Victor Adepoju is his name, and here is a feature on him from ghanabusinessnews.com.
The 32-year-old is the mastermind behind Beautiful Feet Cab Service. Arguably the only free Wi-Fi installed Taxi Company in Ghana. What’s more? In addition to free Wi-Fi on the air-conditioned taxi, customers also get to enjoy free drinks and biscuits, toffees, chewing gum and tissue papers on board.
Victor decided to enter into transport business in April this 2016 after observing how passengers get bored on their journeys to and from work daily. “So I decided to start my internet enabled cab to keep the clients lively” He told ghanabusinessnews.com.
Adepoju says he used his savings from his five-year and three-year jobs as a security officer in Dubai and Accra respectively to begin the business, despite being discouraged by some friends.
“People had told me they will snatch my car if I brand it the way I have done, but it never happened. The closest to that was when my phone was snatched at dawn while working but thank God there was no customer on board,” he recounted.
What’s more, Victor is not Ghanaian, he is from ECOWAS sister-country, Nigeria.
It’s however, intriguing that Victor chose to start his business in Ghana, notwithstanding the fact that Nigeria has a bigger population than Ghana.
His reasons among others he said were because “Over there you need huge capital to enable you to break into the market. I am originally from there you know,” he adds
I came to Ghana in 2001 through a church conference and I loved the country at first sight especially the accent so I told myself when I complete Senior High School, I will come to Ghana to hustle and further my education”
Victor, who dreamt of becoming a pastor when he was growing up, has not given up on that dream. “I will become a pastor one day. It is a futuristic stuff. I will be a man of God from Ghana to the world,” he said.
He says he is a graduate, and also holds a post-graduate certificate in Human Resource and Strategic Management.
For a cab service such as this, one would have thought it will be expensive. On the contrary, it is relatively cheap, with charges starting from GH¢5:00.
For now, Beautiful Feet Cab Service has only one taxi cab in operation. Although according to Victor, several investors both from Ghana and abroad have shown interest in investing in his business with more cars, he has declined upon advice given to him to take his time and grow his business.
While some taxi drivers roam about in the streets of Accra empty, Beautiful Feet Cab Service gets more clients in a day than it can handle. Thanks to social media, his clients book for his service on his website, Instagram and Facebook.
“I make roughly GH¢2000 a month. I simply can’t decipher why most graduates prefer white-collar jobs, seating in an air-conditioned office that pays GH¢800 a month than to driving a cab for more. Most graduates here feel driving a taxi is way under them. I want to buy more cars since the business is expanding but drivers are scarce to get. I have advertised for drivers and I am willing to pay a GH¢1000 a month.”
BF Cab Services hopes to become a cross-border transport service. “I want it to grow to other parts of Africa. I plan to extend to The Gambia,” he said.
Ghanaian Actor, Kweku Elliott says he uses this service most of the time. “It is very affordable and safe and he makes himself available 80 per cent of the time. What makes him different in the taxi business is the free Wi-Fi and refreshment on board,” he noted.
In an interview with Asmaa Outrhali, a foreign student in Ghana, she expressed her satisfaction with the service.
There are other professional cab services in the country like Gold Cab and Uber, which was launched in June this year and the “newbie” Taxify which began its online transport company over a week ago.
With other online cab services springing up some few months after Beautiful Feet Cab Service, Victor Adepoju is poised to stay on top of the market.
