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By Staff Reporter
COST cutter car rental was founded in 2013 by Simbarashe Hunde with the view of providing the Zimbabwean market with affordable, reliable and convenient car rental solutions. Headquartered in Harare, Zimbabwe, the company was registered in 2015. In an interview with The Entrepreneurial Magazine, Hunde had this to say about his entrepreneurial journey:
Tell us more about Cost cutter and the services offered
Cost Cutter Car Rental was registered in 2015, we are into vehicle hire focusing much on individual customers, especially Zimbabweans from outside when they visit home. Our range include small vehicles, Mid SUVs and double cabs. Other complimentary services include airport pickups and drop offs.
What makes it the best car rental?
Our focus is on customer service and affordability, car rental is all about convenience, so we packaged the services in such a way that it isn’t a hustle, from booking, delivery and collection at the end of the rental period.
We also always make sure that the services are affordable as our name suggests, most importantly we packaged the services in such a way that if one is worried about their budget, clearance, luggage space and or class we got them all covered.
Tell us more about the team and the customer service?
Customer service and the right team are the keys to success in any business and these are our main strengths. A happy customer will always come back and refer others, this requires a professional and qualified team, the two cannot be separated.
The bulk of our clientele is based in first world countries where customer service experience is great, valued and practiced far much better than in developing countries, knowing your clients and speaking to their unique needs is far much more important.
What does the future hold for Cost Cutter Car Rental and what more can we expect from you as an entrepreneur?
We see ourselves as the most preferred partner in vehicle rental, spreading wings beyond Zimbabwe into SADC region and beyond, starting locally by providing car rental needs for both the individual and corporate market.
What challenges did you face in your Entrepreneurial journey, and how you did you overcome them?
There are lots of challenges in this journey, I will not exhaust them of course, I could have started with capital but I no longer believe it’s any reason to stop an entrepreneur from chasing their dreams.
Covid-19, travel restrictions both international and local.
Travel and tourism thrive where there is free movement of people. Travel restrictions affected travel and tourism business significantly, it reduced the number of people who were traveling and the past 2 years were not that easy for us.
To curb, this we leveraged much on low budget packages which the bulk of the local market people afford, additionally we widened our target market to focus much on local customers and local corporates.
Harsh economic conditions.
Travel and tourism business flourish when people have a lot of disposable income, tough economic environment means very few will afford luxury traveling. Over the years we have been trying to focus on people visiting Zimbabwe especially Zimbabweans from abroad, this has worked for us significantly especially periods outside Covid-19 travel restrictions.
What advice can you give to other entrepreneurs
Stop wasting resources on things that do not feed into your vision, that way we will complain less about lack of capital and do even more. The bulk of the time most entrepreneurs waste resources sponsoring fake lifestyles which no one cares about, be yourself if you are to make it. It’s not about proving anything to anyone it’s just about your vision.
How was life like before entrepreneurship?
I always laugh at myself when I look back. I’m a qualified accountant, spent the bulk of my employment years working as an internal auditor in the humanitarian sector.
