MakCik Travels (Exclusive Interview): Travel companionship service for ladies

Living nowadays especially in 2020, it becomes an insecurity for us as a lady to go out even just to a 3km nearby shop to our house. The first question that came out of our mind is “How can I get there?” Taxi? Grab? Errr, that sounds so vulnerable and dangerous especially if it is at night.

Don’t worry, chill as now we have…MakCik Travels! The only travel companionship service for ladies! We at WOKE managed to catch up with the founder of MakCik Travels to bring to you all about this interesting service.

The Cool Bears interviewing MakCik Travels

All about the services

The Cool Bears: Do you mind sharing how this idea of setting up a companionship business came about?

Ms. Sazlina: It is all started with my daughter, Siti Sarah when she is studying at her college. Being a student, they need to have transportation every time they are going back to their hometown or just went for a walk in the town. Sarah then decided to offer a transportation service where she will drive the students to any place, especially to the train station. But, Sarah only offers this service to female students only.

So, I as a mother see this as an opportunity to build a business and company. So after Sarah finished her studies, we started our first transportation service which is now called MakCik Drive at Bangi. From there, we received a high demand for the service until today. MakCik Drive is different from companionship service. For the companionship service, it is called MakCik Chaperone.

The Cool Bears: Can you tell us more about MakCik Drive and MakCik Chaperone?

Ms. Sazlina: As I mentioned just now, MakCik Drive was the first service that we offer. It is an e-hailing service where we pick up and send the customers to their destination. We receive quite a lot of demand from the eldest as they feel vulnerable to use other e-hailing services such as Grab. They are also parents that use the MakCik Drive service to send their kids to school.

As for MakCik Chaperone, we offer this service as we receive requests from people that want a companion for their mother that stays far away from them. Most of them are working so they are unable to keep their parents company. This is where we got the idea to offer MakCik Chaperone service.

During the first phase of Movement Control Order (MCO), we offer a new service which is MakCik Runner as some movement was restricted. Apart from that, we also launch a new service before this pandemic that is supposed to start this year which is MakCik Explorer. However, it cannot be done as movements whether in Malaysia or overseas are restricted at that time.

The Cool Bears: Why should ladies out there use MakCik Travels’ service?

Ms. Sazlina: Ladies out there should give our service a try as it allows them to travel with peace of mind without worrying about their safety. This is because our services are personalized services. We are different from Grab. Customers can send us their details through Whatsapp or website if they are interested in our services and we will give the quotation. If they agree with the quotation, only then can we proceed with the booking by selecting our companion or driver that is available at that time. Apart from that, we also can drive the ladies to their workplace or back home to help with their tiring day of work. We offer a price range as minimum as RM17 subject to the traffic and distance.

The Cool Bears: So, how did you do the selection of drivers or companions? 

Ms. Sazlina: When we receive the details of our customers through Whatsapp or the website, we will pass the booking to our agents that are available to accept the job. Currently, we have agents from 7 states which are KL, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Kedah, Perak, Penang and Johor Bahru.

The Cool Bears: What is the most requested service by your customers?

Ms. Sazlina: Our most requested service is MakCik Drive. There are customers that book MakCik Drive to pick up or send them to the airport early in the morning. Some of them are the elderly who are going for dialysis. All of these bookings must be made at least one day earlier.

Challenges and Future Plan

The Cool Bears: In this business, what are the challenges that you have to face?

Ms. Sazlina: It is the perception of our society that we need to face. Some of them thought that our services like MakCik Chaperone will make people neglect their parents as they can leave it to us. It is totally not true because our main goal is to serve people that are in need of our help. Apart from that, our service is also requested by some men. So, it is our responsibility to explain to them the concept of our service which is only for ladies.

The Cool Bears: What is your future plan for MakCik Travels

Ms. Sazlina: We need more ladies drivers and companions for states other than KL because our services outside of KL are not as active as in KL. Besides that, we also want to digitalize our service so that we can accept on the spot bookings such as other e-hailing services.

Words of advice

The Cool Bears: What would your advice be to people out there that wanted to start a business?

Ms. Sazlina: If you want to start a business, find a niche that you can master and really understand it. As for me, I am a lecturer in the field of health. I notice that some patients have transportation problems to attend their appointment at the hospital. Here is also where I got the idea to establish this business. You need to have the expertise that you can offer to people and think outside of the box. Another thing is to focus on only one thing and work it out. Gain knowledge especially in marketing and ask people that are knowledgeable.

Getting the chance to interview the founder of MakCik Travels really amazed me on how creative they are in contributing to the society. Indeed, we need more and more businesses that can help to solve our problems!

If you would like to use MakCik Travels’ service, feel free to head over to their website.

Email: [email protected]

Phone: +6010-228 4020 

Facebook: makciktravelshq

Instagram: makciktravelshq

Ain Syuhada
Ain Syuhada
A girl with big dreams.

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