Global Entrepreneurship Month: Educating The Next Generation

Global Entrepreneurship Month: Educating The Next Generation

Vusi Macheke has a long history in the taxi industry, starting as a young man in Tembisa. After working as a driver for nine years, he launched his business as a taxi operator by buying a second-hand Siyaya taxi. His first new taxi was an Inyathi minibus taxi, bought through SA Taxi. Over the years, he has grown his fleet to 19 taxis, with three financed through SA Taxi. As he says: “SA Taxi helps when you don’t qualify for finance from the banks. When you need a taxi, they do not throw you away – they help.”

Mr Macheke came to hear about SA Taxi through the chairman of the taxi association he belongs to. “At the time, my taxi was old and the chairman told us to try to get new taxis that will last long. When my turn came to get the money from the association stokvel, he told me that SA Taxi would help me. I made the application, paid the deposit from the stokvel, and was approved. I got my first new taxi – and it worked very well for me because I managed to use the money from it to buy a Toyota Quantum next.”

He says that running his own business has helped him advance his life and support his family. “I didn’t get to finish school and couldn’t get a job, so I decided to try this industry, and it works for me. I’m supporting my children and my family, and I now have children who are going to university through it.”

Mr Macheke says he is starting to see the benefits of the SANTACO ownership transaction with SA Taxi. “[As a result of the deal], we now have patrol vehicles that look after our taxis and our routes.”

Mr Macheke employs 19 drivers and has a trusted mechanic that he uses to fix and service his taxis. In terms of the telematics offered by SA Taxi, he says: “A lot of my fleet has tracking devices, which tell you where the taxis are at any time. It can also help recover a taxi if it is stolen.”

“SA Taxi has helped me to be where I am because I was able to finance a new taxi from them followed by a second. They have helped me grow my business.”