Waiblingen, 14.04.2025 | Corporate Press Release
STIHL se développe en Afrique
STIHL has expanded its presence in Africa: With marketing companies in Morocco and Cameroon, the leading manufacturer of chainsaws and motorized garden tools wants to exploit the growth potential in the promising regions of North and Central Africa.
The Swabian family-owned company has been active in Africa for more than 60 years. Subsidiaries in Morocco and Cameroon now complete the company's presence on the African continent. Together with the representative office on the Ivory Coast and the sales companies in Kenya and South Africa, STIHL now covers all five regions of Africa. After moving into its own premises in Casablanca, STIHL North Africa Limited celebrated its official inauguration in February 2025. The three-day event also included numerous workshops, best practices and product demonstrations for the participating dealers and importers from all over Africa and the Middle East.
Local presence for targeted market development
“Our business in Africa has developed well in recent years and the prospects for the entire continent are promising. The market therefore plays a key role in our long-term strategy,” said Dr. Nikolas Stihl, Chairman of the Advisory and Supervisory Boards, at the inauguration of STIHL's Moroccan location. The subsidiaries in Casablanca, Morocco, and Douala, Cameroon, will help to promote the knowledge and skills of local dealers and provide targeted sales support.
Tailor-made strategies for diverse markets
Alexandre Gueguen, Managing Director of STIHL North Africa Limited and Sales Manager for the francophone countries of Africa, emphasizes the need for individual market strategies: “The distances and differences within Africa require a tailored approach. We are on the spot to strengthen our sales structures and tailor our products optimally to the needs of our customers.” Morocco was chosen as the location to cover the North African region and the so-called Maghreb states. The Central Africa region is ideally served from Cameroon. STIHL employees provide training and develop regional sales and marketing strategies. “The better we know the markets, the better we can serve customer requirements,” says Gueguen. “In Morocco, for example, we have many private users, where we need garden tools such as lawn mowers. But professional products such as the olive harvester are also used on farms.” In contrast, agriculture and forestry play an important role in Cameroon, which is why traditional petrol chainsaws are mainly used there. “The robust and reliable STIHL products are specially adapted to the demanding local conditions such as heat, dust and high humidity,” explains Ewokolo Achiri, Managing Director of STIHL Central Africa Limited, who has already helped to set up the marketing company in Abidjan in Côte d'Ivoire. “Brushcutters, tillers, mistblowers, and sprayers are particularly interesting for the Central African market.”
Long-term commitment and continuous growth
Having been active in Africa via importers since the 1960s, STIHL founded its first own branch in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, in 1996 and began to further expand the African market for STIHL. Around 40 employees now work for STIHL South Africa. In 2017, a branch was established in the Kenyan capital Nairobi to offer training and product demonstrations in East Africa, particularly for agricultural cooperatives. In 2022, the Kenyan company, like STIHL South Africa, became a fully-fledged sales subsidiary with the areas of marketing, training, logistics and sales. Since 2021, the marketing company in Côte d'Ivoire has been offering numerous training courses and demonstrations for STIHL importers to attract new customers and support agricultural development projects in West Africa.
