Over the past few days, stakeholders and enthusiasts of the Kenyan automobile industry were treated to a rare kind of drama following the sudden resignation of Joseph Kairu Wambui, alias Khalif Kairo, the co-founder of Imports by Kairo (IBK) – a multimillion car dealership based in Nairobi.
The ongoing saga began on Friday, 30 September, when Kairo, in a heartfelt social media post, informed his loyal fans of his decision to step aside as the CEO and cede all his shareholding due to what he only described as “personal reasons”.
“This means that the company is now under new management.
Going forward from 1st October 2022 I will be trading under the name Kai & Karo Limited ( Kai & Karo ) with a new office location set to be announced soon,” he wrote.
In a quick rejoinder that same evening, the company’s representatives dismissed Kairo’s assertions of new management and claimed that it had never been under his stewardship in the first place.
“We wish to clarify that it has never been under his stewardship and there is no structural change in management,” they noted, promising to thereafter issue a detailed statement regarding the matter.
This seemed to be all it took to trigger Kairo, who, in response, began to spill the beans.
“Coercion, intimidation and threats. That is how I lost my company. I love my life,” he posted, indirectly implying that he was unfairly kicked out of the business which thrived under his brand name.
Up until Sunday afternoon, confusion was rife as to what exactly led to the split within the company.
Initial reports that trickled from Kairo’s circle of associates indicated that his business partner, Clement Victor Kinuthia, had orchestrated a deliberate plan of kicking him out.
Mr Kinuthia is an investor who doubles up as a Director and is now the owner.
What happened?
As a trusted insider informs us, before “Kairo” was a common name, he used to work in a yard at Lavington, he later switched to “Urban Drive” along Kiambu Road – Urban Drive.
Just a normal car salesman at any typical yard.
However, while working at Urban Drive, he soon noted a niche that likes specific premium cars.
One day, two guys approached him; Clemo and Ibra, who pitched an idea to him.
They would come in as investors if he decided to open his own car business under the name IBK as it had already started becoming popular.
In fact, Clemo is said to be the owner of a Porsche Panamera that was often spotted at Imports By Kairo (IBK).
That guy and a few others were the ones that came in as investors.
The agreement was for Kairo to control IBK while they were silent in the background.
IBK was small, and the salary and shares offered to Kairo seemed reasonable at the time.
However, what Kairo failed to realize was a clause that prohibited him from renegotiating even as the company grew bigger.
Despite this, Kairo got to work immediately, pushing cars to customers.
IBK grew to the point it was selling and importing almost 20 cars per month.
This prompted Kairo to approach the partners for a better cut, as he was still getting paid the exact amount as when they began.
The partners declined his request.
According to our sources, for the markup IBK puts on cars plus total cars sold, Kairo would have been making a cool 1M per month if he had remained at Urban Drive, but these other guys continued to pay him peanuts.
To even frustrate him further, he was removed as the CEO of IBK, so he couldn’t even have a say on what vehicles were imported.
For the better part of 2022, he was only doing YouTube reviews and customer service.
As more employees were brought to IBK, each was told to treat “Kairo” as just the brand name, nothing more.
To them, he was just a poster boy.
Having had enough, Kairo finally said they either renegotiate or he quits.
Once again, they flat-out denied any form of negotiations.
The IBK brand was already registered and Kairo could not use it anymore because he had sold his name rights unknowingly.
As things currently stand, most of IBK’s clients are bitter after Kairo registered a new business.
He still has a lot of trust from his former buyers, but minimal capital to ship in multiple units.
It is now back to the drawing board.
Kairo’s side of the story
In his latest Facebook post, Kairo confirms this sequence of events that led to his ouster.
He explains how he founded “Imports By Kairo” on his own back in 2017 and sold cars through that page until the botched partnership in 2020.
According to Kairo, even after the incorporation, he continued to develop all business strategies for the joint venture.
“After the incorporation, I continued to build Imports by Kairo, I developed all its business strategies.
I was the one who suggested Diamond Plaza as the address, I headhunted most of the staff, and I was a signatory to all its bank accounts as a full director,” his statement notes in part.
These were still humble beginnings, but everything changed immediately after the money started pouring in.
His co-founder, Clement, formed a desire to take over more control of the company.
This was done by effectively frustrating and undermining Kairo’s presence to the extent of being just one of the junior staff.
“At one point i felt that my life was in danger and from July 2022, I actively kept off the office and mostly operated from home.
In August, the situation worsened to the point where this guy was effectively delaying payments to my suppliers to frustrate me,” he explains.
After consulting his family and lawyers, he concluded he had become a prisoner inside his own company, hence the decision to leave and start from scratch.
He concludes that he will soon do a lengthy interview to properly narrate his ordeal.
Check out Khalif Kairo’s full Facebook post below.
