Major event for OKO and Jaspa in UAE

I was recently privileged to be invited to the official launch of OKO’s new distributor for UAE and Oman, Jaspa.

Although this was the first media appearance of the OKO/Jaspa liaison, it has in practice been developing for about a year. Jaspa has been extremely professional, insisting upon exhaustively testing the OKO tyre sealants on all types of terrain and in local desert heat so as to convince their team and the trial customers that it is a vital component in both off and off road tyres to combat the ever-present threat of punctures.

Jaspa has since 1993 progressively developed a commercial tyre distribution business, and in this role it has been spectacularly successful, having built the Longmarch brand into the second-largest Truck & Bus tyre range in the UAE. They approached us because they saw that OKO puncture sealants were a natural addition to its product portfolio.

At Dubai’s Hyatt Regency Hotel, I joined Jignesh Parekh, Managing Director of Jaspa, in presenting to 40 leading directors and transport managers who collectively manage fleets totalling thousands of vehicles. Those who were early adopters of OKO were keen to share their experiences with the rest of the audience, and they were unanimously positive

Truck tyres spiked

The event culminated in a live demonstration outside the hotel front entrance, where a Volvo truck was subjected to multiple punctures. Yet after two circuits and re-puncturing, the tyre pressure remained at a rock-solid 120 psi. The attendees were naturally very impressed by this proof of the strength of OKO sealing power.

During the week I was there, I also went on the road in three Emirates – Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi – with the very impressive Jaspa sales managers, who have already converted leading businesses (including ready-mix concrete, waste management, crane hire and trucking fleets) to the use of OKO preventative puncture sealants. The payback of using OKO to reduce downtime and the cost of premature tyre replacement is very clear.

There is a huge amount of construction going on in UAE, and it is a very vibrant market that presents a big opportunity: one which Jaspa is poised to exploit.