Young Nigerians are increasingly bracing up to take up the challenge and profer indidgenous solutions to the country’s wide range of challenges. One such are is in the automobile industry where indigenous companies are increasing standing up to the challenge within the automobile industry and one such brand is Nord Automobiles.
Nord Automobile is one of Nigeria and Africa’s first indigenous automakers. It is a brand that produces quality vehicles at an affordable price point. In addition, the brand offers world-class warranties on all of their vehicles and has service stations located nationwide.
The Man Behind The Brand
Ajayi Joshua Oluwatobi is the name behind the Nord Automobile brand. He was born in 1988, and he is the chairman and CEO of Nord Automobiles Limited and the managing director and CEO of Jetvan Automobiles Limited. He is from Ogun State, Nigeria.
Oluwatobi Ajayi’s educational journey began at military schools, the Nigerian Navy Primary School and the Nigerian Navy Secondary School. He then went on to Olabisi Onabajo University in Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, to study soil sciences and farm mechanization before finally completing his Master’s in Business Administration at the Lagos Business School in 2019. In addition, the IESE Business School in Spain awarded him a certificate after he completed the Pan African EMBA Module, making him a fully qualified and certified business professional.
Ajayi Joshua Oluwatobi began his path to success while completing his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) program with Mercedes Benz Nigeria’s West Associate Limited, where he gained a plethora of knowledge and abilities that have helped him immensely.
After completing his mandatory NYSC program, he was promptly retained and confirmed as a full employee by Mercedes Benz Nigeria. He was assigned to the company’s Van division, where he was responsible for the Nigerian branch’s success. Under his charge, hundreds of units were sold as opposed to the few previously sold. He was a great asset to the company and was well-liked and trusted by the staff.
The Mercedes Benz Connection And The Coming of Jetvan Automobile
In 2014, he became an authorized dealer of the Mercedes Benz van division. He used his keen intellect to devise different plans and strategies and was eventually accepted as an authorized dealer of Mercedes Benz Van. He started sales with Jet Van, and under his leadership, the market share for Mercedes-Benz vans increased significantly from less than 1% to 7%. In 2013, he was honoured with the Mercedes-Benz Best Sales Performance for Africa award.
Tobi had the idea to launch a Nigerian vehicle brand to broaden his market and become a local automaker in Nigeria after selling Jet Vans. He used his connections and opportunities to spread the word about his proposal but only received a few nods from those who agreed with it. As a result, in 2015, he left Mercedes-Benz to launch his own business.
Tobi founded Jetvan Automobiles Limited in April 2015 and served as its CEO until April 2018, when he resigned to focus on developing his firm, “Nord Automobile Limited.”
Jetvan was created to advance the sales and after sales of Mercedes-Benz vans. However, it didn’t take him long to decide on shifting his focus to where his desires truly lie – building his own indigenous autombile brand.
Driving The Vision of Nord Automobiles
Tobi’s focus has now shifted to building his own Nord brand of automobiles. These automobiles are exquisite, trustworthy, robust, and reasonably priced, on par with any automobile made anywhere in the globe. Nord Automobile is currently worth over N4.2 billion.
According to him, compared to the competitors, Nord Automobile has a low total cost of ownership and believes that because of this, Nord vehicles will soon become well-known in Nigeria.
The Nord CEO expressed complete confidence in their ability to succeed in the market, saying, “We have everything it takes to succeed because we are big enough to deliver and young and small enough to be flexible to our customer’s demands which to me is a combination for delivering great vehicles and service with our experience in marketing Mercedes Benz sprinter. So from the fourth quarter of the year onward, you won’t have trouble receiving Nord automobiles in Nigeria. Customers who have tested our items have given them positive reviews.”
Nord Automobiles Range of Vehicles
Nord Automobiles designs, sources, develops, assembles, markets, and distributes Nord vehicles and offers sales and after-sales services. Their fleet includes passenger cars, sport utility vehicles, and buses – with the Bolt bus, Flit bus, Aso truck, Trum large bus, etc. being a few examples. If you’re looking for Sedan options, they have the Q3 sedan and urban sedan. And for SUV options, they have the Q5 SUV and Ben SUV.
Nord Automobile recently partnered with the University of Lagos (UNILAG) with the goal of building a strong auto industry foundation within university systems, where students can learn about the process and business of creating vehicles and delivering them to consumers.
Inspiration
Tobi believes life principles and work ethic are a direct result of the motivation he received from his mentors. In particular, he cites Alhaji Aliko Dangote as an inspiration for showing him that anyone can start a new Nigerian brand and become a global player through hard work and integrity.
He also believes that he shares the same vision as Tony Elumelu. “I realized I can do most of the things he does and how he does them. He is strategic and invests his time and resources in networking and impacting society. These are some of the things I also do.”
Awards And Recognition
He was named by Forbes as one of the most promising young entrepreneurs in Africa for 2018 and one of the ten most influential entrepreneurs under 40 in Nigeria by Business Insider Magazine. He is also a fellow of the Institute of Credit Administrators.
