|
|
Burundi: Two Multi-Million Tyre Centres Set
 |
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
East African Business Week (Kampala)
5 May 2008
Posted to the web 5 May 2008
Walter Isenged
Bujumbura
Two state-of-the art multi-million dollar tyre-centers are set to open in the country's capital. One of the centres that are meant for cars and trucks is expected to be located in the city centre and the other will be located in the industrial area, near the famed white sand beaches along Lake Tanganyika.
Two Ugandan companies Raghwani Construction, and Future Architects, have been identified as the main contractors in this huge project.
East African Business Week has established that the tyres will be of the Pirelli brand and will be built by Groupe Ladak, a huge import and export conglomerate handling major brands like TVS motorcycles, Sadolin Paints, Panasonic and leading tyre brands Pirelli, Apollo and Kumho.
According to officials, the centers once complete will be ultra modern facilities using fully computerised tyre balancing machines with plasma flat screens, wheel alignment machines with blue-tooth technology and a fully dedicated truck center with the capacity to change the tyres of a fully loaded truck (up to 60tons).
The services offered will include tyre change, professional tyre and tube repair, alignment and balancing, oil change, shock absorber, brake and exhaust pipe replacement and fitting.
It will be manned by fully trained and certified personnel.
Founded in 1951 by Mr. Akbarali Ladak as ETS Ladak, the "Groupe Ladak" started off as a trading company that by 1978 had grown into a fully-fledged import and export business and where the sole representatives of National Panasonic products such as dry-cell batteries, televisions, stereos, torches and radios.
By 2001, the group, now consisting of Mr. Akbarali's sons and grandchildren, had become Groupe Ladak and was representing 5 international brands, and employed expatriates from Africa, India and Europe in a bid to be competitive and modern.
In an interview, Mr. Nadeem Ladak, the group Sales and Marketing Director told East African Business Week that one division of the group had grown to have a market share of over 50% in the tyre sector.
He said the group's entry into the tyre business was borne of the fact that the tyre industry was previously casual and users were never sure about the quality of the tyres they purchased and there was no after-sales service whatsoever.
"We pride ourselves with our after-sales service which is unique in the region. This ensures that not only are our customers satisfied, they will always come back," Said Mr Ladak. The group boasts of such clientele as the President's office, major governmental agencies, NGOs and International agencies.
|
"We can confidently say we control about 90% of the motorcycle market share in Burundi," he said. "Most of the motorcycles, seen in Burundi are of the famed TVS brand.
"We sell from 70cc (engine capacity) bikes. This is because Burundi is hilly country and any smaller engine size would not function properly," he added further.
The abundant TVS Motorcycles are used as taxis, ferrying passengers at a more affordable rate than the colourful car and van taxis available all over Burundi.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 East African Business Week. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
