Transportation Of Kindergarten To Primary School Students As A Business

When you are keen and observant you realize infinite business ideas. In your day to day adventures, always have an eye and ear out for business opportunities. There are many things we see and even rely on that are business ideas you can consider. Today I am discussing a business idea I have been observing for a while now. Recently it leapt out at me because it got much closer to my awareness. My young sister’s daughter, Anita, just started Grade One. The school she is going to is about 6 kilometres from where she stays. To get there and back she is ferried by a kombi dedicated to that service – that is the business idea in focus today.

Approaches

The business is to provide a transport service for students from kindergarten to primary school. That is an age range that spans from around 5 to around 13 years. The choice for this age range is because of the value proposition. Parents or guardians of children that age are particular about their well-being. They consider them too young and vulnerable which is why they would want them closely protected and monitored.

This can be different for those older than 13 where they can mostly be considered more responsible. As in, they are typically responsible enough to go to and fro school without any oversight. (Side note: this does not disqualify niching in that age range; the service is still relevant).

The reason why I focused on the 13 and below age range is the apparent market. You package this business using a subscription model. You can do it in several ways depending on your discretion. For example, you can stipulate that clients pay the subs weekly, fortnightly or monthly. Your service will then entail picking up clients’ children at a designated point and getting them to school. For their return, you will do the same. Again, you choose differently e.g. you can do door to door pick and drops. However, the former i.e. a designated pick and drop point is the best.

Key Requirements

This is one of the easiest businesses to start. You need a vehicle and a driver and that is it. The vehicle can be any that comfortably and safely accommodates the children. This can be vehicles like kombis, minibuses; even small passenger vehicles. It all boils down to how many children you have to ferry. The more they are and the smaller your vehicle is, the more the trips. That might not be good for your returns since that leads to more fuel consumption.

The vehicle must have all its paperwork in order. It must be fully insured. The paperwork also applies to the driver; they must be fully licensed. The vehicle must be regularly serviced. Most importantly, the driver must be mature and responsible with children. Ignoring or overlooking these areas can lead to serious problems. These are human lives you will be dealing with 5 or 6 days a week.

It would not hurt to even register the business as we always encourage. It would be ideal to have a centralized communication platform e.g. a WhatsApp group. You should be able to engage the driver and parents or guardians centrally when needs are.

Human And Financial Capital

At the very least, you can just do with one employee. In some cases, you can actually be the driver. That way you will not need any human capital but yourself. Financial capital depends on where you are starting from. If you already have the vehicle then you are good to go. If not, you might enter an arrangement with someone who has. Alternatively, you can just purchase the vehicle so capital needs are contextual. Once the business takes off and you are financially prudent, it can sustain itself.

Market

The market is segmented so you have to choose how you will niche. Depending on the relative proximities of schools in your locality, you can cater for all or some of them. The shorter the distances, the lesser the costs, and the better the returns will be. As an example, if you have schools within a radius of at most 10 kilometres that would be ideal. Even if you might have to do multiple trips to and fro per day that would be okay so long time is kept for the students.

This is an easy business to start and get going. When school cycles are up and running with no lockdowns, it is time to make money. There will be seasonal dry spells when schools are closed but that will just be about a month at a time. Just consider some areas around you and you might notice gaps that can be filled by this business idea.