Tyre Management Solutions in Kenya: Bharat Doshi Gives an Overview of Treadsetters

Bharat Doshi, Director of Treadsetters, gives an overview of the company. In Kenya, Treadsetters is the leading tyre management solutions provider.

“We have been present in the tire business for more than 25 years. In 2003, we left the management with Goodyear, one of our partners. We had a fallout with them in 2011, so we then separated from them and went on to take the distribution rights for Bridgestone Tires. For five years, we were not directly involved in management. In 2018, we suffered a major cybercrime theft. This is one of the biggest problems in Kenya right now where there are very intelligent people outside who are able to play with the IT systems of a company and do funny things. After discovering that, we made the decision to either close the company or put ourselves back in the driving seat. More than 250 people would have lost their jobs and many of them have worked more than 15 years in the company. It did not make sense to close. So, we decided to jump in ourselves. Now, two partners are actually fully involved in the business, running it on a day to day basis, and making sure that we get it to where we want. When we went out to the field and met our customers and saw what was going on, we were amazed. In the 15 years that we had been out, customers have grown multifold. Customers that used to own 20 trucks, suddenly have 400 trucks. The sector has become far more aggressive, far more competitive, customers are far more demanding, they are far more professional. They completely understand concepts like lowest cost per kilometer for tyres. There are very professional yards. We are now comparable to many developed countries in terms of the systems and the way that a transporter runs his fleet. We see that as a huge opportunity because we were the driving force in leading these kinds of changes. We were pioneers in introducing tubeless tyres, cost per kilometers, mileage contracts, and this really falls into line with the kinds of services we want to offer. Treadsetters never saw itself as a trading company, just trading in tyres, but more as a service provider. So, it made a lot of sense for us to partner with these customers. So, here we are back again. We have completely changed the management team. There are a lot of new people that have joined the business in the last six months. We see a huge opportunity for Treadsetters to provide the kind of services that we want to do for the customer. Our concept is basically how to lower the customer’s operational costs; therefore, it is a partnership. We are coming up with many innovative products using technology, skill sets that are not necessarily available in Kenya, and bringing all the benefits to the customers. In terms of product range, we have increased now to distribute Bridgestone, Sumitomo, and Eternity tyres. We also retread with Bandag and Leader tread which is a very good quality rubber value line from South Africa. With this range, we are able to give the customer whatever they need. With the skills we have, we are able to work in a customer’s yard and physically take care of his tyre problems”, says Bharat Doshi.

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