Articles

African Business Partners Conference – Road to the Future

"Sumitomo Rubber South Africa (Pty) Ltd (SRSA) was proud to host the first ever African Business Partners Conference in June this year at the world-renowned Fairmont Mara Safari Club on the Masai Mara Nature Reserve in Kenya."

Of special relevance was the attendance of Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd President and CEO, Ikuji Ikeda, who along with Sumitomo Rubber South Africa CEO, Riaz Haffejee and A. Govind Ram (SRSA Head: International Business), Take Ikeuchi (SRSA Head: Corporate Planning), Ryutaro Ota (SRSA Head: Finance) and their respective teams, hosted 33 of the company’s Africa business partners to a three day conference filled with sharing of ideas.

In addition to the networking and relevant presentations prepared by selected business partners, the delegates were treated to the awe inspiring beauty of the majestic African savannah. The conference culminated in a Gala Awards Dinner, with the main recipients being:

• SPID (Dunlop Zone in Africa Excellence Award)
• National Tyre Services - Zimbabwe (Endurance Award)
• Naseem Al Barari – Chad (Top Performing New Distributor)
• NAS Tyre Services Ltd. – Tanzania (Fastest Growing Sumitomo Distributor)
• WABCO (Daldhis Group) – Kenya (Fastest Growing Falken Distributor)
• Alves Bandeira International – Angola (Fastest Growing Dunlop Distributor)
• Rana Motors – Ghana (Consistent Growth – Dunlop Distributor)
• AutoXpress – Kenya (Innovation Award)

SRSA would like to thank all their African business partners for taking the time to attend this conference. It was a truly valuable experience to have all partners together building relationships.