Abdalla Ahmed Mahmud is a contradiction in terms. He is always calm amid the organised chaos of revving engines, panel beating and general din of a busy workplace.
Everyone here is older than him, but they all defer to him. Abdalla is 25.
He’s of Somali descent, educated in Kenya and Canada, born and brought up in Tanzania, where he is general manager of Kisma Transport Company, one of the trans-border fuel transporting firms in Dar es Salaam.
While he serves the city and its environs, his business rests on the foundation of serving the volatile east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The majority of his 90 trucks take fuel and dry cargo to Lubumbashi in southeastern Congo, and this keeps him awake most of the nights.
Congo drives my business, says 25-year-old trucker
His biggest customer is Dalbit Petroleum, which he inherited from his parents, who ran the company before he returned from university in Toronto. Dalbit imports petroleum products through the ports of Dar es Salaam and Tanga and uses third-party logistics to distribute them across Tanzania and the neighbouring eastern and southern DR Congo, Malawi, and Zambia.
For a 25-year-old, this should be a tough assignment, but Abdalla grew up in the yard. Most of the staff have known him from childhood.
“I used to play with their children,” he says fondly.
Yet it is not easy running a logistics firm in such a competitive sector.
“The market is very competitive,” he concedes. “A lot of oil marketing companies, such as Oryx, Puma, Dalbit, Sahara, operate in this region, but there also just as many transporters. But what I believe separates Dalbit and Kisma from the competition is the reliable service we provide to customers, the openness to discuss issues at hand, the ability to adjust when issues occur, and the ability to contact the right people at the right time.”
Besides DRC, his trucks also serve Zambia, Burundi, Malawi and Tanzania.
Abdalla Ahmed Mahmud (in white shirt), general manager of Kisma Transport Company, with a colleague in Dar es Salaam.
Tripartite area
“We have an extensive network of clients and routes. But the primary route is Lubumbashi. The demand for fuel in Lubumbashi is so high that about 90 percent of our trade is dedicated to that route.”
Abdalla is one of those who believe that regional trade protocols are somewhat working within the tripartite – East African Community (EAC), Comesa and Southern African Development Community (Sadc) – in which he operates.
“We've seen a big improvement from what it was before. The collaboration between countries has greatly improved. They have scrapped the border fees in some areas, the ability to apply for a visa is also much easier. I feel like, moving forward, once the borders are fully integrated and we have an open border system, the costs and timelines of transporting products around East Africa will be greatly reduced, which will improve business around the region as well.”
The EAC, Comesa and Sadc have recently linked up to create a market that will see seamless movement of goods and people. The Comesa Secretariat is leading the Market Integration Pillar, Sadc is leading the Industrialisation Pillar, while the EAC is leading the Infrastructure Pillar.
“The Comesa-EAC-Sadc Tripartite is accelerating economic integration for the people of the Eastern and Southern African Region,” said Veronica Nduva, EAC Secretary-General.
But the state of the infrastructure is still a headache for transporters on the Southern Corridor, but Abdalla says “sometimes it has to hurt before it feels better.” The Southern Corridor links the port of Dar es Salaam to southern DRC through Zambia.
“They are working on the roads, obviously, we're going to have to use some diversions that are not as optimal as it should be, but we know the governments are working at their level best to provide the infrastructure. for example, in Tanzania, the highway is in very good condition at the moment. They have multiple lanes, so it's very easy for transporters to move across the region.”
Kisma primarily moves fuel, as well as dry cargo such as sulphur, copper, zinc and iron, but Abdalla sees the future in liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
“LPG will be a very important energy source in the future. So, right now, we're working on purchasing the LPG trailers and finding the demand. It's a very specific niche at the moment, but we're very optimistic it will grow in the future,” he says.
Business aspirations
The young manager believes that the success of his business rests with the drivers.
“We have to understand the driver is operating a very long vehicle of almost 50 feet, and he's also ferrying very hazardous material. So, we ensure that our drivers are trained every six months on how to properly handle the truck, how to inspect the vehicle, how to conduct defensive driving, just to mitigate the risks on the road, but we also have a policy of respect. Most of the drivers have been with us for almost 15 years, and I've known them very closely since I was a young child. We're all on a first name basis.
“The most important thing in this company is treating everybody with respect. Because, at the end of the day, as much as I’ve invested so much in the vehicle and the trailer and a lot of time and engaging with clients, it is the driver's responsibility to move from point A to point B, so we have to treat the driver with respect. At the end of the day, we all work as a team, as a family, to ensure that our clients are satisfied, drivers satisfied, and us, as an organisation, are profitable as well.”
Kisma started in December 2005, with two trucks.
“I was a very young boy at that time, so I cannot take credit for the growth that we've achieved up to this time, but I was there throughout the process.”
He always wanted to be in the family business, as an engineer but his father pushed him to study economics and now, he’s registered to study a master’s in business administration.
After university, aged 23, he returned to relieve his parents.
“As a young boy, growing up and studying in university, I always tried to ask my father and my mother questions about how the company works, what are the things that we should look for, even my education in high school and university, I always knew that I would be coming back to Tanzania to grow this business.
Every day, my team and I put in the work to ensure that drivers are moving, the cargo is delivered on time that we are loading to our expectation, that our costs are mitigated as well, to ensure that we are profitable. every month or two, we acquire a few more trucks to meet the demand of our clients and also to improve the size and quality of our fleet.
His plan is to focus on the Tanzanian and Congo markets.
“My hope is to have a fleet of 200 trucks in Tanzania, and 20 trucks in Congo working on the local route. And then from there, we see what other business opportunities we can venture into.”
