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Car maintenance in Nigeria is not very popular because most vehicle owners and drivers usually wait until a part of the vehicle spoils before it is taken to be repaired. Even when vehicles are sent to the auto workshop, most of the mechanics in Nigeria were not properly trained on how to service, repair, and carry out maintenance checks on vehicles.
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Nigeria has about 12 million vehicles registered and virtually 90% of them are used cars that need frequent checkups to prevent recurring breakdowns. In respect to this report, it is expected that effective vehicle maintenance must be up to standard in Nigeria. Sadly, that’s not the case because service providers in the country, usually auto mechanics, are inadequately trained and lack the needed tools to provide consistent and quality service. With technology as the major driver towards development, startups like Mecho Autotech are beginning to digitize the vehicle repair and maintenance process. The startup which connects car owners with quality vehicle repair and maintenance providers has raised a $2.15 million seed in a funding round.  The startup was founded in 2021 by Olusegun Owoade and Ayoola Akinkunmi, who strived to offer repair and maintenance services to businesses and consumers. Mecho expanded into business-to-consumer services with the launch of its app (available on both Android and iOS devices) in January and has a plan to grow that segment via a subscription service model. Running three workshops (Mecho Shops) in Lagos and mobile service (Mecho Mobile), the startup has, since conception, onboarded over 7,000 third-party mechanics to its platform which is a network of vetted technicians across 35 states to tackle the poor vehicle maintenance culture in Nigeria. These 7000 plus mechanics are for business to business models to which the startup collects a commission of 15% to 10% for referring a client. They also created an insurance plan for vehicles as motor insurance is compulsory. Their idea was to have an insurance plan that has an annual maintenance plan embedded. There are also after-sales packages which are automated maintenance plans for new cars.
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The company said its round was “oversubscribed by over 300%” and claims to be the largest investment to date for a vehicle maintenance startup in sub-Saharan Africa, which is mainly because Mecho Autotech plays in an opening market with relatively few competitors.  However, one startup that comes to mind as a competition to Mecho is Autocheck whose vehicle maintenance services are just one aspect of its encompassing automotive business. Investors involved in Mecho’s seed round include Future Africa, HoaQ Capital, Cathexis Ventures, V8 Capital, Silver Squid, and Tekedia Capital. The seed money helped scale Mecho Autotech’s mobile application through which it launched its business to customers model in January. The startup aims to reach 25,000 customers this year and charge them a monthly, quarterly, or annual subscription fee. The startup plans to use the capital to expand its multi-channel service capacity, engineering team, and marketing budget for Business customer acquisition. Featured Image Source: The Sun NG
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This article was first published on 12th February 2022

eyimegwu-ekene

I am an accomplished content creator and recently delved into technical writing. I enjoy using my skills to contribute to the exciting technological advances and create awareness of evolving technological trends in Nigeria.

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