This archive report was first published on 10 July 2021.
Published on July 10, 2021, George Karimi's dirty laundry in 2017 sparked the idea for SwiftAide, a platform connecting clients to service providers.
One weekend in 2017, Karimi stared at a heap of his dirty clothes and sighed in frustration. The regular cleaning lady was unwell, and he risked 'recycling' a shirt and trousers to work the following week.
As he mulled over his options, the trained engineer had a light bulb moment – the creation of a platform where one can hail a cleaner, electrician, or plumber the same way one would a digital taxi.
'All my clothes were dirty, and I thought about having a platform where you can hail a cleaner, electrician, plumber, nannies, and others just like you hail cabs,' he told Money Maker. 'This gives you options to see who is available for the job.'
Later, this idea was further inspired when his child got sick and needed to visit an ophthalmologist, a search that took weeks.
So in 2018, together with his wife Njeri Kung'u, he founded SwiftAide. The app connects clients to service providers (called aides) and provides a network of pre-approved and background-checked individuals.
The couple spent about Sh1.5 million, including running costs on the initial stages to develop the app.
The app, which helps people find instant help with common tasks such as cleaning, errands, moving, and handy work, has so far has 700 registered businesses and professionals and over 1,000 registered users.
SwiftAide also helps people looking for side hustles.
In 2019, the app generated Sh200,000 in gross revenue.
SwiftAide is split in two – the business side of the app and the on-demand side of the app. Here they charge a 15 per cent commission for every job done through the app.
They also charge subscription fees for businesses and professionals who want to have a profile in the app with business registration now free due to Covid-19 hitting many businesses.
'We have free premium and gold subscription plans for businesses depending on what kind of details and media you want to share on your profile,' he said.
At the beginning, many service providers who registered on the app kept asking for jobs. They didn’t know when a client required a service.
To solve this challenge, they developed a competitive system where a client posts a task with a budget then the service providers bid for the job by placing offers.
'The client is free to choose the best offer,' he said.
He notes the resilience and patience required to grow a startup with mixed reactions to technology adoption even as more Kenyans move online.
'Success does not come in a day, week, month, or even a year. You have to be patient,' he advised.
He also advises budding entrepreneurs in the Kenyan digital economy to have a clear vision and be unafraid of failure.
'It is the vision that drives when everything seems uncertain, and don’t be afraid. Fail as many times as possible since success comes from failure,' he said.
Karimi hopes to roll out SwiftAide to other African countries in the next five years.
SwiftAide thoroughly vets professionals requiring their official identification documents and academic certificates for a skilled workforce.
The user interface is very simplified making it easy to use for even casual labourers.
'We have SMS and push notifications to alert you when a job is available,' he said.
He notes that post-Covid-19 technology will drive things more than ever.
'The Kenyan digital market is vibrant and developed. Smartphone penetration to the rural and urban lower class is the current challenge that is facing us,' he said.
