Get to know Ikenna Ordor; he is the founder of Starr Luxury, an easy-to-use on-demand luxury travel platform that allows users to secure automobiles right to their doorstep. He started the company in 2016 after he pivoted into the transport business between 2012 and 2013.
“Something I definitely saw in the market is choice. I believe our clients or the consumers in our ecosystem should have palatable choice of their options of luxury, and the ease of accessing luxury,” Ordor told AfroTech.
“My industry is known as one where some of the largest providers or luxury car hire don’t have instant pricing available on their websites. We should be able to be able to see pricing instantly, be able to book instantly online, and also have the ease of delivery of a Lamborghini to your home address in the morning or the ease of requesting a Rolls-Royce to arrive at your home three hours from now because you have an event and would like to arrive in style.”
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Becoming an entrepreneur seemed like a natural progression for the entrepreneur. He grew up watching his mother become a successful entrepreneur.
“I grew up in Nigeria, and when I was about 14 I moved over to the UK,” Ordor told Forbes. He said his mother was a grafter, who bought houses and was always interested in buying and selling.
“I always emulated that–I’d go take trips to look for houses to purchase. I’d say my influences really came from watching my mom,” said Ordor.
While at the university, he ended up in entrepreneurship when he decided to host an event one night with a few friends. He eventually started a transport car business but later sold it and birthed Starr Luxury, which he said has been fully bootstrapped.
Starr Luxury hires chauffeurs at competitive rates that can be used for music videos, weddings, long lease, TV and film, and promotions, among others, according to AfroTech.
Presently, the company operates in London as well as the United Arab Emirates and United States cities like Atlanta, GA, Austin, TX, and Houston, TX. It also has access to 250 million vehicles. In the next three years, it aims to reach 1 billion vehicles.
“We looked at the most business cities in terms of tourism, in terms of business, and in also in terms of population. So those are what we made our choices on,” Ordor explained. “Now, as we go forward to 2024, we will be looking at cities next to the most busy cities in terms of business or tourism because again, it compounds if you have a business city next to the other it also lends that people travel to neighboring cities.”
Touching on funding, Ordor plans to “turbo charge” the company through a $10 million raise aided by the right investors or partners, he said.
