Page 48 - Retrading Business N103 2022-4
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COUNTRY REPORT
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Bhadresh Raviya: “Here in Uganda, tyre recycling and retreading are still in their infant stages, and not many people have started businesses using crumb rubber to make wheelbarrow tyres, oil, tyre-derived fuel and the like.”
Bhadresh Raviya, an Indian national, is retreading truck and light truck tyres in Uganda through his company, Maruti Tyre Retreads. His journey into the business of retreading started back in 1990 in his home country when he secured employment in a tyre retreading facility as a marketing head.
Raviya, after establishing a few retreading plants of his own in India, moved over to Uganda in 2010 where he started a tyre business located along Eden Road in Jinja, Kampala in a partnership with the Keshwala Group of Companies, one of the leading household distribution companies in Uganda.
In 2016 Raviya became separated from the partnership and establi- shed Maruti Tyre Retreads, also in Kampala, as a limited liability com- pany focusing on retreading truck and light truck tyres.
Raviya says the establishment of Maruti Tyre Retreads took place at a time when the tyre retreading sector in Uganda was - starting my own company for tyre retreading to overcome the various issues faced by the market by utilising my 30 years’ ex- Uganda, like many other developing countries, has faces challenges
in managing its End-of-Life Tyres (ELTs). While there are no reliable statistics on how many ELTs reach the end of their useful lives every year in Uganda, Raviya says tyre recycling and retreading are still in the early stages of development in the country.
stages, and not many people have started businesses using crumb ru- bber to make wheelbarrow tyres, oil, tyre-derived fuel and the like,” he said.
According to Raviya, the tyre market in Uganda is 95% dependent on
