East Africa Touted as Key for Toyota Tsusho Integration Process
Toyota Tsusho Corporation is aiming at integrating its operations in East Africa under the CFAO Group.
Japan’s Toyota Group bought French distribution company CFAO in 2012, giving it access to businesses ranging from mobility, healthcare, consumer goods as well as technology and energy.
The integration process which began in December 2017 has created a conglomeration of 140 companies across 36 nations and a presence in 53 of the 54 African countries.
According to CFAO Group Chairman and Chief Executive Richard Bielle, the Group has 15 production facilities across the continent and intends to increase its local manufacturing, assembly and value addition capacity.
Bielle says each year they are investing over 100 million Euros in different countries and these investments are increasing as they invest more in new production units with a bigger CAPEX.
“We offer leading brands in the world solutions for Africa not only for imports but also for local production for wholesale and retail. We want to control as much as we can the value chain from the plant to the final customer, this is our business model as CFAO.”
TTC Chairman Jun Karube says they are committed to expanding its investment on the continent as the economy grows.
“Africa is so important to us that we created a new division to coordinate our business on the continent. We serve other regions through global product divisions, but for Africa created the Africa Division dedicated to handling all our products and services.” Mr. Karube said.
Kenya Country delegate and board member Amb. Dennis Awori said, CFAO will seek to expand its investment portfolio across the region through strategic partnerships and investment in infrastructure.
In Kenya, the CFAO Group will operate 8 main companies namely; Toyota Kenya, DT Dobie, Laborex Kenya, Tyre Distributors Africa, Toyota Tsusho Fertilizer Africa, Tsusho Capital, Toyota Tsusho Auto Mart Kenya and Toyota Tsusho East Africa.
