Chris Ndala is the CEO of DT Dobie, the authorized dealer for Mercedes-Benz Passenger cars and commercial vehicles, Volkswagen and Hyundai Light Trucks.
Before his move to Kenya, the South African was the CEO of CICA Motors, Liberia, which operates under the CFAO Group, since 2018.
Ndala has been in the automotive world for over 20 years having previously worked with with Nissan and Renault franchises in South Africa, Uganda and Cote d’Ivoire.
Here is his story as told by WoK.
According to his LinkedIn, Ndala kicked off his career at Nissan Group Africa where he worked as a senior technical instructor.
He then moved to Renault Trucks in Johannesburg and served as regional manager for one year and two months.
Ndala returned to Nissan Group where he stayed for five years and a month working as a senior manager in charge of Sub Sahara Africa.
His next stop was Uganda where he served as the CEO of Nissan for four years and moved to Ivory Coast’s ATC Comafrique where he had been appointed Group COO.
Prior to his appointment as DT Dobie CEO in 2021, Ndala was working as CEO of CICA Motors Liberia responsible for distributing Toyota, Mitsubishi and Bridgestone tyres within the country.
He is a graduate of the University of Johannesburg.
In an interview with Success Africa, Ndala discussed his rise to the top, noting that at one point, he was the only black in a department while working as an engineer at Nissan.
“I was given a task to do training for the Sub Saharan market because Japan gave the responsibility of of dealer development to South Africa
“As such, they were looking for someone who was a South African citizen and can speak French an English,” he said.
Ndala also spoke on challenges that came with the new role.
“Language was the major problem. You sit in a meeting where you start the meeting in English but somebody would speak in Afrikans
“Not because he doesn’t want you to hear, he also has a challenge with English. Those are the few challenges that you had to go through,” he stated.
Ndala noted that he is living his dream having travelled to almost all African countries because of his job.
In West Africa for instance, he said that as a businessman you need to interact with people informally before you attempt to sell to them.
“I’ve lived my dream life. The golden rule in international business is to understand the local culture,” he said.
Following his appointment to Kenya, Ndala mentioned that he was happy to serve in the country which he says he has known for over two decades.
“I’ve known Kenya since 2002. My first student in training and development was Kenyan. He’s our service manager today. I’m happy to be here,” he mentioned.
He also explained how the Kenyan automotive market is different compared to markets in West Africa, for instance.
“In the Liberian scenario, the model is such that you market first before you order and stock vehicles. In West Africa, most of the sales are B2B (business to business)
“Kenya is a more mature market. Here, you stock and then market and sell to both B2B and B2C (business to consumer) clients,” he stated.
Ndala also dismissed the notion that DT Dobie only serves high-end buyers noting that there are solutions for everyone.
While others buy Hyundai trucks, Volkswagen Polo and Tiguan, there are also clients who spend their millions on luxury vehicles such as the GLS-class, GLE-class Mercedes SUVs.
“Once you’re done with paying school fees for your children and rent, you obviously want to make yourself happy
“By the time a customer walks into your showroom, they’ve visited multiple others. Sometimes they’ll know about the car they want to buy more than you do,” he said.
