KENYA – Scania East Africa has announced the appointment of Lars Eklund as the managing director for East Africa region covering Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda effective October 1. 2020.
Eklund who understand the region equally well having previously been the managing director at Scania Tanzania, takes over from Per Holmstrom who is retiring after 41years of service, 7 of which were as head of East Africa region.
During his tenure in Tanzania, he turned around the company significantly growing its revenue by over 150% through the restructuring and implementation of new processes that have enabled the company to be more efficient in its daily operations.
“I am proud of how my management team transformed and developed and because of this we were able to regain many of our customers and their business. The team effort and support from the customers led us to business breaking records in Tanzania during the last couple of years. I am delighted about this achievement and now even more importantly how we implemented a succession plan for the next generation of Scania leaders, so that the journey can continue,” he highlights.
Further, through his leadership, the company successfully transitioned from the mindset of only selling the product to establishing partnerships with customers by offering them holistic transport solutions with our array of after-sales services in satisfying their needs, maximizing their vehicles uptime and their business returns.
“By focusing on the customer and their needs first and putting myself in their shoes, it has enabled me to make strategic decisions and implement processes that have been beneficial to both our customers and the company. Long term it is always about us finding ways to make our customers happier with our product and service offering“
Lars Eklund – Scania East Africa Managing Director
Lars has a sales and services background and has been at the company for more than 20 years.
“We will continue to develop and tailor-make our product and service offering to fit our customers businesses and their customers’ demands by optimising our products and services that will increase payload, fuel efficiency, lower operational costs and maximize uptime. We have new business concepts that we are about to introduce for financing, repair and maintenance contracts and connectivity services,” Lars points out
According to the company, in the next ten years, East Africa will have shifted to fleets that run on alternative fuels such as compressed natural gas (CNG) and biogas, and even gone a step further by incorporating electrification which Scania is currently able to provide for BRT systems and city distribution trucks.
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