I recently caught up with Kingston university graduate, Jayesh Hirani, who talks us through his startup journey and his company - Safer Minicabs. Jayesh who graduated from Kingston university in 2009 studying Software Engineering has devoted most of his time since graduating into making his business work, getting the technology right and he's hoping that his latest app which was launched October last year convinces people that his business is here to stay.

Hi Jayesh, great to have you on YHP, how are you doing today?

Doing great, thanks for asking.

Can you give us some background information about yourself?

I am 25 and from London, went to Kingston University where I studied Software Engineering. My core skills are in the technology space and products, I love building products and then pushing them out into the market place and seeing the results.

So Jayesh, tell me about yourself growing up? What was your ambition? Were you the entrepreneurial - making a quick buck type?

Well it depends what you want to know about my growing up side but I was certainly not the business type whilst growing up. I was more interested in going into things that were fun e.g. the police force, army and security services type places and therefore, my goals were completely different to where I am to date.

However, on the other hand I was the type who was interested in making some quick money which would be by selling small bits here and there where I used to collect coupons to get the Coca Cola Sony Ericson phone which I would then sell on, sell mobile phones and SIM cards on various networks and furthermore, I was into selling IT kit so things like hard drives, ram memory etc… this gave me the quick learning on the buying and selling process and how to mark up your prices to make a profit.

Let's talk about Safer Minicabs, how did the idea come about?

The idea came about whilst at Kingston University during my final year. I was developing an app for taxis at the time for my final year dissertation and was fascinated about GPS and mapping technologies and the impact it can have on everyone. I then thought if I am involved in social and community related things to help make a difference I thought why not the same in my business, have an aspect that does exactly that. So I built the same for minicabs but made sure customers can be safe and get quotes and allow them to make bookings.

Can you elaborate for those people still wondering what Safer Minicabs is still about and how they can get involved in it?

Safer Minicabs is a mobile app for minicabs that allows customers to get a quote for the cheapest or the quickest fare within 90 seconds. The app has a panic button and live customer tracking which means you can be assured you are safe at all times. Our aim of the service is to ensure we increase security for our passengers but also get you the fare which is the cheapest or the quickest.

We work towards our safety goals by working alongside our supporting partners such as Camden Council, Camden Police, Vodafone, UnLtd – The Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs and many others.

Safer Minicabs app is available on the iPhone and Android so feel free to go and check it out,, remember if it didn’t work for you then that would be due to coverage so please be supportive and let us know and we will try and bring in coverage in the area you may use it.

How were you able to fund the business?

Safer Minicabs venture was funded in various ways, it invested into the venture using a combination of personal funds, grants and external funding which we do not wish to disclose on the types they were.

Tell us about the early days, what would you say was the most challenging in setting up the company?

The most challenging part of Safer Minicabs was the know how of the product. When I first came up with the idea I struggled to understand what the product will actually do, how it will look, what information will be processed to show the customer and the companies, who gets paid and how and how much do we make. It was a pretty tough business and when you have an idea you really got to understand this and until you don’t you cannot build a product or have any partners to come onboard to help you in anyway.

What has been some of the most crucial things you have done to grow your business?

The most crucial thing we have done at Safer Minicabs has been partnering and working alongside Camden Council and Metropolitan Police Camden who helps promote the service to the night time economy. This gives us the creditability to keep reiterating our safety position because of the partnerships created.

What would has been your most memorable moment so far on your journey?

Hmm, a tough question here. At Safer Minicabs there has not any specific memorable moment. But the best thing that ever has happened to us is getting lawyers to be on outside to work with us on pro bono basis for a number of areas. As we all know lawyers would generally work towards pay checks and very rarely they would like to do work for free. When we had a lot of interest from lawyers it kind of made it exciting because it meant we got a lot of support from various lawyers in Data Protection to commercial contracts to communications to promotional deals contacts which could of cost us £50k+.

What has been some of the most crucial things you have done to grow your business?

The most crucial parts we have done to grow Safer Minicabs is by continuously bring on new partners who value our mission and see they can help but on the other hand we improved the product so customers and companies user experience was better and as a result of this it helped us grow the business and move forward.

What three pieces of advice would you offer entrepreneurs starting out today?

If I had to give advice on starting out then it would be simple and they would be the following:

1. Make sure you know your business, service or product you want to develop because believe me if you don’t then when someone is standing in front of you wanting to know more will tear you to pieces in matter of seconds and you will have no chance in defending unless you know your idea inside out, so be careful and be prepared!

2. Once you know what you want then you will know the types of people you may need to connect with or bring on, now this is the part where you network and keep on networking to build contacts, most important thing about networking is don’t EVER feel the person your speaking to cant help you for what you want so you move away, they could be the person who could potentially connect you to someone you need, been there and had it myself

3. Finally make it happen, now you can spend some of your own cash whether you work part time or raise from friends and family but you ultimately as the Entrepreneur needs to get the ball rolling and then others will follow

What plans do you have now to expand your business further in 2012?

The plans for the 2012 and simple but due to commercial confidence we cannot mention them all but what we can say is Safer Minicabs will be rolled out across the UK with apps on all platforms you can think of.

Follow me personally at @jayeshhirani and Safer Minicabs at @saferminicabs or like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/saferminicabs or visit www.saferminicabs.com