About
Mamokacha is all about Quality products, Customer satisfaction and all around satisfactory service.
Mission
“MamoKacha aims to deliver products and services of high quality. In order to accomplish our mission, we have established an environment that constantly supports our team, for them to provide services that are exceptional.”
Vision
“To be the leading, fast moving consumer goods distributor and manufacturer in Ethiopia”
Values
- We aim to be recognized for the quality and effectiveness of our products
- We strive to develop our people by providing an environment that fosters personal development and professional growth
Founder and Visionary – Mr. Mamo Yenberberu
Mr. Mamo Yenberberu, referred as MamoKacha is a self-made entrepreneur and a transportation system mogul who manufactured buses and ran the primary flee to supply services across Ethiopia. The operation made Mr. MamoKacha’s transit line a household name within the East African country.
History- How it all began
At a young age, Mamo Yenberberu moved to Illubabor, Gore when his father relocated for work. Not long after the move, his father passed at the battle of Maychew defending Ethiopia from Italian forces. Mamo’s mother had also passed from illness which left Mamo an orphan at the age of 12.
1930’s
Before his father passing, Mamo had heard that his father built a house in Addis Ababa; thus in 1937 Mamo started his journey to the capital city of Ethiopia. After coming to Addis, young Mamo found it easier to find his daily meal. He made a living working as a dishwasher and messenger for a small cafe where he was paid with food for the services he gave. Wise Mamo Yenberberu started thinking on how he can be independent and earn money on his own. Luckily, during his stay Mamo made acquaintance with a carpenter who appreciated him very much. The carpenter offered Mamo a chariot-like vehicle and Mamo started using it as a means of transportation.
The Beginning
With the vehicle that the carpenter offered him, Mamo came up with an idea to drag the carriage with four wheels and transport children from Seytan Bet, Tewodros roundabout to the Telecommunication Office and make the children pay for the trip. With his savings, he prepared another carriage for transporting children. The second vehicle was a bicycle that had neither pedals nor a chain. He replaced the two wheels of the bicycle with wheels he made himself and used it to give children a tour of the neighborhood and generate more money. An Italian military official who noticed the Mamo’s due diligence took him to Mistewa. The Italian helped Mamo buy 20 new bicycles from Mistewa and bring them back to Addis Ababa. Now, Mamo started renting his 20 bikes and generated even more money.
Mamo Yenberberu put his name on transportation
While Mamo’s business was thriving, the Italian army was defeated and replaced by the British army. Following the change, Italians left Ethiopia at a hurry and sold their cars for a cheap price. Taking charge of the opportunity, Mamo bought a pickup truck for 180 birr and started transporting people from Addis Ababa to Wolkite. Contrary to what normally took about three days, Mamo’s trip would take two or one- and-a-half days. Hence, a lot of people preferred to take Mamo’s bus for transportation. Due to this act of getting to a place really fast, Mamo got the nickname Kacha in place of his father’s name. Kacha refers to an Italian military plane known for its speed. Mamo named his organization by the same nickname he had become so popular with—Mamo-Kacha
MamoKacha to the rescue
The royal monarchy of King Haile Selassie ordered the Italian Fiat company to manufacture 30 buses for Ethiopia’s Anbessa Bus. When about half of the ordered buses came to Addis Ababa and started giving service, they all stated exhibiting the same problem. All the buses started to lose their front tires and crash. After the fifth and sixth crash, Mamo started to ask himself why this was happening. One day, as Mamo was driving from Shashamene to Addis Ababa, another bus honked its horn and passed him by in the opposite direction. Mamo noticed this was one of the new buses that were causing chaos in the country. Thinking this might be his opportunity to find out why the buses are faulty, Mamo turned his bus around and followed the Anbessa bus to Shashamene. The bus made a turn to Goba, passed by Dodola with Mamo- Kacha on its tail. As the bus was racing down the hill, its front tire burst and the bus stopped after crashing into a nearby tree.
Mamo Kacha went towards the crash site to examine the situation. He quickly identified the problem. As soon as he got to Addis Ababa, Mamo flew straight to Italy to the Fiat Company and requested to meet with the president. The employees of the company were puzzled by Mamo as he did not have an appointment but requested to meet with the president. When they asked him to get an appointment and come back, Mamo refused and demanded to see with the president urgently. The employees were puzzled by how Mamo was insistent on meeting the president without an appointment and even more confused by the fact that he was black.
Mamo Kacha was able to get through the receptionists all the way to the president. He told the president about how the company agreed to make the buses for Ethiopia and has thus far sent 12 buses. Mamo continued to recite how the buses that have been sent so far have been putting the lives of people at risk due to the failure in their front tires. Mamo told the president that five or six buses have crashed so far. The president told Mamo that he is aware of the problem and that the company is investigating the cause. But Mamo told the president that he had discovered the problem and offered to solve it. A bit defensive, the president refused to acknowledge there could be any technical error as the people who have worked on the buses are well educated and experienced.
Mamo explained that the problem is in the placement of the engine at the front of the bus. The fact that both the engine and the trunk where passenger’s luggage is stored are at the front of the vehicle adds weight causing all the pressure on the front tires. Mamo explained why the front tires were always bursting. The president quickly gathered the engineers of the company and asked Mamo to explain the problem. The engineers resisted to accept the idea and argued with Mamo Kacha. However, they finally budged in and agreed to make one bus with the correction suggested by Mamo Kacha.
Mamo Kacha moved the luggage holder to the back and presented the bus. The newly modified vehicle was closely monitored. It continued to give service for a long time without any faults. A second bus was made with the same modification and the results were as seen in the first bus. The Italians were amazed by his talent and gave him permission to correct all the buses that were sent to Ethiopia. All the buses were then corrected using Mamo-Kacha’s design suggestion. Fiat Company acknowledged the talent of Mamo and awarded him with a 220 model Mercedes car.
1970’s
When the Derg regime came to power, it took away properties of so many with the intention to take from feudalists and distribute wreath to all. People like MamoKacha who worked so hard for what they owned were hurt in the process. Mamo was forced to live a life with a monthly salary of 2500 birr. His efforts were fruitless. The company he had worked hard to grow fail under the administration of the Workers Association. The Association failed to run the company as well as Mamo had run it. Eventually, what was ones Mamo’s organization started to operate at a loss to a point where it had to sell one of the buses in order to pay employee salaries. As more and more problems arose, more and more buses were sold. After four buses were sold, the Derg Regime acknowledged that Mamo-Kacha was the only one who could run the business effectively. Derg gave the property back to Mamo who ran it until the day he passed.
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