Weststar Associates Hosts Global Training for Mercedes-Benz Dealers in Africa

By Bennett  Oghifo

In collaboration with Mercedes-Benz Headquarters, Daimler AG, Weststar Associates (authorized general distributors of Mercedes-Benz passenger cars and commercial vehicles in the Nigeria), recently held a one-week product training on its premises.

A statement by Weststar said participants included dealers, as well as representatives from various African countries such as  Gambia, Rwanda and Ghana.

The product training which was organised by Daimler AG, was jointly coordinated by Abdul Ligali, head trainer, Weststar Associates and Uwe Strauss, certified global trainer for Mercedes-Benz passenger cars. The primary focus of this year’s training was to equip sales staff, customer relationship personnel and other Mercedes-Benz dealers with technical knowledge needed for the incoming products to be launched later in the year; some of which include the new S-class, the X-class and the recently launched GLA and GLC.

Speaking with one of the trainees, the Marketing director for Akagera Business Group in Kigali, Rwanda – Roopak Gorajia stated, “It was quite an exciting experience, getting to interact with professionals from different countries while learning about the new Mercedes-Benz products and analyzing various African markets.”

Since inception, Weststar has organised technical and non-technical trainings for staff, dealers, and customers in order to expand the knowledge base of all employees and meet the various needs of customers. 

An in-house training department was formally set up in 2012 to accommodate more trainees with over 2000 participants attending various categories of trainings such as drivers’ trainings, product trainings, sales trainings, customer service relationship trainings, etc.

Mr. Mirko Plath, MD/CEO, Weststar Associates expressed his thoughts after the training stating thus, “Considering the remarkable training facility we have here in Nigeria, we were pleased to host other countries as this exposed us to networking opportunities and new perspectives on how to expand the Mercedes-Benz market in the country.”