CMC sends Group CEO, 168 employees home
Auto dealer CMC is sending home 169 employees citing dwindling business fortunes in the passenger vehicles business in the face of heightened competition across the region. The company has ceased distributorship deals for Ford, Suzuki and Mazda.
CMC Group plans to also ceased the distribution of three passenger vehicle brands it has offered in the market in a couple of months. “CMC Group is reorganizing its business in line with a growth strategy that will see it place great focus on the agricultural sector,” the company said in a note detailing the list of roles that are headed to the chopping board.
Some of the roles set to cease are Group CEO, Group company secretary, legal counsel, head of procurement, head of government sales, debt collector government among other titles across its Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru, Kisumu, Nakuru, Meru, Eldoret and Kitale branches.
“The company intends to to undertake the redundancy in three phases as the distributors wind up their operations with CMC Group between the second quarter and the fourth quarter this year,” a notice signed by the Group Managing Director Sakib Eltaff said.
CMC Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of Al Futtaim Group, plans to focus on the region’s agriculture sector following a “record breaking year of tractor sales across the markets.”
The Agriculture sector is the backbone of the East African economy contributing about 33 percent of Kenya’s GDP, the firm said on Monday, April 24, adding that it needs to enhance its offering of New Holland tractors, alongside “an extensive range of farming implements from New Holland, Nardi and Fieldking.”
The auto dealer, which has been in operation for over 70 years is also planning to launch an assembly plant for two wheelers or bodabodas, which have become an essential tool of trade across the region.
