best answer our audience
needs,as well as, offer them more services than
what is obtainable in the market."
Also, getting suppliers who stock genuine car parts
was equally tasking because hardly can you find a
one-stop- shop for all car parts, especially when an
average car uses over 30,000 parts. Creating
awareness about the website and building trust was
also an issue, despite the fact that most car users
don't trust their mechanics, they still believe it is
better to stay with them than patronize a totally new
approach to solving car related problems.
But we have been able to win clients overtime by
rendering quality services." Despite his quick
success Dairo said he has sustainability plans to
keep his business growth. "Apart from taking orders
online via very interactive platform, we are looking
at having a strong presence offline, building a full
blown auto-part store where you can walk in and
out with all kinds of car accessories/ parts -
fenders, engine blocks, batteries, tyres, etc.
Assured that his firm, Autofactorng will in a few
years actualise its dream of being the first auto
part store in Nigeria, Dairo equally sees expansion
into Ghana and other parts of Africa, "we are already
getting calls outside Nigeria, most especially in
Cotonou & Ghana and we have actually delivered
products to Cotonou on several occassions." Asked
if he has a special philosophy or formula,
he said; " I believe strongly in the acronym, P.O.P,
which stands for Perseverance, Optimism and
Positivism, this 3 keys will see a start-up through
difficult stages which of course are inevitable in
starting up any kind of business."
