[phpBB Debug] PHP Warning: in file [ROOT]/viewtopic.php on line 1080: base64_decode() has been disabled for security reasons
[phpBB Debug] PHP Warning: in file [ROOT]/viewtopic.php on line 1080: base64_decode() has been disabled for security reasons
[phpBB Debug] PHP Warning: in file [ROOT]/includes/functions_content.php on line 1273: base64_decode() has been disabled for security reasons
[phpBB Debug] PHP Warning: in file [ROOT]/includes/functions_content.php on line 1273: base64_decode() has been disabled for security reasons
[phpBB Debug] PHP Warning: in file [ROOT]/includes/functions_content.php on line 1273: base64_decode() has been disabled for security reasons
[phpBB Debug] PHP Warning: in file [ROOT]/includes/functions_content.php on line 1273: base64_decode() has been disabled for security reasons
nairaland.net • View topic - Fixer-upper cars find market in Nigeria

Fixer-upper cars find market in Nigeria

Fixer-upper cars find market in Nigeria

Postby Richard Akindele » Sun Jul 09, 2006 7:14 pm

KNIGHTDALE, N.C. - Adewale Otaru recently paid $6,800 for a 2005 Honda he couldn't drive off the lot. Both doors on the driver's side were torn off when the car crashed. Part of the front panel was missing. Rubber coils and gadgets spilled uselessly out of the dashboard. The rear window lay shattered in the back seat.

But Otaru looked beyond that mangled heap and figured he could sell the thing for $21,000.

Otaru is a different kind of used-car salesman.

While most Triangle used-car dealers focus on local customers, Otaru's target market is thousands of miles away in Nigeria in western Africa.

Otaru, a native of Nigeria who now lives in Raleigh, first shipped nine cars and a motorbike to his country in April 2005. Since then he has sold about two dozen motor vehicles to his homeland's politicians, businessmen, civil servants and soldiers who want reliable transportation at a decent price.

"Most of my cars don't stay on the market two weeks because of the fuel efficiency and easy maintenance," said Otaru, 34.

There's no shortage of cars in oil-rich Nigeria, but Otaru said there's a big market for American vehicles, as well as Hondas and Toyotas that are made here.

"The cars with American specifications have a lot more options than the European and Japanese cars that are coming to Nigeria," he said. "Like power windows. A lot of the European cars still have manual windows and no sensor locks. Most of the time, they have no air conditioning. The American version is loaded with more options than the European counterpart."

Otaru, the youngest of 10 children, grew up in central Nigeria where the economy runs on rubber trees and minerals such as quartz, mica and granite. His father was a caterer, and his mother, a homemaker who ran a small clothing business.

"I want to believe so that I get my business skills from her," said Otaru, who graduated in 2001 from the University of Lagos with a degree in philosophy.

Otaru, a thin fellow with an easygoing smile, has been selling things since his early 20s. He and a cousin sold cashews and timber to markets in India and Vietnam. During his final two years of college, he bought and sold cattle.

Otaru moved to the United States in 2002. Since moving to the Triangle a year later, Otaru has worked more than one job.

He worked days in the women's shoe department at Hudson-Belk at Crabtree Valley Mall and sold jewelry at a jewelry store at night. Even now, he works as a courier for two Triangle companies.

He started the car business after relatives became concerned that he was not spending enough time at home with his new wife, Lisa.

"He was working third shift, and we barely saw each other during the day," said Lisa Otaru, who said the business has been good for the marriage. "We work together. He asks for my input, and we pray together about a lot of the decisions."

His siblings provided the startup capital for the business and found contacts in Nigeria to help sell the cars.

"My husband and I thought it would be nice to help him start something that we could also benefit from long term," Otaru's sister, Ozofu, wrote in an e-mail message from London.

Otaru keeps an eye out for wrecked cars at auctions up and down the East Coast.

"I go for the wrecked cars because they are a lot cheaper," he said. "By the time I fix it up, I still end up paying a lot less than what I would pay on the lot with the shipping costs."

Otaru said word of his business, called Otaru International, has been spreading in his native land.

"A lot of the cars have been sold before they leave the United States," he said.
Richard Akindele
Site Admin
 
Posts: 1120
Joined: Sun Apr 02, 2006 10:33 pm
Location: USA

Postby nancyfernandez » Fri Sep 12, 2008 7:17 am

Otaru is a different kind of used-car salesman.

While most Triangle used-car dealers focus on local customers, Otaru's target market is thousands of miles away in Nigeria in western Africa.

Otaru, a native of Nigeria who now lives in Raleigh, first shipped nine cars and a motorbike to his country in April 2005. Since then he has sold about two dozen motor vehicles to his homeland's politicians, businessmen, civil servants and soldiers who want reliable transportation at a decent price.

=======================================
nancy

[url= Auctions[/url]
nancyfernandez
Newbie@Nairaland
 
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Sep 12, 2008 7:07 am


Return to Autos

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest

cron