Business Blitz | Mowash App: Car washing convenience at your fingertips
Growing up in different areas of Durban, Ayanda Dladla was always curious with the technology around him. When he was not fixing radios he worked on building his own remote-controlled devices.
It was with this same curious mind that he started his business in 2015, capitalising on the car wash business by not just opening his own but by creating an app that would help owners connect with customers who wanted a space where they could enjoy a good old time.
What inspired the name “Mowash”?
“Mowash is actually derived from Mobile Wash. When the idea of a mobile car wash came my brother and I threw in some ideas, we didn’t want to restrict ourselves to just car washing as we had a bigger vision for the company so we eventually agreed to a short and memorable name.”
Take us back to the conceptual days of your business, what pushed you to start the app?
“Mowash started back in 2015 while I was living with my brother in Midrand. We had about four car washes within a kilometre radius yet no matter what time we went to each one we used to spend an average of two hours there and as young professionals this took a lot out of our resting or relaxation time over the weekend. It is also a big inconvenience because most of these car washes have no decent place to sit or work, even when some serve meat it is not up to standard because it is not the core of their business.”
How have you used social media as a means of capitalising on your audience?
“About 90% of our marketing is done on social media and most of our users are people who see us on social media especially Twitter, that has been doing wonders for us.”
What knowledge did you have to acquire prior to running the business?
“I worked as a Control and Automation Engineer in one of the biggest beer brewing companies in the world and I was exposed to many different technologies. I used that experience and my qualification to start. Even though when I was actually in business I realised there is way more to do above what you know or are good at such as customer interaction, doing administration work, accounting, marketing and so on. As a small company you usually have no budget for all of this so it falls on the shoulders of the owner of the company.”
What three lessons have you learnt running your business?
- Customer engagement is key
- Invest in your employees
- Never give up even when it seems what you are doing doesn’t make sense sometimes, keep your eye on the main goal