Starting a Taxi Cab Business in Zimbabwe and the Business Plan

Taxis in Zimbabwe offer a valuable service to people who require transport to and from a number of places. People often use taxis to go to and fro work, ranks, airports, hospitals, lodges, night clubs, CBD and suburbs.  This is profitable business idea which doesn’t require huge capital. Success with a taxi company requires good management skills, a good marketing plan, and compliance with all the Zimbabwe local legislation. 

Before you start a taxi business in Zimbabwe, you have to decide on the location your taxis will be based, and the size of your business i.e. the number of taxis you will be starting with.  You should always carry out a feasibility study, market research and write a business plan before you venture into any business. You should decide where you are going to operate, and know the demand of taxis in that area. Determine your niche. Research the competition in the area, research their services and rates.Do not make the mistake of starting a taxi business or any other business just because someone is doing it and he/she says it’s profitable.

What you need

Vehicles

The largest startup cost for taxi business is for purchasing the vehicles. You have to make a decision of which type of vehicles to buy, and where to purchase them. The popular vehicle models for taxis in Zimbabwe include Toyota Vitz, Honda Fit, Toyota Spacio, Toyota Fun Cargo, Toyota Raum and Toyota Sienta. These vehicles are suitable for the taxi business as they are fuel savers and cheaper to maintain as the spare parts are readily available.

The majority of taxis in Zimbabwe are ex-Japanese vehicles. The vehicle can be purchased online from Japanese companies such as BeForward, and then shipped to Zimbabwe. However, this process takes many weeks for the vehicles to arrive in Zimbabwe, so most people purchase the ex-Japanese vehicles from garages in Beitbridge, on the South African side of the border.

You will have to brand the taxi with the name of your taxi company. Toplights can also be installed on the top of the taxi to help riders more easily identify the cabs, and the cost depends on attachment method, personalization and lighting choice. If you are going to have many taxis, you will also need some form of radio or cellphone communications system, so your dispatcher can contact drivers and vice versa.  You can also install taxicab metres on all your vehicles, to record the distance traveled by the taxis.

Insurance and Licences

Every vehicle is required by Road Traffic Act to have Third Party Insurance. This is a legal requirement, and you cannot operate a taxi cab transport business without this insurance. This is the most basic cover and protects the client (or insured/policyholder) against loss or damage to third Party Properties in the course of driving, and death or bodily injury to these Third Parties only. All public transport businesses are also required to have passengers insurance.

It’s better to take fully comprehensive insurance for your public transport business. This is the most extensive and complete form of motor insurance cover, which covers third party insurance, fire and theft, passengers, and also provides accidental damage to the policyholder’s vehicle. It is important to protect all of the assets of the business. Appropriate and adequate insurance coverage is an important part of this. Insurance cover can be arranged through an insurance company directly, through an agent of an insurance company, or through an insurance broker. There are many insurance companies in Zimbabwe.

To operate a taxi cab transport business in Zimbabwe, you need to pay Vehicle license fee, obtain an Operator’s license, a route authority, and certificate of fitness from the VID.

A taxi in Harare CBD

Management and Staff

The number of employees you need will depend on the size of your business. You require drivers for the taxis. The drivers need to be monitored closely, to ensure that they are not stealing from the business, and that they meet the daily revenue targets. There is need for someone to handle finance and accounting issues. For a small transport business, this can be done by the owner of the business. As the business grows, there is need to hire full time staff that will be responsible for all the day to day transaction accounting for the transport business, and management of the organization’s cash flow, ensuring there are enough funds available to meet the day to day payments.

Large taxi companies need dispatch rooms. It should be managed by highly skilled Controllers with expertise in Vehicle Allocation and Monitoring as well as highly familiar with the cities they are based. The dispatch rooms will consist of a call centre where customers can call requesting for taxis. The dispatch operators will then communicate with the nearest free taxi cab using eg two way radios to allocate a taxi to the customer.

Depending on the size of the business, you may also need mechanics, supervisors, and operations managers.

Market for the Taxi Cab Business

There are lots of potential customers for a taxi business in Zimbabwe. Taxis are convenient as they drop people at their exact destinations unlike kombis. You can get corporate clients like companies as some prefer outsourcing transport services to taxi cab companies eg  Employees may stay late at work thus companies hire taxis to transport them to their homes.  Taxis can be used to escort school children to and from school as they are safe and convenient. Cross boarders will have a lot of luggage and will need a taxi from the bus ranks to their homes. Couples may need to be escorted to and from lodges. People may need taxi services for short routes within a specific suburb which are not plied by kombis or within the CBD. People hire taxis when drunk because they are safe. Some people hire taxis if they are not familiar with the place or the route. Some people don’t prefer to use minibuses because of prestigious reasons, especially the middle and high income earners eg if their car has gone for service, they would rather hire taxis. 

Pre-written Business Plan for Taxi Transport Business : Comprehensive Version, Short Bank Loan Version, Automated Excel Financial Statements

For an in-depth analysis of the taxi transport business in Zimbabwe, purchase our business plan. We decided to introduce the business plans after noting that many Zimbabweans were venturing into the taxi business without a full understanding of the industry, market, how to run the business, the risks involved, profitability of the business and the costs involved, leading to a high failure rate of their businesses.

Our business plan will make it easier for you to launch and run a taxi cab business successfully, fully knowing what you are going into, and what’s needed to succeed in the business. It will be easier to plan and budget as the taxi business plan will lay out all the costs involved in setting up and running the business. The taxicab business plan is designed uniquely for the Zimbabwean market.

Uses of the Taxicab Business Plan (PDF, Word And Excel)

The taxi cab business plan can be used for many purposes including:

• Raising capital from investors/friends/relatives
• Applying for a bank loan
• Start-up guide to launch your taxi business
• As a project proposal
• Assessing profitability of the taxicab business
• Finding a business partner
• Assessing the initial start-up costs so that you know how much to save
• Manual for current business owners to help in business and strategy formulation

Contents of the Taxi Cab Business Plan (PDF, Word And Excel)

The business plan includes, but not limited to:

• Market Analysis
• Industry Analysis
• Automated Financial Statements (monthly cash flow projections, income statements, cash flow statements, balance sheets, break even analysis, loan repayment calculations, start-up costs)
• Marketing Strategy
• Risk Analysis
• SWOT & PEST Analysis
• Operational Requirements
• Government regulations, Licence requirements and Licence Fees
• Operational Strategy
• Why some Zimbabweans in taxi business fail, so that you can avoid their mistakes
• Ways to raise capital to start your taxicab transport business in Zimbabwe

The Taxi Transport business plan package consist of 4 files

1. Taxi Transport Business Plan – PDF file (Comprehensive – 68 pages)
2.  Taxicab Business Plan – Editable Word File (Comprehensive – 68 pages)
3. Taxi Business Plan Bank Version – Editable Word File (Short version for applying for a loan – 36 pages)
4. Taxi Cab Business Plan Automated Financial Statements – (Editable Excel file)

The business plan financials are in USD currency. 

The financial statements are automated. This implies that you can change eg the revenue per route, number of trips done etc, and all the other financial statements will automatically adjust to reflect the change. 

Get the Taxi Transport Business Plan (PDF, Word And Excel)

We decided to make them affordable for anyone who would want a taxi business plan, and the price for pre-written business plans is only ZWL$350 000 for soft copies. When you pay via PayPal, Mastercard or Visa Card, the soft copy costs US$25.

You can purchase via Paynow using Ecocash, One Money or Telecash. You just click Pay now (scroll down)  and you will then be taken to Pay now website where you make the payment. Just follow the instructions; you will be done with the payment process in 2 minutes. We will email the business plan (PDF format, Microsoft word format, and a Microsoft Excel file with the financial statements)  to you within 24 hours, using the email address you provided when you were paying.

If you have PayPal, MasterCard or Visa Card, you can purchase the business plan via PayPal or DPO Payment Gateway.  You just click Buy now (scroll down) and you will then be taken to the PayPal or DPO website where you make the payment. Just follow the instructions; you will be done with the payment process in 2 minutes. We will email the business plan (PDF format, Microsoft word format, and a Microsoft Excel file with the financial statements) to you within 24 hours, using the email address you provided when you were paying.

You can also purchase soft copies at our offices in Harare. Visit  StartupBiz Zimbabwe, Suite 201, 2nd Floor, Morgan House, George Silundika Avenue (between 1st Street & 2nd Street), Harare . The cost of the business plan is ZWL$350 000 (soft copies).

For any questions, other payment options, email us on shop@startupbiz.co.zw , call/whatsapp us on +263778798072 (Whatsapp us by clicking the link https://wa.me/263778798072) .

Taxi Business Plan 

Click Buy now to purchase using Paypal, MasterCard or VisaCard (US$25)

Click Pay Now to purchase using EcoCash, One Money or TeleCash (ZWL$350 000)  

We wish you the best in your taxicab business. Check out  more business ideas and our collection of business plans.  Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and subscribe to receive notifications of new posts in your email.

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