Mantrac Kenya hosts Caterpillar Group President Rob Charter
Sole authorized dealer for Caterpillar products in Kenya, Mantrac Kenya Limited yesterday hosted one ofthe Group Presidents of Caterpillar, Rob Charter, who was in the country in a bid to further cement the business in the market.
Speaking at the event Rob acknowledged that Africa has a large growth potential and has the fastest growing middle class worldwide with the population expected to double by 2050 hence immense business prospects.
Being his first visit to the continent, he added that the company’s focus on Kenya as a key market was from findings from the World Bank and other international institutions on Kenya having the potential to be one of Africa’s great success stories from its growing youthful population, a dynamic private sector, and its pivotal role in East Africa.
“It is in this regard that to support Africa’s growth, we made a commitment with our dealers and with the CAT Foundation to invest more than $1 billion in Africa (2017 – 2021) into (among others) component rebuild centers, service facilities, logistics facilities and education and skills development.” He reiterated.
On his part the Chief Executive Officer of Mantrac Group Mr. Loutfy Mansour mentioned the group’s readiness to continuously invest in the Kenya business to better support customers who have been with them over the years with innovative a diverse offering to suit industry trends.
Rob was in the country together with Vice President of Caterpillar Wai Man Raymond Chan and Group CEO of Mantrac Group Loutfy Mansour.
Caterpillar Inc. has a long history in Africa, with the first dealerships on the continent starting in the mid-twenties of the 20th century. Here in Kenya, roots go back to that period of time with Gailey & Roberts, which was acquired by Mantrac in 1997. Today, Caterpillar is present in all countries of Africa through dealers except for Somalia.
In Kenya, the Caterpillar Foundation through Mantrac as dealers supports the Women's Entrepreneurship Center. This public private partnership with the State Department is a community center that helps young women start businesses and gives them the education and other support they need to be successful. The Foundation also supports the United Nations Foundation programs in Kenya, which helps those in poverty.
General Manager of Caterpillar Africa and Middle East, David Picard said “To help improve the technical skills in Africa, we have developed training programs such as Technicians for Africa, an absolutely free online learning platform available in English, Portuguese and French. We are very proud of this initiative which was launched in three countries in 2015 and is now available in 15 countries with 10000 enrolled, including Kenya.”
On the product side, in Kenya we will be launching soon our new 426F Backhoe Loader sourced from India. You will hear more about this great machine in the coming weeks and months.
To help our customers succeed by lowering their costs and increasing their productivity, a large range of Equipment Management support and a Rental Purchase Option to our construction machinery are now being offered in Kenya.
On his part the Chief Executive Officer of Mantrac Group Mr. Loutfy Mansour mentioned the group readiness to continuously invest in the Kenya business to better support our cherished customers who have been with us over the years.
Mantrac Kenya LTD currently provides the complete range of Caterpillar Construction Equipment and has a proven track record in supplying and supporting machines for major developmental and infrastructural projects. This includes General Contracting, Road Building, Land Reclamation, Quarries and Agricultural projects and many more.
Mantrac Kenya Limited is also part of the giant Mantrac Group which holds the Caterpillar dealerships in Egypt, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda, Iraq and in the Western Siberia region of Russia. Being part of an international network gives a competitive edge in product delivery and service support.
