Satisfied customers drive Valley limo service’s success. Sometimes a headline says it all. I have included select excerpts from an article written by the Arizona Business Gazette’s Georgann Yara. Check out the full link to the original article at the end.
Misgana Kebede was getting ready for the birth of his first child when he decided to walk away from a promising corporate career and pursue his childhood dream of being a business owner.
Two years later, the success of Kebede’s Phoenix-based Accent Transportation Services is proof that the fantasy he had as a boy growing up in Ethiopia has become reality.
The majority of his clients are repeat customers who need rides to and from the airport and limousine or car services for VIPS who may want a night on the town. His fleet includes luxury sedans and SUVs, stretch limos and a mini-coach that can be used for shuttling large parties.
Vehicles are outfitted with just about every detail needed for comfort and convenience, like complimentary in-car Wi-Fi, satellite radio and outlets for recharging laptops, cell phones and iPods. The payment process is streamlined with paperless reservations and e-receipts. Hourly rates range from $50 for a sedan to $110 for a mini coach. Airport transfers range from $45 to $125, depending on the vehicle and distance.
When Kebede and his wife, Bilen, opened Accent in May 2008, neither had any experience in the limo industry. Before that, Kebede was working as an administrator for Honeywell dealing with international clients.
He was moving up in the company, studying for his MBA and being groomed for the fast track, but Kebede felt a professional void. He had worked in the tourism industry at hotels and theme parks after high school and during college, and enjoyed the customer-service aspect. “Sitting in a cubicle was great and I learned a lot, but there wasn’t much opportunity. The service industry was always in me. That’s what I loved to do,” Kebede said.
Kebede quit his job and the couple leveraged their credit to start Accent. Bilen was pregnant with their first child and the economy began its decline. But Kebede did not consider backing out. “It was very risky. From the time I started, (I thought) it’s do or die, ” he said.
