From Shinyanga to a National Supply Partner

Kara Traders did not begin as a city wholesaler. In the late 1970s Maganlal B. Kara opened a family trading shop in Shinyanga, supplying hardware and building materials to the diamond belt and the lake region when dependable goods were scarce.

Dar es Salaam, early 1990s

Tanzania's late-1980s liberalisation brought larger domestic and foreign contractors into construction, mining and roadworks. In the early 1990s Director Deepak M. Kara relocated to Dar es Salaam and the business was incorporated as Kara Traders Limited. Importing started from the Middle East, then moved from counter retail toward wholesale and distributorship.

Specialist brands

Under Director Pratish M. Kara the range grew from hardware and plumbing into professional hand tools, power tools and machinery, with sourcing from Italy, Spain, the UK and the rest of Europe. In 2007 Kara Power Tools Ltd was formed as exclusive Hitachi distributor in Tanzania. In the 2010s Kara Traders became exclusive distributor of King Tony hand tools for the country.

The shop on the corner of India and Zanaki Street is still the base. The work is national: mining, roadworks, construction and industrial plants, supplied from a catalog the company counts at more than 5,000 lines.