10 things to consider before starting a keke business in Nigeria

1. Keke (tricycle) business is lucrative. Anyone who tells you that it isn’t might have failed in the business and concluded that it isn’t lucrative because of their failure. Don’t allow anyone’s failure to determine if you will succeed in a business or not.

2. Before buying a keke, either for personal use or venturing into it as a side hustle, first of all, ask the right questions. Go on a tour; you can use either a day or two and do the touring in your city. Find out the places you are not supposed to ply, places you aren’t supposed to stop, and places you aren’t supposed to pick passengers from. Also, identify places you aren’t supposed to visit at night. I will use Enugu as an example; at Holy Ghost, you aren’t supposed to stop in front of Holy Ghost church unless you are a member of the keke association that has a park there. If you are a newbie in the business, that area is hot. And those agberos know who is new in the business and who isn’t.

2b. 2nd, unless your route is in Abakpa, but if it’s not, avoid Abakpa at all costs. If you must go there, make sure you don’t stop anywhere on the road. The agberos at Abakpa Nike, all of them have masters in agberoism. Those people don’t have the fear of God. In fact, they don’t fear the name God. If you sneeze inside your keke, it’s an offence, and before anyone outside there would come to rescue you, they might have extorted you very well. So, do well to avoid there. But it doesn’t mean you can’t go there on Saturdays and Sundays.

3. If you are buying a new keke, make sure you install a tracker in it, and if you must give it out on hire purchase, do not let the rider know there is a tracker installed in the keke. You should know keke is almost equivalent to a car now, so eyes will be on it.( Keke now is 2.2m) so safeguard it.

4. Be ready to fight, both as a rider or if you gave it out on higher purchase, A fight is inevitable unless you have a God-fearing rider who wants to help his life and family.
I don’t mean physical fist fight. I mean the trouble that comes with Keke business, it must surely come.

5. Before giving out your keke on hire purchase, make sure all the papers of the keke and riders are complete so that it will save you the hassle of always going to the police station, VIO office, and agberos station. Make sure your rider has a driver’s license and the papers of the keke are all complete before giving it out.

6. Anyone can drive a keke. Driving a keke doesn’t mean you won’t make it in life again. Most keke riders are richer than most bankers or even civil servant. Some of them makes an average of 13 to 15k daily excluding expense oooo, this is something I have been into so I know what’s up.
To succeed in the business, kill that narrative that keke is for the low lives. Check your state and see the number of people going into the business on a daily basis. Then ask yourself if this business isn’t lucrative, why are people still going into it day by day.
I repeat anyone can do it but man and woman, graduates and none graduates unless you don’t want to help your life.

7. If you are giving out your keke on hire purchase, tell the rider to get you two guarantors. Must 1. A business owner with a physical shop. And a civil servant that you know won’t leave his office anytime soon. And also have them sign an MOU that if the rider doesn’t meet up with the desired agreement, they will be the one to pay for the losses.( that alone will keep the rider on check)

8. Make police officers, soldiers, VIO officers your friend. You will need them one day. If you are a rider, always buy them stuff whenever you are passing where they are. That’s a trick; you will thank me later.

9. Change Keke engine oil every two weeks if you want your keke to serve you well. Always change oil, and if you notice any unusual sound in the engine, fix it as soon as possible. Keke is like a human being; if you treat yourself when you are sick and avoid some certain things, you will live longer. So, if you treat the keke right, it can serve you for five years.

10. Avoid night waka. I repeat, avoid night waka, especially if your keke is new. Once it’s 7 pm, go home. I repeat, go home.( tomorrow Dey)

11. If you are going into the hire purchase business, do not give your rider an exorbitant price. This is the most common mistake people make in this business right now. Ask people what is the current price on hire purchase in your state. Don’t just increase your price because you feel you are helping someone. You will end up selling that keke because the rider will agree that he will do it at your price. But because he needs to put food on his table and also meet some demand, he will agree because the keke is new. Let’s, for instance, when keke was 1.4m in Enugu state, hire purchase is 2.1 or at least 2m. When it was 1.8m hire purchase was at 2.4 or 2.5, now it’s at 2.1m or 2.2 hire purchase should be between 2.9 or 3m maximum.

There is no reason why you should double the price. Some will buy at N1m and want someone who will give them N2.8m and that will be the genesis of your problem. Ask the right questions.