Gretcorn Born After Falling By The Wayside

Pauline Dikuelo | Monday August 19, 2019 14:32

 

After not doing well during his Form Three examinations, Manyenyengwa decided to find other ways of survival. 

Without any formal skills, he started off by volunteering to assist with tyre fitting cars at a care service company until they absorbed him.

“Seeing my colleagues proceeding to Senior Schools didn’t discourage me and rather inspired me to do something about my life. Passion drove me to persevere and I was eager to learn as well,” he said.

It took Manyenyengwa a short time to perfect his craft of wheel alignment, wheel balancing and tyre patching.

People got impressed with his work and started engaging him during emergencies as he would then save the money.

It was later in 2016 when he decided to register his company and started assisting his clients when he knocked off from work.

For his business to take off, he got a loan from his younger brother and his mother to buy machinery.

“By then, I was employed and it wasn’t easy. I would do tenders when I knocked off and on weekends, which strained me but nevertheless kept me focused because my aim was to build my own brand,” he recalled.

According to Manyenyengwa, by the time his employer closed shop last year, his business had already made a mark in the industry.

Gretcorn Investments, which has been growing in leaps and bounds offers truck wheel alignment and would soon also do the balancing once the machinery arrives. 

He said even though the market is saturated, his work has been speaking volumes as he has been surviving through referrals.

In addition, Manyenyengwa said he beats his competition because his business is mobile and convenient. However, lack of a balancing machine costs him, he added.

“Once the balancing machine arrives, it will boost my business and help me penetrate the market. My clientele base consists of big companies, which mostly have trucks,” he noted.

Manyenyengwa explained that running a mobile business was not easy as petrol was one of the major hurdles he encountered.

He said he usually engages people on a temporary basis depending on the type of jobs he gets.

“I have one permanent employee and I plan to employ more once my business grows because we would then need to have full-time administration staff that would handle bookings and other works to assist,” he said.