Malawians’ warmth lures Japanese investor

About three years ago, Kunio Tamari, was conducting a market research on the internet in Japan, looking for an African country where he could start a business. He saw ‘Malawi’.

Before that, Tamari had never heard about the existence of the southern African country, also affectionately known as The Warm Heart of Africa because of the friendliness of its people.

“While conducting the research, I found Malawi and checked the country’s GDP [gross domestic product], tranquility and economic status of the people,” said the 63-year-old Japanese national.

As he browsed through the internet, he noted that Malawi was identified as The Warm Heart of Africa. And that was enough to convince him to choose the country as the ideal place to invest in.

Tamari then sent a proposal to the Malawi Embassy in Tokyo, detailing his plans to set up a company in Malawi. The embassy proved very helpful, knowing how useful the company would be to the nation.

Tamari said: “The embassy was very helpful knowing that apart from creating jobs, the company I wanted to establish would also afford Malawians the opportunity to buy vehicles at affordable prices.”

When he came to Malawi, he saw that the country had many similarities to his home town in Kagoshima-prefecture in southern Japan, such as the weather and the fact that people liked to eat mandasi (fritters) and chew sugar cane just as his countrymen do back home.

“My wife told me to go ahead and set up the company in Malawi,” Tamari said.

And that approval from his wife led to the establishment of Japan Auto Limited, a Lilongwe-based company that assembles second hand Daihatsu vehicles using components imported from Japan.

Although it only started production in December 2013 after being registered in August the same year, the company is receiving enquiries regularly from Malawians intending to buy vehicles.

“We have been well received,” Tamari, who is the company’s chief executive officer, told Malawi News Agency (Mana) in an interview at their premises located after the National Police Headquarters heading towards Kanengo.

The company is targeting the country’s small-scale farmers to whom, according to Tamari, a four-wheel drive is a great necessity as it enables them to move about with ease during their farming activities.

The company assembles two models of Daihatsu Hijet, the S110P (four wheel drive) and the S100P (two wheel drive). Both models operate manually, run on petrol and have very low fuel consumption.

Daihatsu is a member of the Toyota group that makes small cars only, famous in Japan among farmers, small businesspeople and companies that do a lot of selling and delivering small consumables.

“We tailor-make cars to fit one’s business,” assured Tamari. “We are more than happy to supply such cars at reasonable prices to create jobs using the save ocean freight cost [concept].”

Vehicle parts are brought in containers through the port of Beira in Mozambique. The company has so far had two containers since the first one arrived last December.

The company also uses material sourced locally such as steel, cushion for seats, slide glasses and some minor engine parts to produce the vehicles. Twenty-five vehicles have been assembled to date.

Tamari said Japan Auto Ltd was established by Japanese and Philippine nationals and supply small commercial cars at reasonable prices to inland countries in East and Central Africa.

“We have been supplying Japanese commercial cars to the Philippines for many years. Our company has been exporting parts using containers,” Tamari said. “

Malawians have for years been buying used vehicles from Japan using the internet. Most of the vehicles are shipped to Tanzania’s Indian Ocean port of Dar-es-salaam where the owners go to collect them.

The entire process from ordering and collection of the vehicle takes time—usually not less than a month—as one has to await approval for application and transfer of foreign exchange, among other things.

Fortune Njete, Japan Auto Ltd’s administrative officer, said the company removes many difficulties importers experience when buying vehicles from Japan through the internet.

He said, for instance, importers of Japanese used vehicles in most cases have difficulty finding some spare parts but “if one buys a vehicle from us, they are assured of back-up service.”

“We have a competitive edge over the buying of vehicles through the internet. We can make a vehicle according to your specification and it is also thoroughly checked before delivery,” he said.

Prices for the reassembled used Daihatsu vehicles range from $4 000 (about K1. 6 million) for a half-ton pick-up and $6 500 (K2.7 million) for an ambulance to $4  500 (K1.9 million) for a security patrol vehicle.

The ambitious Tamari said he wanted next year to start importing parts for assembling slightly bigger vehicles of two to four tons in weight. But for now, he is concentrating on the small Daihatsu.

“In future, I want to auction vehicles and also export them to neighbouring countries,” he said.

The company currently employs 15 Malawians and the figure is likely to grow as the company expands.