Michael Bentley, Managing Director of Action Auto Zambia Ltd, talks to us about the company’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and how it continues to prioritise vehicle and visitor satisfaction.
Having been established in 1997 in Lusaka, Zambia, Action Auto Zambia Ltd (Action Auto) is the appointed and authorised franchise dealer that sells, services, and maintains Isuzu passenger, commercial, and light commercial vehicles. Additionally, it is an authorised warranty centre that sells original Isuzu parts for a variety of customers.
With three locations across the country, the company has continued to offer mobile telephony to serve consumers with mobile phones in the more rural areas of Zambia, despite the many demanding situations that have arisen over the past five years.
Passion and excitement run deep within the structure of Action Auto, shaping the core of the company and contributing to the continuous innovation and developments that it is proud to boast.
“The automotive industry continues to be an exciting and challenging area to work in – the past five years have featured a number of unprecedented encounters and, more importantly, the dynamic and ever-changing demands of consumers in a transforming world,” says Michael Bentley, Managing Director of Action Auto.
Specifically, the recent COVID-19 pandemic, which gripped the world in 2020, significantly impacted vehicle sales. Action Auto had to employ measures to safeguard its staff and customers during a time when face-to-face interactions were restricted.
“It was a tough year for us, and had it not been for our core customers who continued to support and purchase vehicles, we would not have been able to maintain our staff at a time when many other businesses had no choice but to permanently close,” expands Bentley.
The next two years didn’t get any easier: lockdown policies began to affect supply chains, and the global shortage of microchips and auto parts led to additional disruptions, leading to unprecedented wait times of up to a year to get a car.
“However, we brought out the other, more powerful aspect as a team and we are ahead to see what the future holds for us in a country as dynamic as Zambia,” Bentley said.
While there have been many total recognitions in recent years due to the chaos caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the most striking examples is the courtship between companies, their partners, and their suppliers.
Action Auto readily recognizes the importance of those relationships to the good fortune of your business.
“In more than 25 years in business, we’ve learned that by aligning key stakeholders and partners, collaboration across the entire supply chain helps us deliver to customers, which drives business growth,” says Bentley.
With partners adding banks, automotive accessories, lubricants, batteries, vehicle cleaning, security, workplace materials, and web connectivity services, Action Auto has maintained more than 90% of its key partnerships despite industry disruptions.
Specifically, the company’s partnership with Isuzu Action Auto, as a franchised dealership, to actively provide feedback to users on innovation and accelerate new product progression with ease and confidence.
Another aspect that the company prides itself on is the excellent visitor service provided at all points.
“We take pride in our service and strive daily to deliver it to the highest level. We see our customers as an extension of the Isuzu family, and each interaction must cultivate that feeling through continued enhancement of customer satisfaction and building strong relationships,” he says proudly.
This environment is cultivated through the Action Auto team, who are encouraged to create a positive and friendly experience from the beginning, through the process of acquiring and delivering the vehicle, and finally through to maintaining the vehicle’s lifecycle.
“Our corporate philosophy continues to create lifelong consumers that stand the test of time,” says Bentley.
“We are proud of our service and try to offer it at the highest level”
Having recently been awarded the Best Japanese Specialty Car Dealership in Southern Africa award for 2022 through The Business Concept, Action Auto has time and again demonstrated its commitment to serving others in Zambia.
In addition to this award, the company has received, for the second consecutive year, the 2023 award for the Best Japanese Car Specialist Dealership in Southern Africa through The Business Concept, demonstrating its competitiveness and tenacity.
Alongside Action Auto’s various awards and recognitions, the company has expanded even further, opening the Leopards Hill Branch, a quick service facility catering to the eastern part of Lusaka.
“The city of Lusaka has grown exponentially over the past 10 years and we took the opportunity to open a newly built shopping mall in the area. This installation was an added blessing as it improved our success as consumers grew tired of the traffic jams in the area. Central Business District (CBD),” says Bentley.
To further improve visitor service and satisfaction, the company has remodeled and renovated its headquarters and facilities in Kitwe over the past five years, upgrading the showroom and workshop for higher performance.
Looking ahead, Action Auto bought a five-hectare plot of land in 2023, near Kenneth Kaunda International Airport, and a truck workshop in front of its headquarters in Lusaka. “We intend to expand this field in the next 10 years. the entire on-site headquarters, a bonded warehouse for vehicles and a larger portion garage and distribution facility for the country and, in all likelihood, even neighboring countries,” says Bentley.
Finally, after a hiatus due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company is in the process of resuming partnership negotiations with some key organizations to open legal services offices across the country, initially in the Northwest and South provinces.
As the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted, community and teamwork are crucial to the success of not just any business, but any society that wants to find collective growth.
This is no better epitomized than the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices in which Auto Action participates.
“We strongly support our community. Whether it’s financial, material, logistical or physical support, volunteer paints or supplemental car maintenance for first responders, we’ve shown our support,” says Bentley.
The company likewise supports two charitable, non-profit organisations that help and educate orphans – Human Service Trust, and Chawama Chesire Homes for the elderly and homeless – and recently partnered with Mission Geeks, a non-profit supporting the work of Christian missions and community development organisations in the fields of education, health, and conservation.
In addition, Action Auto workers are incredibly passionate about conservation in Zambia and channel this hobby through support and volunteering as Honorary Officers of the Wildlife Police (HWPO), a department of the Zambia Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW).
“I and some of our staff are part of HWPO, donating our time and providing logistics and money for anti-poaching patrols and wildlife rescue,” Bentley adds.
With plans to grow alongside its community, Action Auto has detailed a two-to-five-year plan with the goal of implanting the company in areas of Zambia in which it has had very little presence other than mobile service teams.
This will be completed through strategic partnerships with some of its suppliers who have already established a presence in those spaces to better serve the company’s ever-growing visitor base that no longer operates only in spaces along rail lines or primary road networks.
“We are expanding our team, turning to other young people who offer new and enthusiastic energy, cutting-edge thinking, diversity of ideas, and virtual literacy, which becomes the context of the developing use of social media as a tool to develop visitors. reach,” Bentley concludes.