Mahomed has always loved cars. Their design, performance and the excitement they evoke in him is one of his earliest memories. Thus when he had the opportunity to join BMW Supertech after he completed his articles in 2012 after a six-month overseas secondment with PwC in Indianapolis USA, it felt to him like the perfect match.
At that time Supertech was a single, small, privately owned dealership based at an old facility in Durban South where it had been operating under several owners since 1983. But in the dynamic company owner, Mr Shabir Tayob, Mahomed found someone with extraordinary drive and ambition which he wanted to be a part of.
Mahomed joined Supertech Durban in 2012 as the financial manager. In early 2013, the dealership moved to a much larger purpose-built R100-million facility. The new facility and improved results allowed the business to grow and create a sound base on which to expand by acquiring additional dealerships in strategic areas. Mahomed was promoted to the Exco board in the role of CFO in late 2013 and to financial director a year later, at the age of 27.
In 2015, BMW Newcastle joined the group. Mahomed was involved in all aspects of this and future acquisitions. Within two years, the dealership was turned around from being the lowest ranked dealer in the country to winning the prestigious BMW National Dealer of the Year award.
In 2016 Supertech Pinetown was taken over from Bidvest McCarthy and not long after that the local private BMW bike dealership was also absorbed into the operation. In 2017 the PMB & Shelly Beach BMW dealerships joined the growing group as well, while 2019 saw the latest BMW dealership acquisition from a private owner in East London − the first dealership for the group outside KZN. Mahomed’s latest project that he ran start to finish is a new R160-million state-of-the-art flagship dealership in Pinetown which opened in 2019.
Mahomed has also led several other unique projects such as acquiring the coveted BMW ‘M’ high-performance and ‘i’ electric vehicle approvals, as well as rolling out the new BMW ‘future retail’ model across all dealers. In 2015 he also led a pilot project allowing Supertech Durban to become the first dealership in Africa to obtain a four-star Green Building Association accreditation for environmental sustainability.
All told, between 2015 and 2019 the company has expanded from being a single dealership to boasting six BMW dealerships and three panel shops. Mahomed has been at the heart of this rapid expansion from the outset. The number of staff employed during this time has also grown from 84 to over 450, including five CAs(SA) that Mahomed has developed and trained. Group revenues have grown in this period from R426 million to over R2,6 billion.
The group runs several charitable projects each year such as the Winter Warmth and Toy-drive campaigns, as well as local school feeding initiatives which have been very successful and are close to Mahomed’s heart.
