One of Kenya’s top tyre distributor Sameer Africa will from February 1 sack 52 employees amidst the deepening job crisis in Kenya’s corporate scene and as it tries to stay afloat.
Despite changing its strategy in 2016 when it stopped local manufacturing of its key tyre brand Yana and opted to outsource to Asia, Sameer Africa has still struggled to stick its head above the water.
It also intends to close various offices tyre centres across Kenya. The 52 employees whose contracts will be terminated will be from both the management and unionisable groups.
In a notice to Nairobi County Labour office, Sameer Africa acting MD Peter Gitonga said “Arising from the foregoing, the board of directors has resolved to restructure the company further by aligning the company operations to become more of a trading and distributorship outfit”
Sameer’s net loss widened 15.8 times to Sh182.8 million in the first six months of 2019, with stock-outs and counterfeit products complicating its recovery effort. Its head count has also declined by almost half from 288 staff in 2017 to 168 staff at the end of 2018.
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