BookTitleToyota Tsusho 70-Year History

Summary

Toyota Tsusho 70-Year History

In May 2015, Toyota Tsusho started to offerconsulting-style health management services to healthservices providers, such as health and fitness clubs. Usingthe ultralight Japanese communication-capable activitymonitor and personal health record (PHR) system thecompany had developed, the consulting-style healthmanagement services measured the number of stepstaken and calories burned, body composition, weight,blood pressure, and other basic health information andcollected and managed it in a central location, where itis analyzed for use in providing diagnostic and healthguidance to users.Section 7 The Africa Division1 Business Transformation in AfricaToyota Tsusho’s business in Africa started in 1922with Tomen’s purchase of cotton from Uganda. Afterthese transactions, Tomen posted a track record mainlyin northern Africa of successful infrastructure projects,such as the construction of electric power plants. ToyotaTsusho opened an overseas office in Nairobi prior to the1962 independence of Kenya and began to export textilemachinery and household goods from Japan primarilyto the three countries, Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, ineastern Africa.An export division was created at Toyota Motor Salesin 1962, and with the start of approaches to major localbusinesses in East African countries who were candidatesto become Toyota distributors, Toyota Tsusho’s NairobiOffice became the gateway to Toyota Motor Sales for thelocal businesses who wanted to handle Toyota vehiclesas more and more Toyota distributerships appeared ineastern African countries. Toyota Motor Sales entereddistribution agreements with Westland Motors in Kenyain 1964, International Motor Mart in Tanzania in 1965,and Alibi Garage in Uganda, also in 1965, and hasprocessed shipments via Toyota Tsusho since then.The African countries in which Toyota vehicles aresold through Toyota Tsusho have continued to expand:Somalia and Rwanda in 1966, Djibouti in 1967, Ethiopiain 1968, Angola in 1975, Burundi in 1987, Madagascarin 1989, the Ivory Coast in 1990, and Mauritania in 1992as market development in these countries got under way.In the 1990s, the opinion emerged that general tradingcompanies were unnecessary, influenced by the burstingof the Japanese bubble economy. In 1996, the Britishcompany Lonrho plc (Lonrho), the parent company ofToyota distributors in Kenya and Uganda (and which hadacquired Toyota dealerships from local companies), saidthat Toyota Tsusho added little functional value and itsown company could serve as a replacement. So Lonrhorequested to remove Toyota Tsusho from the shipper andstart direct trade with Toyota Motor Sales.This request caused for a lot of reflection on the partof Toyota Tsusho, which started not only aiming tostrengthen fundamental capabilities but also moving fromits position as a traditional shipper toward managingbusinesses by taking a hands-on approach to localoperations.In accordance with the privatization of state-ownedcompanies in Angola in 1991, Toyota Tsusho fundedToyota distributorships with a 50:50 equity investmentwith Lonrho. However, accelerating the direct investmentof Toyota distributors in more than one country hadbecome an urgent need, so Toyota Tsusho invested 25%in Toyota Zambia in 1997 and 15% in Toyota ZimbabweCountries with business deployed: 53(Bases in 36 countries)Employees: Approx. 15,500Group companies: 165MobilitySBUHealthcareSBUConsumerGoods SBUTechnology &Energy SBU53% 32% 6% 9%■Deployed businessesMobility SBUHealthcare SBUConsumer Goods SBUTechnology & Energy SBUToyota Tsusho Group’s presence in Africa as of March 2018 Capital participation in CFAO, President & CEO Karube and CEO Viry (2012)148