Mmmmm, now that would be telling.
We started off as Freedom Campervans - it does what it say on the tin. From a Trade Marks persepctive however it was obviously a non-starter. Apparently it's not possible to trade mark the English language. Ho humm, lawyers.
So, after 6 months of head scratching, pencil chewing, and generally boring our friends and family silly we came up with the word KIRA.
A combination of the names KIrsty & RAchel (Mike & my better halves) it's totally made up, sounds a bit New Zealandish ish and above all passes the "after-a-few-beers-in-the-pub-will-folks-remember-our-name" test.
One final benefit . . . if you have ever spent an afternoon peeling vinyl stickers off a van you'll know that shorter names are much the best option!
Business background
2005 Founded Freedom Campervans Ltd.
2003 IT Manager (nationwide retailer)
2002 MBA (Strathclyde Uni)
1998 Outdoor education (Scotland)
1992 Food factory ops manager in Costa Rica, South Africa & UK
2003 IT Manager (nationwide retailer)
2002 MBA (Strathclyde Uni)
1998 Outdoor education (Scotland)
1992 Food factory ops manager in Costa Rica, South Africa & UK
Why the campervan business?
A few major motivations got me started:
1) something niggling under my skin - an urge to create my own business having spent years working in other folks companies.
2) a love of travel, of Scotland & of getting away from it all - something I wanted to help other people experience.
3) recognition of a gap in the market - no one else seemed to be doing a particularly good job at it in this country.
Added to that... my brother (Mike) had owned a few campervans, my parents hired one in New Zealand for a month, and my uncle had built one in Australia. Maybe it's in the genes ???
1) something niggling under my skin - an urge to create my own business having spent years working in other folks companies.
2) a love of travel, of Scotland & of getting away from it all - something I wanted to help other people experience.
3) recognition of a gap in the market - no one else seemed to be doing a particularly good job at it in this country.
Added to that... my brother (Mike) had owned a few campervans, my parents hired one in New Zealand for a month, and my uncle had built one in Australia. Maybe it's in the genes ???
What makes KIRA businesses tick
There a couple of fundamentals underlying our business models - keep it simple, do what we promise, and build it so it just works every time. After that it's down to our customers - if they like what we have to offer they'll come back again and again. . . and they'll tell their friends.
My operations management background makes me a bit of a systems-bore, if it cant be systematised I wont do it. Good solid systems make it possible for us to grow our business without losing control of the basics - good, clean, reliable, campervans with consistently reliable customer service and backup. We don't offer a huge range of optional extras, we only sell a few products at Kira Direct, we only build one version of the Go-pod. Variation creates complexity, creates systems that are hard to manage, creates the opportunity for errors. I dont like errors, when we say we'll do something we will do it, every time, without fail.
My operations management background makes me a bit of a systems-bore, if it cant be systematised I wont do it. Good solid systems make it possible for us to grow our business without losing control of the basics - good, clean, reliable, campervans with consistently reliable customer service and backup. We don't offer a huge range of optional extras, we only sell a few products at Kira Direct, we only build one version of the Go-pod. Variation creates complexity, creates systems that are hard to manage, creates the opportunity for errors. I dont like errors, when we say we'll do something we will do it, every time, without fail.
Contact me
I do quite a bit of travelling so the best way to contact me is email via one of my websites contact forms. That way someone on my team will be sure to receive your message and pass it on to me promptly.
I'm always looking for opportunities to offer new products or services to my customers - if you have an idea, a question, something to offer, or just fancy a chat please do drop me a note. I'll look forward to hearing from you.
I'm always looking for opportunities to offer new products or services to my customers - if you have an idea, a question, something to offer, or just fancy a chat please do drop me a note. I'll look forward to hearing from you.
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