Car & General Trading Limited has rolled out training of 3,000 boda boda and tuk tuk mechanics in Kenya.
Dubbed Car-Gen Check Up, the training will be offered free of charge. It aims to equip informal sector workers with mechanical and electrical skills for two-wheelers and three-wheelers in the country.
The training also includes financial aspects including business management skills training.
Motorcycles, commonly known as boda bodas, have become the preferred mode of transport for many Kenyans over the past decade. A study by Car and General found that the boda boda sector provides one million direct jobs for riders earning a combined Ksh1 billion daily.
“We want to develop and upgrade technical and entrepreneurial capabilities of private garage mechanics for two and three-wheelers in Kenya. So far, we have trained 615 three-wheeler and 5,377 two-wheeler mechanics and we are looking at enhancing this programme,” noted the listed firm’s CEO Vijay Goodimal.
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Car and General Managing Director (MD) David Chesoni highlighted the challenge faced by boda boda operators due to lack of technical knowledge. He further noted the increased prominence of the boda boda sector.
“Today, the boda boda industry has approximately 1.2 million riders. Two and three-wheeler transport has significantly eased transport challenges,” he noted.
Official data indicates that annual registrations have doubled over the past five years to stand at 252,601 compared to 123,539 new listings in 2016.
According to the C&G study, nine out of 10 boda bodas are used for commercial purposes, representing over one million jobs created. Seventy-five percent are youth and six percent are female.