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Business Owner Driven To Succeed

Tribune photo by MICHAEL SPOONEYBARGER

The Egyptian-born Kamel initially wasn’t interested in inheriting his father’s business. He earned an accounting degree fro USF and worked as an accountant.

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By JOSE PATINO GIRONA

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 3, 2008

TAMPA HEIGHTS - Ehab Kamel walks out of his office and into the lot that holds more than 50 used school buses.

He takes in the inventory, points out a few of the buses and rattles off their place of origin: Kentucky, Georgia, West Virginia and Michigan.

The big, yellow utilitarian buses appear the same, but Kamel recognizes the subtleties.

"They have different engines, different transmissions, different manufacturers, different capacity," said Kamel, owner of Tampa Bus Market, 3401 N. Florida Ave.

Kamel, 38, took over the family business in 2002. His father, Ahmed, founded the company on the 2.3-acre lot in 1978 after starting a bus service for private schools and discovering a market for old buses.

Ehab Kamel finds the buses by contacting school districts nationwide; districts also contact him when they are holding an auction. He has been as far north as Michigan and as far west as New Mexico and Utah.

"It is not easy finding them," Kamel said. "It looks easy because there are thousands.

"This business is hunting. These buses don't come to you; you have to go to them."

After buying a bus, Kamel or one of his employees drives it to Tampa, where it is taken to a mechanic for maintenance. Some are sold locally to private schools, church groups and day care centers. But the primary market is Central America, where the buses are used for public transportation.

The countries there are poor and don't have bus manufacturers, Kamel said.

"Without them, you'll have a massive number of buses with nowhere to go," he said.

Kamel said he sells about 200 buses a year, with prices from $4,000 to $10,000. The price doesn't include custom fees or shipping costs, which rose six months ago from $1,500 to $2,200. He ships the buses through the ports in Tampa, Miami and Cape Canaveral.

Higher gas prices haven't hurt demand but have hit his bottom line as he pays more to drive the vehicles to Tampa. To stay competitive, Kamel said he doesn't pass along the additional costs to customers.

The Egyptian-born Kamel initially wasn't interested in inheriting his father's business. He said he earned a bachelor's in accounting from the University of South Florida in 1996 and worked as an accountant.

"It is normal for people who grow up in a business not to want to take it over because they always see the negative side of the business and they ignore the positive side," he said. "They see the family struggle with the management of the business."

Kamel said that eventually he recognized that his father had established a solid business and decided it would be imprudent not to follow through. "As you grow, you see there is an opportunity and you have to seize it before it is too late," he said.

He has learned to adapt and find pleasure in the business.

"The positives are many," said Kamel, who lives in New Tampa with his wife and their four children. "You're your own boss. You travel. If you want to summarize it, it is freedom."

He finds satisfaction in creating a bond with a customer.

"If I sell a bus and this customer keeps coming back, it is great," Kamel said. "You feel you've done your job."

He enjoys traveling the country and meeting people. In a small town in West Virginia, he stopped for breakfast, and the waitress asked where he was from. When he said Florida, she and the other customers peppered him with questions about Walt Disney World, hurricanes and beaches.

"I am a salesman at the end," Kamel said. "I like to talk to people. There is no successful salesman that doesn't like to talk to people."

Reporter Jose Patino Girona can be reached at (813) 259-7659 or jpatino@tampatrib.com.

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