Employee Interview　Rion Tosaka

Seeing Africa so Full of Life Sparked
My Desire to Work at Yamaha Motor

I might have grown up pretty curious as a kid. I think because I lived in a small town where everyone knew each other, I grew up with this strong desire from a young age to go out and see the world. When I was in elementary school, my father’s job moved us to Thailand for about two years, and that might have been what first taught me that even the smell of the air can be different in other parts of the world.

That curiosity resurfaced again as a junior high school student when I picked up a report by a newspaper journalist that had been stationed in Africa. It spoke of AK-47s, various conflicts, the economic collapse of Zimbabwe, and more, and I felt like I’d gotten a glimpse of what was actually happening in the world outside Japan. For me, it was my first “interaction” with Africa.

Honestly, that interaction was, if anything, a negative one. But when I visited the continent for the first time, I was struck by sights completely different from what I had imagined. This was back in university when I went to Ghana for about two weeks with the African Studies Club I was in. The capital city of Accra was much more developed than I’d expected, and the people walked its streets smiling and with confidence. I loved the colorful local fashion as well—the vivid, lively world around me was unforgettable.

Near the end of my university years, I also spent three months interning at a Japanese startup in Tanzania. The company offered Energy as a Service (EaaS), renting out essential infrastructure for daily life. I was deeply impressed by how its solutions were grounded in the realities of the local communities.

You have to get out into the field and closely observe real people—refuse to be chained down by your own personal norms or those of Japanese society. I learned to value what you see and feel in the field during my internship, and it’s something that has remained with me deep down, especially today as I support management of CourieMate’s^* business from Japan. These experiences were also major factors in growing my desire to someday work in Africa.

*The Mobility Service Business Division’s overseas subsidiary in Uganda and Tanzania.

The Diverse Approaches Built on a
Strong Brand Were Captivating

After graduating from university, I joined a TV station and worked both in the field and in corporate departments. Once I had settled into the job and finally had a bit of room to reflect, I found the memories of my fulfilling days in Tanzania resurfacing. I shared those feelings with my husband, and the two of us traveled to Tanzania and Rwanda together. When he said, “I thought going might be risky, but they’re actually wonderful countries,” his words gave me the final push I needed to make a career change.

I chose Yamaha Motor’s Mobility Services Business (MSB) Division as my next step because I felt a genuine excitement about a major manufacturing company taking on service-sector challenges in Africa. Having worked entirely in a domestic Japanese environment until then, I also felt it was a place where I could truly challenge myself.

During my internship in Tanzania, I heard people talk about how much trust Yamaha outboard motors have earned across Africa. “Fishermen are proud to use Yamahas and take very good care of them, going so far as to carry their outboard home with them after returning to shore following a fishing trip,” they told me. I’ve never seen it firsthand, but it’s something that really drove home to me how strong the Yamaha brand is in Africa. A company with such a commanding brand presence taking on new challenges through entirely different approaches—that really grabbed my interest and thinking about joining in got me excited.

I want to work in Africa.

That remains my hope even now, but I also know that I still have a lot more to learn. I recognize this all the more when working alongside the CEO there, simply by watching how he leads.

For MSB staff, being assigned to Africa means stepping into a leadership role on the ground—bringing local members together and guiding projects forward. It requires a deep understanding of both the market environment and the people you work with, as well as the confidence to apply your experience and demonstrate strong leadership. To reach that level myself, I want to build the right skills through my work in Japan and steadily grow my capabilities, so that one day I can go to Africa and help drive the business forward.

Building Experience to Someday
Lead a Business in Africa

The subsidiary I am responsible for, CourieMate, operates last-mile delivery services in East Africa, but it is still a young company in the early stages of growth. I support the business from Japan by working with local leadership to review business plans and explain them to relevant internal departments, while also monitoring CourieMate’s financial performance and tracking progress toward key operational KPIs. Making improvement proposals to help achieve those targets is another important part of my job.

Back when I first moved to Yamaha, I still didn’t have much personal experience in the field to rely on, and I found it difficult to clearly picture what was happening on the ground. I struggled with that, but business trips to Uganda and Tanzania to see things firsthand gave me the means to engage in repeated discussions. Doing that gradually gave me confidence in my ability to contribute to improving and growing the business. Going forward, I want to continue studying and learning so that I can face my tasks in Africa with clarity.

For me, the MSB Division is a really great place to work. First and foremost, I’m surrounded by so many fun and friendly coworkers. We’ll have casual conversations like, “Morning! How you doing?” or talk about where we should go for lunch today, but we can also consult with each other about work tasks across different responsibilities and areas. A lot of my colleagues are from other countries, and working with people from so many different backgrounds is incredibly stimulating. I enjoy going to work every day.

My goal is to become a leader of Yamaha Motor’s businesses in Africa. I believe Africa will go down a different path compared to our traditional major markets of Europe, the U.S., and Asia when it comes to market penetration and growth. The last-mile delivery and mobility asset management businesses the MSB Division is currently working on will be Africa’s touchpoints for the Yamaha brand, and I expect our presence on the continent to keep growing. There are bound to be development processes and outcomes in Africa that have never manifested through our established businesses—that is where I’m certain the fascinating dynamism of African markets lies.

To bring each of these to fruition, I’m going to aim for my own personal growth first. I want to continue honing my business skills through my current job, so that I can someday become a leader that people from different cultures and backgrounds will trust and follow.