Zarak Khan this week announced he would be standing down as
executive chairman of automotive dealer DT Dobie in March next year
after nearly 40 years of service.
For a man known as a
firm spiritual believer and go-getter, his next move will definitely be
on the radar of the business community and car enthusiasts affiliated to
the prestigious motor vehicle dealership. The company is the authorised
dealer of Mercedes Benz cars and trucks, Volkswagen, Hyundai and GMW
pick-ups.
People who know Khan well paint a picture of a
humble yet straight-talking executive who does not shy from speaking
his mind even if it hurts you.
In the day-to-day
activities at DT Dobie, he has developed a style of jovial banters with
staff but gets quite firm with senior managers during planning and
strategy meetings.
Insiders say this approach has
helped to entrench DT Dobie as a respected brand in the corporate scene,
with managers always striving to meet their goals to avoid tough
questions from the boss.
But he has a soft side. He dedicates time for important family meetings and vacations.
“One
needs to plan, especially when you have young children. I personally
have set a target of being with each of my kids for five to 10 minutes
every day, with three weeks of holiday with the family,” he says.
Mr
Khan is credited with growing the car dealer’s presence in Kenya’s
automobile industry, as well as steering the firm’s shift to heavy
commercial vehicles.
His life at DT Dobie has been an interesting one—rising from a cleaner- cum- tea boy, then mechanic to the C-Suite.
Although
his extended family had interest in motor-vehicle repairs, all was not
smooth for Mr Khan who was born and brought up in a poor neighbourhood
in the coastal town of Mombasa.
“When my father passed away when I was 11 years, my uncles paid my school fee through their small businesses,” he says.
After
sitting his A-levels examination in 1978, he got Sh7,500 from his
mother— a housewife— bought a small car, sold it at a small profit then
bought a plane ticket to the United Kingdom (UK) where he studied
automobile engineering at the College of the North West London. He came
back and got a job at DT Dobie.
“Upon my return to
Kenya in the 1980s, I first began as the company’s cleaner, moved on to
mechanic, supervisor, assistant field service manager, sales director,
managing director and then to my current position of executive
chairman,” Mr Khan says while swinging around in his chair.
He attributes DT Dobie’s success to remaining focused on customer demands and preferences.
“We
have been able to achieve through the assembly of reliable vans,
pickups, small SUVs and trucks, which allow people to move around the
country,” he says.
But he now feels time has come to leave DT Dobie.
“After
close to four decades with the company, I believe it is time to focus
on other adventures,” Mr Khan said in an exclusive interview with
Business Daily.
“I have steered the company’s growth
and takeovers and I believe I have transformed it into a household name
in Kenya,” he added.
In
2012, Mr Khan grappled with the fallout from the takeover of DT Dobie’s
parent company, CFAO Group, by Japanese conglomerate Toyota Tsusho
Corporation (TTC). The deal spooked carmakers whose brands were sold by
DT Dobie and who saw TTC as a competitor. The latter, which owns Toyota
Kenya, is also an affiliate of Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC).
Toyota
Tsusho acquired a 97.81 per cent stake in CFAO for Sh243.7 billion and
later bought the remaining shares for Sh5.4 billion, squeezing out
minority shareholders in the trading company.
As part
of the global deal, TTC also took control of DT Dobie and CICA Motors in
Kenya, along with CFAO subsidiaries in other markets.
Carmakers
Renault and Nissan subsequently terminated their exclusive franchise
agreements with DT Dobie on fears that Toyota would give priority to the
sale and marketing of TMC’s vehicles over theirs.
Mr Khan later described the Nissan franchise loss, which DT Dobie held for 50 years, as his lowest moment.
“It
was our second baby as a dealership and a brand that we had walked with
and was performing exceptionally well. It was part of our DNA…Its exit
wiped out 50 percent of our business,” he said in a past interview with
The East African.
Apart from losing the Renault and
Nissan deals, owners of the Jeep car franchise are looking for a new
dealer to sell the vehicles in Kenya after disagreeing with its
long-time partner DT Dobie over strategy.
Italian-American
multinational Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) had approached DT Dobie
to also start selling its other brands, including Fiat trucks and vans.
DT
Dobie declined the offer, arguing that Fiat vehicles are not popular in
the local market. The dealer was also afraid that taking on Fiat
vehicles would have cost it the Volkswagen franchise which it had just
acquired from rival, CMC Holdings.
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