kenya top 100-online newspaper : kenya’s fastest growing mid-sized companies

SPECIAL PULLOUT26TH OCTOBER, 2015

Kenya’s fastest g≥owing Mid-Sized companies

II BUSINESS DAILY | Monday October 26, 2015

BY JOSPHAT MWAURA

On Friday 9 October 2015, we once again gathered for an evening of pomp

and celebration of the 2015 Ken-ya Top100 mid-sized businesses. Since the inception of the Survey in 2008, the Gala Dinner is deliber-ately styled as a glamorous formal event complete with black tie or cultural wear.

The intention is to prepare the businesses being feted to be-gin to present themselves in the high level events that their suc-cess will bring them globally. We want every one of these business to ready themselves to stand on stage in London, Tokyo, Paris, New York and Beijing to receive the recogni-tion they deserve.

And the Gala dinner never fails to excite. Nearly 1,000 people gath-er for the evening and the excite-ment is almost palpable. Every single business represented at the dinner is a winner no matter what position they end up being ranked. It is for this reason that many of them come with their employees, their relatives and business part-ners to receive their awards and bask in the moment of glory when they are called on stage.

It is especially gratifying to see the diversity of those present, of all ages, of all extractions and in-volved in a wide cross-section of businesses. This is what business is about - hardwork and success being celebrated by all of us, with-out consideration of whatever else separates us.

Self nominatingNow in its eighth year in Kenya, the Top100 Survey is a voluntary, self-nominating process for mid-sized businesses that have a turnover of between Sh70 million and Sh1 bil-lion. Each business must present audited financial statements for the last three years.

It is from those financial state-ments, audited by a professional accountant in good standing with the Institute of Certified Public Ac-countants of Kenya (ICPAK), that we extract various ratios to assess and rank growth, profitability, and an indicator of liquidity. The proc-ess is predicated on the confidence that each participant has in the way they run their operation, and the performance that they have delivered.

Those who choose to partici-pate in the Top100 Survey, here in Kenya or in Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda, whether they end up being ranked amongst the Top100 for that year or not, are sending a strong message to the market that: “we know we are running

our business right and that our performance is worthy of recog-nition and celebration.” Govern-ance and performance go hand in hand in facilitating a business to transition from a small owner- managed en-tity, to a national, regional, continental and ultimately global organisation.

To facilitate the sharing of knowl-edge, the Top100 Sur-vey process includes a conference the day before the gala dinner where all businesses that participated in the survey are invited to send their chief ex-ecutive and head of finance.

The conference is a forum to present detailed survey findings, share lessons from keynote speak-ers and other Top100 businesses, engage with policy makers and regulators, and create linkages between Top100 businesses to

enable them to trade and share lessons amongst themselves.

In this year’s conference, Mr. Ali Mufuruki, himself an accom-plished entrepreneur and region-

al leader, generously shared his time and lessons with partici-pants and emphasized the need to invest in human capital, both at a national/ regional level, and in the indi-vidual businesses. He singled out this as the limiting factor that separated East Africa from the Asian Tigers, and limits the growth of businesses and by extension employ-ment and economic

transformation. He warned that, if we do not address the issues that are causing unemployment and poverty, our region will not real-ize the enormous potential that is attracting businesses from every-where else in the world.

We also had occasion to listen

to lessons on growth and upscal-ing of mid-sized businesses from those who have walked that path. And once again, the issues of the character and skills of your teams came to the fore.

In addition to investing in sys-tems and leveraging technology, each business, and the business leader in particular, must invest their time in bringing the quality of people at every level, that they can trust to run the business as it if was their own - expansion and growth are limited by founders holding on to too many roles and not having faith in their teams.

Choose your people wisely and then delegate and trust them to perform. If you have put in place appropriate governance systems, these will enable you to hold them to account and to arrest any wick-edness that you may have missed out in the appointment process.

VibrancyThese mid-sized businesses

bring energy, vibrancy and resil-ience to any economy. They deliver growth, wealth, employment, for-eign exchange earnings, and above all, national revenue in the taxes they pay.

Every policy maker and regula-tor must make it their business to make it possible for these business-es to grow more, to earn more and to employ more people. We were pleased to hear the undertakings by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) to re-orient their approach to these businesses to one of facili-tation rather than undue scrutiny. The Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) has also prioritized initia-tives targeted at facilitating small and mid-sized businesses. We have reason to look forward to next year and hope to recognize and cele-brate even more businesses.

GratefulI am deeply grateful to our part-

ners in this initiative, the Nation Media Group (NMG) through the Business Daily. Every week, we see stories carried in the paper about individual Top100 businesses. There are so many stories to tell, so many lessons to pick that I am confident that there are more stories to be told through other channels.

Through these stories, NMG can re-orient the national con-versation to focus on value crea-tion and not the endless political noise we hear. I look forward to the evolution of that space.

[email protected] The views and opinions are

those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of KPMG

SPONSORS

Invest in t≥usted teams to g≥ow

Mr Josphat Mwaura is the Senior Partner and CEO, KPMG East Africa.

We also had occasion to

listen to lessons on g≥owth and

upscaling of mid-sized businesses f≥om those who

have walked that path.

Chief Executive Officer Joe Muganda Editor-in-Chief Tom Mshindi

Managing Editor Ochieng’ Rapuro

Senior Graphic Designer Gennevieve Nahinga

Graphic Designer Chrispus Bargorett

Photos Salaton Njau

FOUNDERS

IIIMonday October 26, 2015 | BUSINESS DAILY

BY JOE MUGANDA

The Top 100 Mid-Sized companies’ initiative has over the past 8 years, awarded and celebrated enterprise

through this survey that is a partnership between KPMG and the Nation Media Group.

Over the years, the Top 100 Mid-Sized companies have enjoyed the benefits of association with the big corporations as credible business partners.

Many of the past winners of this survey have gained invaluable traction in the mar-ket that have not only opened new doors for growth but also made it easier to deal with the authorities and form partnerships.

Some have, for instance, had financial institutions approach them with offers of partnerships they could not imagine were possible before their participation in the survey and their dealings with the tax au-thorities have become less tedious.

This year, Top 100 Mid-Sized companies reached out to entrepreneurs in Nakuru, Kisumu, Mombasa, Thika and Nairobi. The survey continues to grow in the region with a strong presence in Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda.

Most important, there has been a rise in the number and quality of entries and each competing enterprise has demonstrated a remarkable degree of excellence, innova-tion and success.

SMEs are and will remain a critical part of the East African economy. They will con-tinue to make a tremendous contribution to industrialisation through innovation and job creation. This contribution is significant to the overall performance of the Kenyan economy which stands among the fastest growing in the world.

As in many other places around the world, financing remains one of the big-gest challenges that the SMEs face. The operating environment is also stymied by difficult economic environment and a demanding consumer all which require a sizeable amount of persistence, tact and constant innovation to manoeuvre.

Some of the challenges are, however, within the grasp of the SMEs and can be dealt with internally. For example, hiring the right person for the job, using technol-ogy, opening up the business to dynamic business platforms such as mobile money, use of research and ensuring business pres-ence is felt in communities they serve.

Top 100 Medium Sized companies’ su≥vey a c≥ucial benchma≥king tool

Nation Media Group CEO Joe Muganda. FILE

The Nation Media Group’s support of the TOP 100 Mid-Sized companies survey is hinged on our belief in the important role it plays in helping SMEs to formalize their processes, pay taxes and create credible structures that enable them to grow to next level.

It is a benchmarking competition that every entrepreneur with her eyes on growth should participate in.

Nation Media Group and KPMG continue to celebrate the success of exceptional men and women, who have taken the risk of venturing

into private business and have impacted not just their own lives but also the lives of those they employ and offer opportunity to prosper every day.

The Nation Media Group is committed to providing media platforms where entrepre-neurs can gain business insights, grow capac-ity and leverage opportunities to grow from small to medium and ultimately become big multi-nationals. From our traditional to dig-ital platforms, we will continue to walk with you in your journey to greatness.

com

RILEY FALCON SECURITY JOINS THE LEAGUE OF TOP 100 MID - SIZED COMPANIES!!

Riley Falcon Security Staff led by their Director, Tobias See ( seated) pose with their trophy after the firm emerged

among the Top 100 Mid - Sized Companies at the Carnivore Restaurant Grounds in Nairobi on 9th October 2015.

OUR HEAD OFFICE:RILEY HOUSE, TOM MBOYA ROAD, MILLIMANI,

P. O. BOX 876 - 40123, KISUMU. TEL: 057 2021380, 2020363, 0722204876, 0733622211, 0703505787, 0703505475

Email: [email protected]: www.rileyfalcon.co.ke

Other Branch Offices: Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru, Eldoret, Siaya, Kisii, Embu.

IV BUSINESS DAILY | Monday October 26, 2015

BY MAURICE GACHUHI

The Top 100 Mid-Sized Compa-nies Survey is an initiative of KPMG Kenya and the Nation

Media Group that seeks to identify Kenya’s fastest growing medium-sized companies in order to show-case business excellence and high-light some of the country’s most suc-cessful entrepreneurship stories. The main goal of this initiative is to iden-tify new role models and business heroes, recog-nise them and most im-portantly connect them to peers, key stakeholders and mentors within East Africa, as similar surveys are carried out in Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda.

The survey presents an opportunity for participat-ing companies to bench-mark themselves against their peers, contribute to the development of industry databases, and enjoy recognition as top perform-ers at both national and industry level, and as members of a prestigious club of ‘prosperity’ creators. The survey takes a self-nominating aspect and hence uni-versal coverage is not expected.

Every year we interact with the par-ticipants and what has always stuck out is the energy, enthusiasm and the unique war stories. Entrants in the sur-vey must have had revenues ranging from Sh70 million to Sh1 billion for the last three years, should not be a bank, insurance company, Sacco, a legal or audit firm. For any past participants who exceed the 1 billion mark, they au-tomatically graduate to the esteemed elite Club 101.

Participants are required to sub-mit ten key ratios through a Financial Questionnaire. Those with the best revenue growth rates, return to share-holders and liquidity rates will rank high as these are considered the key insights on the companies’ perform-ance. The ratios are also weighted to take into account revenue range and growth trends with key emphasis on

the current year’s perform-ance. Key to note is that a company performing well on these parameters fits the profile of the fastest grow-ing mid-sized companies that are also financially stable. Some key findings this year;

• Companies in the con-sumer and industrial were by far the most prevalent, with manu-facturing, retail, trans-port, construction and ICT accounting for close

to two-thirds of the sample.

• 67% of the participants were in the growth phase of their cycle with 26% falling in the mature phase. 7% of the participants, mostly in the tourism, advertising and crea-tive industries indicated that they were re-emerging from a decline.

• Slightly over 40% of the firms surveyed had over KES 300M in revenues in 2015. Like in prior years, we noted that most compa-nies tended to stagnate at the KES 300M level with the challenges of scaling up being the main obstacle to growth.

Key findings of Top 100 mid-sized fi≥ms’ su≥vey2015 edition finds that competition, volatility of shilling were the two main growth obstacles

• A majority of the participants (80%) registered a revenue growth. Mining, Gas (Down-stream), Infrastructure & Con-struction, Telecoms and Finance reported a decline in revenues mainly due to reduced sales/loss of clients, security concerns, reduced production/closing of major out-lets and high operational costs.

• Aggressive marketing/good mar-keting strategies and increased demand for products and services were noted as key growth drivers

accounting for 75% of the partici-pants.• Competition (both fair and un-fair) and the volatility of curren-cies were noted as the two major obstacles to continuing growth at 46% and 34% respectively.

• On employment, a majority of the participants had at least 15 employees and in overall had in-creased their workforce by 28% since 2011. 83% of respondents indicated they were likely or very likely to increase staff in the next

The main goal of this initiative

is to identify new ≥ole models

and business he≥oes, ≥ecognise

them and most impo≥tantly

connect them to pee≥s,

The 2015 leg attracted more younger participants (1-5 yrs) as well as older firms (aged 25+ years) compared to the 2014 leg.

AGE OF COMPANYLocal ownership characterises a majority of the participants.

OWNERSHIP STRUCTURE SOURCES OF START-UP CAPITAL4 out of 5 founders set up their businesses with some of their own money.

Manufacturing 15%

Wholesale 12%

Retail 11%

Transport 9%

Infrastructure/Construction 8%

ICT 8%

Tourism 4%

Agriculture 4%

Manufacturing companies are by far the most prevalent sector in the sample.Manufacturing, Retail, Transport, Construction and ICT account for close to two-thirds of the sample.

SECTOR DISTRIBUTION

STAGE OF BUSINESS LIFE CYCLE

VMonday October 26, 2015 | BUSINESS DAILY

KPMG East Africa CEO Josphat Mwaura (left), Diamond Trust Bank CEO Nasim Devji and Nation Media Group CEO Joe Muganda during the Kenya Top 100 Mid-Sized Com-panies 2015 Survey Gala dinner at the Carnivore Grounds in Nairobi on October 9.

year. A slight increase from the 2013/14 results.

• Roughly 5 in every 8 (63 per cent) of the surveyed firms have an inter-national foot print, a slight decline from the 2013/14 results. The aspira-tion to expand into East Africa rose by an 8% margin between 2013/14 and 2014/15.

• 4 out of 5 founders set up their busi-nesses with some of their own money while 1 out of 4 covered at least some of the start-up costs with a bank facili-ty. Friends and family remain a signif-icant source of capital with business expansions being largely financed by bank loans, followed by founder’s savings. Venture capital was significantly mentioned in the Telco and Financial Services sectors where it was ranked 2nd or 3rd source of capital.

• On listing at the NSE, we noted in-creased interest with 30 per cent of the participants indicating willing-ness to list within the next 2-3 years. Challenges to listing included the fear of losing control of business, lack of

knowledge on listing requirements, the rigorous listing requirements and bureaucracies that go with it.

• 4 out of 10 respondents experienced challenges in working capital with customer delays in settlement of their bills being the main obstacle.

Overall, based on the survey, small and medium-sized companies’ current outlook towards performance of econo-my is moderate, with 45 per cent of the respondents stating that the economy is “substantially” or “moderately better” than 6 months ago.

The outlook towards individual indus-try’s performance is more positive, with 61 per cent declaring the current status to be “substantially” or “moderately bet-ter”. Interestingly, future outlook (next six months) is more positive with 79 per cent expecting an improvement in their own industries.

I take this opportunity thank all par-ticipants and look forward to the next year’s survey.

Mr Gachuhi is a senior manager with KPMG Kenya’s audit practice [email protected].

COMPANYCLUB 101 BROLLO KENYA LTD CANON CHEMICALS LIMITED ELDOHOSP PHARMACEUTICALSLTD KENYA BUILDERS & CONCRETE CO LTD MEGA PACK K LTD SIGMA SUPPLIES LTD TRUFOODS LIMITED VEHICLE AND EQUIPMENT LEASING LTD INDUSTRY CHAMPIONS Retail ALLWIN PACKAGING INTL. LTDWholesale IZMIR ENTERPRISES LTDInfrastructure/Construction KISIMA ELECTRO MECHANICALS LTDTransport LOGISTIC SOLUTIONS LTDICT SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGIES LTDManufacturing WARREN CONCRETE LTDFinancial Services WAUMINI INSURANCE BROKERS LTD

100 ROY TRANSMOTORS LIMITED99 DE RUITER EA LIMITED98 KISIMA DRILLING (EA) LTD97 IRON ART LIMITED96 SYNERGY GASES (K) LTD95 GACHICHIO INSURANCE BROKERS LTD94 PALMHOUSE DAIRIES LTD93 EMOMENTUM INTERACTIVE SYSTEMS LTD92 IDEAL MANUFACTURING CO. LTD.91 BELL ATLANTIC COMMUNICATIONS LTD90 AVTECH SYSTEMS LIMITED89 RELIABLE CONCRETE WORKS88 DEEPA INDUSTRIES LIMITED87 SOLOH WORLDWIDE INTER-ENTTERPRISES LTD86 FARMPARTS LIMITED85 NAIROBI ENTERPRISES LTD84 SPECIALISED HARDWARE LIMITED83 NEWLINE LIMITED82 CUBE MOVERS LIMITED81 KENBRO INDUSTRIES LTD80 NATIONWIDE ELECTRICAL LTD79 OIL SEALS AND BEARINGS CENTRE LTD78 STATPRINT LIMITED77 BAGDA’S AUTO SPARES LTD76 TYPOTECH IMAGING SYSTEMS75 HYDRO WATER WELL (K) LTD74 EUROCON TILES PRODUCTS LTD73 KENYA BUS SERVICE MANAGEMENT 72 ORBIT ENGINEERING LTD71 EDUCATE YOURSELF LTD70 EXECUTIVE HEALTHCARE SOLUTIONS LTD69 MASTER FABRICATORS LTD68 FURNITURERAMA LTD

67 SMART BRANDS LIMITED66 COMPULYNX LTD65 KENCONT LOGISTICS SERVICES LIMITED64 KANDIA FRESH PRODUCE SUPPLIERS LIMITED63 DUNE PACKAGING LIMITED62 DEVSONS INDUSTRIES LTD61 NAPRO INDUTRIES LTD60 NDUGU TRANSPORT CO. LTD59 TOTAL SOLUTIONS LTD58 HOSPITALITY SYSTEMS CONSULTANTS57 GENERAL AUTOMOBILE CORPORATION LTD56 SILVERBIRD TRAVEL PLUS LTD55 CIRCUIT BUSINESS SYSTEMS LTD54 WOTECH KENYA LTD53 RILEY FALCON SECURITY52 AIRTOUCH COOLING SYSTEMS LTD51 SOLLATEK ELECTRONICS (K) LTD50 TRIDENT PLUMBERS LTD49 HOMESCOPE PROPERTIES LTD48 ARK CONSTRUCTION LIMITED47 ZEN GARDEN LTD46 PRAFULCHANDRA & BROTHERS LTD45 MIC GLOBAL RISKS INSURANCE BROKERS LTD44 IMPAX BUSINESS SOLUTIONS43 RILEY SERVICES LIMITED42 EXPRESS COMPANY LTD41 EXON INVESTMENTS LIMITED40 ASTRAL INDUSTRIES LTD39 MANDHIR CONSTRUCTION LTD38 BLUEKEY SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS (K) LTD37 SPENOMATIC LTD36 SPECIALIZED ALUMINIUM RENOVATORS LTD35 BTB INSURANCE BROKERS LTD34 KISIMA ELECTRO MECHANICALS LTD33 MPPS (1998) LTD32 GENERAL CARGO SERVICES LTD31 RAVENZO TRADING LIMITED30 JO WORLD AGENCIES LIMITED29 UNITED EAST AFRICA WAREHOUSES LTD28 NORTH STAR COOLING SYSTEMS LTD27 SUPREME PHARMACY LIMITED26 HAJAR SERVICES LTD25 LOGISTIC SOLUTIONS LTD24 MACHINES TECHNOLOGIES (2006) LTD23 POWERPOINT SYSTEMS EA LTD22 NOVEL TECHNOLOGIES EA LTD21 COAST INDUSTRIAL & SAFETY SUPPLIES LTD20 SHEFFIELD STEEL SYSTEMS LIMITED19 D&G INSURANCE BROKERS LTD18 ALLWIN PACKAGING INTL. LTD17 RUSHAB PETROLEUM LTD16 TROPIKAL BRANDS A LTD15 PINNACLE (K) TRAVELS & SAFARIS LTD14 WAUMINI INSURANCE BROKERS LTD13 DATAGUARD DISTRIBUTORS LTD12 AMEX AUTO & INDUSTRIAL HARDWARE LTD11 WELL TOLD STORY LTD10 HIPORA BUSINESS SOLUTIONS9 SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGIES LTD8 SUPERBROOM SERVICES LTD7 LEAN ENERGY SOLUTIONS LTD6 SUPERIOR HOMES KENYA LTD5 BONFIRE ADVENTURES LIMITED4 WARREN CONCRETE LTD 3 IZMIR ENTERPRISES LTD2 PROFESSIONAL CLEAN CARE LTD1 PHARMAKEN LIMITED

2015 WINNERS

VI BUSINESS DAILY | Monday October 26, 2015

1 PHARMAKEN

INDUSTRY PHARMACEUTICALS

Samier Muravvej made up his mind to get into business even before he graduated from dental

school in the year 2002.He teamed up with his college mate

and friend, Leonard Njeru, to found Pharmaken Ltd, a Mombasa-based company to distribute medical drugs.

Dr Muravvej, an alumnus of the University of Nairobi, says he always wanted to be ‘independent’ and quickly moved into business after completing his mandatory internship and govern-ment service.

“I never wanted to be employed. I’ve always wanted to run a business,” says the dentist, who is also chairman and CEO at Pharmaken.

In its first year of operation in 2006, Pharmaken made $3,000 in sales. “It was quite disheartening,” he said.

Dr Muravvej kept his eyes on the prize, and last year he saw sales hit $5 million.

It is this phenomenal growth that saw Pharmaken emerge the overall winner in this year’s Top 100 survey – a study that grades Kenya’s fastest growing mid-sized companies.

The pharmaceutical distributing business was also ranked in last year’s survey.

An initiative of Nation Media

Group’s Business Daily and audit-ing and consulting firm KPMG, the initiative tracks SMEs with an annual turnover of between Sh70 million to Sh1 billion.

Dr Muravvej has expanded the list of goods he supplies beyond drugs to include medical and dental equipment as well as non-pharmaceutical products

such as gloves, syringes. The two dentists partnered with

another investor and started Phar-maken with a capital of Sh5 million. They raised a third of the cash and bor-rowed the remainder from banks, Dr Muravvej said.

At inception, the business was sell-ing only four products. Pharmaken’s

portfolio currently stands at 18 mer-chandises.

Dr Muravvej, 37, grew up in Mom-basa and attended Aga Khan Acade-my for both his primary and second-ary studies.

He also operates his own clinic - Smile Dental Centre – situated at Mombasa’s City Mall.

After graduating from School of Dental Sciences, the dentist did his internship at Kenyatta National Hos-pital and later went to Coast General Hospital for his mandatory two-year government service.

Pharmaken has a workforce of 52 employees.

The key challenges in the pharma-ceutical business are the slow clearance of goods at the port of Mombasa and high regulatory fees.

“It takes up to two weeks to clear our pharmaceutical products at the port, despite having all documents,” lamented Dr Muravvej.

Furthermore, the Pharmacy and Poisons Board charges a registration fee of $2,000 per product, before any drug is allowed into the Kenyan market, the dentist decried.

Dr Muravvej reckons that the delays at the port and the fee charged by PPB increases the cost of doing business.

Pharmaken Limited chairman Samier Muravvej (seated) receives a trophy from Nation Media Group CEO Joe Muganda after his company was declared overall winner during the Kenya Top 100 Mid-Sized Companies 2015 Survey.

Dentists who cut thei≥ teeth in d≥ugs ma≥ket

Riley Services Ltd staff led by their CEO and Group Chairman, Julius Abiero (seated) pose with their trophy after the firm emerged amongst the Top 100 Mid - Size Companies at the Carnivore Restaurant Grounds in Nairobi on 9th October 2015.

Actively contributing to the growth of Africa !!

Power Plants & Steam Turbines

Boilers & Thermic Fluid Heaters

Vapour Absorption Systems

Water & Effluent Treatment Plants

Remote Monitoring Solutions

..and our contribution has not gone unnoticed..

Spenomatic (K) Limited, P.O. Box : 39935-00623, Parklands, Nairobi.

Tel: +254-736-447775, +254-715-447611. Email: [email protected]

• By making it self reliant in power using renewable energy sources

• By reducing its energy cost and thus operational cost

• By using waste heat to provide process & comfort cooling

• By providing cost effective solutions for process, drinking and wastewater

• By increasing operational efficiency of utilities by Chemicals

• By developing Agro-based industries & providing packaging solutions

• By providing flexibility to operate remotely by using state-of-the-art remote monitoring systems

Dairies, Food Processing & Packaging Machines

VIIMonday October 26, 2015 | BUSINESS DAILY

VIII BUSINESS DAILY | Monday October 26, 2015

Officials from Professional Clean Care Limited receive their trophy from Diamond Trust Bank CEO Nasim Devji (right) after the company emerged second in the Kenya Top 100 Mid-Sized Companies 2015 Survey.

PROFESSIONAL CLEAN CARE LIMITED

2 PROFESSIONAL CLEAN CARE LIMITED

INDUSTRY SERVICES

Kick high when pitching fo≥ ventu≥e capitalists

Somewhere in that slush pile of pitches on my desk is an original idea and a bio of an undiscovered leader. And he

or she is ready to light the world on fire. But my fear, one shared by many venture capi-talists (VCs), is that I may miss an amazing pitch. The pile is just too high.

How then do you get your idea into a VC’s hands? What should your pitch look and feel like? Here are a few pointers to get noticed:

1. Be authentic.One of my contacts had her interest piqued when an ex-

convict had an idea to replace pricey jail pay phone systems. The VC funded the project, because she was looking for entrepreneurs who had experi-enced the problem they wanted to solve. If the former inmate had hid his background, his proposal might have gone unfunded.

2. Be personable.While etiquette calls for a professional distance from

business contacts, I have had success building close friend-ships with the startup teams in which my firm invests. I send handwritten notes to cheer up stressed out founders. More than half of my calls with founders end without talking about their business, focusing rather on how they’re doing personally.

3. Be humble. Don’t pretend to know it all.There are key things you

need to know about your busi-ness, the size of a potential mar-ket and how you plan to reach that market. But I admire the in-dividual who leaves ego behind and shows common sense. Be clear about why you have a great idea and also about what it is that you don’t know. Some-times, the best answer is, “I don’t know. Let me get back to you.” It creates an excuse to follow up and instills confidence that the other responses you gave were accurate.

4. Be creative.A startup’s founding team sent out a hip hop video,

rapping their pitch. This worked for them. Tthe founders, skilled rappers, put a ton of production value and heart into their pitch and got tons of press. We re-sponded in kind and also got attention.Caveat entrepreneur: Such bold-ness is risky -- big time. Instead of an investment from the VC, you could end up with a restrain-ing order from a judge. Comic efforts, in particular, are tough to pull off, ask any comic.

5. Don’t bungle the ask.Yours should be crisp and memorable. Where does

the investor fit in the bigger picture? It’s critical to explain why you’re soliciting a partic-ular investor. Are they adding specific value beyond money? If so, show your excitement about the prospect of working with them.Remember, there is a lot of capi-tal out there, but there are a lot of startups, too -- it’s a melee. For street-fighting tactics, two-finger pushups and life advice in general, I always go to Bruce Lee: “Always be yourself, ex-press yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and

IXMonday October 26, 2015 | BUSINESS DAILY

X BUSINESS DAILY | Monday October 26, 2015

3 IZMIR ENTERPRISES

INDUSTRY

SECURITY PROTECTION PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Over the past few years, Izmir En-terprises Limited has grown to become a company of sufficient

scale to provide solutions for the defence industry in Kenya.

It all started as a hobby for Sahir Mughal, and his co-CEO, Asiya Mughal, who is also his aunt, in the early 2000s.

The company deals in security pro-tection products and services that cover up to 50 brands for clientele including governments and NGOs across the Great Lakes region.

“We offer personalised services de-livering products to meet the clients’ requirements,” said Mr Sahir.

His drive in setting up Izmir Enter-prises grew from the passion that he had developed from his interest in defence activities across the world, which saw him seek information and links into the industry. This also led to his introduc-tion to the Department of Defence, the

government agency that handles issues relating to defence and security. And that was Izmir Enterprise’s stepping stone that saw it introduced to the Ken-yan market.

It has not been smooth sailing, how-ever, with the company facing many challenges, chief among them difficul-ties in accessing financing. Normally,

Mr Sahir said, it takes several months for the product to move from an order to actual production and delivery to client, to eventual payments, which has affected the financial status of the company.

The other major challenge that Izmir Enterprises has faced has been the huge investment in time and resources to train and provide skills to staff. W

ith every new technology that be-comes available, the firm has had to conduct fresh rounds of training to both the new and existing staff. In ad-dition to that, when they were starting out Izmir enterprise, Mr Sahir and his partner faced hurdles in explaining to clients their product portfolio.

He adds: “Our market was not just

simple. In order to get all our clients and meet their needs, we had to explain to all of them most of our products and solu-tions, including available new technology and how they impact the product”.

Despite all these challenges, the pas-sion that they had in what they do has been motivated and inspired by the evolv-ing technology that has changed the way the world works.

Looking back, Mr Sahir says that in order to succeed in the market you have to balance yourself, do your projections, plan yourself, have a proper vision and focus, understand your financial status, embrace the latest technology and work hard. Never fear competition, instead em-brace it in a positive way as a motivation to be the best in your sector.

Besides the core business, Izmir En-terprises is also involved in a number of projects in the communities in which they operate. He partners with five other charity organisations in these activities, including providing support to home-less children

“We are educating and inspiring the youth living in poverty and the under-privileged. At the Coast, we work with up-coming organizations that empower and support the poor. We work with women in providing education opportunities and helping them go to the next level in life.

Izmir Enterprises Limited officials pose with their trophy after the company emerged third in the survey.

Small fi≥m that takes on tough secu≥ity jobs

4 WARREN CONCRETE

INDUSTRY CONSTRUCTION & ENGINEERING

Over the past 26 years, Warren Concrete (K) Ltd has emerged as a leading industry player in

concrete and manufacturing. What started as a small family business with just two machines, 25 people and capital of Sh7.5m, has now grown into a regional company with an an-nual turnover of Sh400 – 460m and over 150 employees.

Warren, which has a wide range of products, including concrete pipes and roofing tiles, was originally a de-partment in the larger Warren Kenya,

which mainly dealt in concrete pipes, fabricated steel structures, and steel tanks.

“Warren Concrete business was bought by my grandfather, Mr Devshi Dhanji Patel, and has been passed down through the family lineage to the third generation, now being run by the grandsons,” said Dinesh Premji Patel, the CEO of Warren Concrete Ltd. “We have now managed to build the business to become a company of its own.”

Quality and efficiency has been at the heart of this transition, seeing the company contin-uously revamp itself over the years.

“The early 90’s witnessed the com-pany open up a branch in Uganda, Stone Concrete Ltd, with a similar business structure as Warren Concrete (K),” said Dinesh.

The company focuses on quarrying and manufacture of precast products.

A major priority in the expansion has been implementing the latest tech-nologies and utilizing the most me do-

ers and effective machinery.“Good and efficient equipment is of such high

importance to the com-pany, hence we use Eu-ropean solid machiner-ies, coming from Den-mark and Germany,”

said Mr Dinesh. “This has seen us move from just

two machines at the beginning to 30 now, ensuring the delivery of qual-ity services and products.”

The exponential growth that the company has experienced over the years has not, however, come without its fair share of challenges.

“Duplication of licenses in the gov-ernment departments and acquiring skilled labour are problems we con-stantly encounter,” said Mr Dinesh. This, coupled with the transportation hurdles that the company meets every day, greatly affect the business.

But “we are only more inspired by being part of the Top 100 Small Medium Enterprises (SMS) for the second time running, in addition to being the best manufacturing company in Kenya,” said Mr Dinesh.

The company is now the leading

suppliers of concrete tiles in Kenya, in addition to being the second to Bam-buri Cement Kenya in the manufacture of building blocks. Warren Concrete now supplies 70 per cent of contractors in Nairobi, and is currently working on more innovative ways and looking at various options of bringing new prod-ucts into the market.

For companies looking to follow in their footsteps, Dinesh emphasizes that the one important factor is quality. “Believe in the uniqueness and quality of your product without compromis-ing on the price of the products, despite what your competition may be selling the same product for,” said Mr Dinesh. “After all, you get what you pay for.”

Equipment make≥ ≥ides on booming const≥uction to g≥ow

Officials and staff from Warren Concrete Limited celebrate after the firm was declared industry champion in the manufacturing category and fourth overall during the Kenya Top 100 Mid-Sized Companies 2015 Survey.

XIMonday October 26, 2015 | BUSINESS DAILY

5 BONFIRE ADVENTURES

INDUSTRY TOURS & TRAVEL

BY LYNETTE IGADWA

Simon Kabu met the wom-an who would be his wife at a Lukenya excursion

and after interacting with her realised they both had a burn-ing passion for travel.

The idea of running a tours, travel and events company was conceived next to a bonfire dur-ing one of the excursions with Sarah at the Maasai Mara Game Reserve, giving birth to Bon-fire Adventures and Events Limited.

That was in 2008, as Kenya was grappling with the effects of post-election violence that significant reduced tourist numbers.

Tour companies that relied heavily on foreign tourists were hit hardest, making the couple spot a gap in catering for the domestic middle class.

“Hotels across the country had lowered their accommo-dation rates making it possible for more locals to sample their services,” says Mr Kabu, an Eco-nomics and Statistics graduate of Egerton University.

The journey started with the couple inviting friends to accompany them to their wild tours and excursions around at affordable rates.

With time, friends entrust-ed all their travel planning and organizing to the couple who were keen to change percep-tions that only foreign tour-ists could sample the coun-try’s beauty.

Without wasting time, the Kabus planted their seed of sh20,000 into a business ven-ture that started without an of-fice or a bank account.

More established tour companies were at the time focusing on corporate clients and tried to shrug off Bonfire Adventures baby-steps but that did not dampen its spirit.

Acknowledging that they lacked experience in the tour and travel business, the couple embarked on a door to door re-search so they could give cli-ents what they had sampled first hand.

“We learnt fast tricks of the business, enabling us to handle clients from different social backgrounds includ-ing celebrities,” says Mr Kabu who had worked as a tout on route 44.

Today with over 60 employ-ees, the company does hotel bookings, air ticketing, airport transfers, excursions and any-thing travel for its customers spread across the world.

It has over 100 travel pack-ages to destinations across the globe for newly-weds, an-niversaries, birthdays and re-tirements.

Integrity and hard work are some of the values that have seen the business venture grow into a multi-million shil-ling company that has waded through the murky waters whenever western govern-ments issue travel advisories by focusing on the domestic market.

With five branches in Nairobi and one in Nakuru, the company is set for bigger things including becoming the biggest tour company in Southern, Eastern and Cen-tral Africa.

“We have grown to be the biggest promoter of domestic tourism in Kenya,” says Mr Kabu, who worked for Unga Limited prior to venturing into the tour business.

Social media has played a key role in making the company one of the most popular tour and travel firms in the country. Customers post photos taken during travel on the company Facebook page making the business get referrals and re-peat clients.

Mr Kabu views business as a calling which requires one to be proactive, consistent, hon-est and patient. “Integrity will enable you get repeat clients and referrals while patience will chase away the spirit of expecting results overnight,” he says.

Officials and staff from Bonfire Adventures Limited receive their trophy from Nation Media Group advertising director Michael Ngugi (3rd left) after the firm was ranked fifth in the Kenya Top 100 Mid-Sized Companies 2015 Survey.

Tou≥ ope≥ato≥ that g≥ew out of love fo≥ t≥avel

2015

2014

2013

XII BUSINESS DAILY | Monday October 26, 2015

6 SUPERIOR HOMES

INDUSTRY REAL ESTATE

BY GEORGE OMONDI

If smart investments follow high re-turns, then the Athi River–based real estate firm, Superior Kenya, has been

quite diligent. In a crowded residential housing market, it has managed to keep a consistent growth record by putting money in locations with the highest re-turns potential.

When Machakos County opened its vast land resources for investments a few months ago, it took up the offer and launched a flagship 700-unit hous-ing project in a county once regarded as Kenya’s alternative capital city.

The firm which, was registered in 2004 with initial capital of just Sh500 million is today undertaking the Macha-kos project valued at Sh15 billion, hardly eight years since it began construction in 2007.

Upon completion, Greenpark will also have a shopping area, two schools and a sun downer club house on its 163-acre

piece of land. “I can say Superior Homes has grown from humble beginnings to be recognised within the real estate sector where it employs over 200 people direct-ly and another 800 indirectly,” says the firm’s director Ian Henderson. “We pride ourselves in nurturing talent among our employees, giving them opportunity to transfer skills and employ others.”

The firm sees more room for growth via innovation. It made an early name in the residential housing segment by introducing the try-before-you-buy con-cept, allowing potential home owners to enjoy the comfort of the property before making a purchase decision.

That concept, which literally trans-lates to “test-driving” the house, its sur-rounding and neighbourhood before committing money in the property, has impressed the firm’s clients, says market-ing manager Angelica Wambui.

“It has given them confidence in the company and the work we are doing. We have nothing to hide,” she says.

Recently, the firm also introduced Buy Over Long Term (BOLT) concept, where a client can pay for a house within one to three years. This financing method, Ms Wambui said, is targeted at business people or diaspora clients who opt not to go for mortgages.

Like all other start-ups, the firm’s past

is authored by setbacks. Mr Henderson recalls the challenges the she faced when he first approached financiers to buy into the Greenpark project. “We had to rely on capital from another business in the UK.” He said.

He also recalls that the gated concept was also a hard sell. “It took time before clients fully understood the concept and welcomed the idea.”

Superior Homes sees itself replicating the Greenpark model in other counties in the next five to 10 years. At the moment, the firm says it has a number of develop-

ment in the pipeline but can’t go public about them yet as they are still in early stages of negotiations.

It has however confirmed its plan to construct holiday lodges around Lake Elementaita of Nakuru County. The 50 “leisure lodges” be constructed on a 12-acre parcel of land will be completed in October next year at cost of up to Sh200 million. The project targets holidaymak-ers to the nearby Naivasha and Nakuru towns.

The firm also holds dear its corporate social responsibility (CSR) division. At

the moment, its CSR project involves identifying public schools with chil-dren from the humble background. Once a school is selected, its students are provided with material and experts to guide them through creating hand-made cards.

Superior Home’s associate in UK (HCL), then help in finding market where the cards are sold to finance school projects. “We see ourselves growing the CSR division to greater heights in the next five years”, says Mr Henderson.

Officials from Superior Homes Limited receive their trophy from Nation Media Group advertising director Michael Ngugi (left) after the firm was ranked sixth during the Kenya Top 100 Mid-Sized Companies 2015 Survey.

Realto≥’s supe≥io≥ homes win it top honou≥s in su≥vey

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XIIIMonday October 26, 2015 | BUSINESS DAILY

MPPS Accessories, A Diff erent Class

The Top 100 Mid-sized Companies is an annual survey by the Nation Media Group’s Business Daily newspaper and professional services fi rm, KPMG. It informs the market of the fastest growing mid-sized companies to look out for.

For MPPS Managing Director Zaheer Abbas Khimji, customer service is the most important value for his business. At 26, Zaheer, popular as Zak, is managing one of the biggest vehicle accessories fi rms in East Africa.

“This recognition is the result of the team’s hard work and their strong adherence to quality

PPS (1998) Ltd, a pioneer of car alarm systems in Kenya and now a leading vehicle accessories store in East Africa, has successfully

leveraged its customer-centric culture to lift its fortunes further. This year, the fi rm has been ranked among the top 100 mid-sized companies in Kenya, taking position 33.

M

MPPS Workforce

By MILLICENT MWOLOLO >>> [email protected]

Zak the servant leader

For a fi rst-time customer at the MPPS showroom on Mombasa Road, there is nothing to show that Zak is the Managing Director or the owner of the establishment. He passes as an employee, and that’s because despite managing assets worth millions, Zak is sober, cool and selfl ess.

He exemplifi es the ideals of a true servant leader. You will, for instance, never fi nd him in a suit. He is usually dressed down in jeans and a company branded short-sleeved shirt. This, he argues, has helped him to remain humble and bond easily with the staff . “I dress simply and share meals with our employees. We are all equal as human beings,” he says.

But perhaps Zak’s deep religious culture is what has shaped him to be the humble manager and custodian that he is today. He declares that his fi rst pillar in life is his trust in God and principles of virtue such as equality, fairness, kindness and tolerance. These, he explains, guide his daily interaction with his employees, customers and the wider public.

“The fi rst thing is treating people fairly,” he says. Every month, the company has a staff meeting where all the employees are free to speak out their mind. In addition, Zak maintains an open door policy where employees can walk into his offi ce anytime. “I take everybody’s opinion as I know people see things and think diff erently,” he says.

Zak has also empowered managers and employees to make decisions and implement them. This makes them feel valued. MPPS also provides incentives for staff to work even harder. “The more profi ts we make, we give higher salaries,” says Zak.

MPPS is quietly engaged in corporate social responsibility activities in various parts of the country. Zak and his family are soon coming up with a foundation purely dedicated for education and health for the less fortunate.

Late Zulfi kar Η. KhimjiFounder

TOP 100 MID�SIZED COMPANIES 2015

Repositioning MPPSThe last six years have been a great journey for Zak, who took over the management of the company that is known as Mombasa Penny Profi t Store, hence the acronym MPPS, after the passing on of his father, Zulfi kar H. Khimji in 2004.

From 2010, young Zak had to strategize how to reposition the company back to where it had been for many years under his father’s leadership. “MPPS always had a reputation for quality, but when dad passed away, that reputation went down,” he explains.

“When I took over, we had to win back that reputation, and the best way to do this was through customer satisfaction,” he adds. Today, Zak is more than satisfi ed that the company is back to where his late father wanted it to be.

Having been exposed to business leadership in his upbringing, Zak has found it easy to manoeuvre and cope with challenges that came with running a company at a young age. His late father would take him along to business and community meetings.

MPPS has upgraded all its operational systems and doubled its list of suppliers, enabling it to off er a wider range of products and services to

customers. “Unfortunately, we reduced our staff by half, but at the same time increased our turnover by 75 per cent,” Zak says. He quickly points out that the leaner number of staff at the moment has not only meant happier employees, but also a very productive workforce.

MPPS’ core business remains vehicle security. Other products and services off ered include pressurized exterior and interior washing machines, mechanical and electrical services, accident repair, Bluetooth car kits, stereo systems and a variety of car care products, seat and car covers, fl oor mats, roof racks, air intake systems and many more that improve both durability and outlook of vehicles. The company also stocks and provides tracking and recovery services, gear/door/wheel locks, front/rear bars, heat resistant/anti-shatter window tint that protect vehicles from damage and theft.

Most of these products are imported from Germany, UK, India, Italy, Lithuania, Portugal, Taiwan, Thailand, China and the United States.

From a struggling position in 2010, the company now prides itself as being able to supply accessories to more than 75 per cent of all the vehicle models in Kenya.

Zaheer Abbas Zulfi kar KhimjiManaging Director

and excellent customer service, which has seen our business grow,” he says of the ranking.

Continuous improvement of skills among staff and consistency in quality has over the years ensured that customers get unique, high quality products with a supreme class of service to back it. This has seen a very strong customer loyalty, which has propelled the company into growth. Repeat clients and referral business has worked well for MPPS. “Our customers have become our brand ambassadors,” Zak says, exuding confi dence.

The company’s showroom is based at Piranha Centre on Mombasa road.

Continuous improvement of skills among staff and consistency in quality has over the years ensured that customers get unique, high quality products with a supreme class of service to back it.

XIV BUSINESS DAILY | Monday October 26, 2015

7 LEAN ENERGY SOLUTIONS

INDUSTRY ENERGY

BY ANNIE NJANJA

Dinesh Tembhekar opened the doors of Lean Energy Solu-tions in 2007, after leaving his

well-paying job at the United Nations Development Programme.

In a span of eight years he has en-dured numerous challenges, including an acute lack of financing as he pushed the company up the hill to stand among the most profitable small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Kenya.

His was a humble beginning. He started off in a tiny home office with a single employee and lack of ready capital to grow his business saw him put his house as a security after taking a loan from the bank.

Nr Tembhekar, who is the founder and managing director Lean Energy So-lutions, says changes are a part of run-ning a business and any entrepreneur should soldier on till his/her dreams come true. It took him two years to start making profits.

This year, for the third time in a row, Lean Energy Solutions has been nomi-nated as one of the Top 100 fastest grow-ing Mid-sized companies in Kenya.

The Top 100 survey, which is the product of a partnership between ac-counting firm KPMG and Nation Media Group, features companies with an an-nual turnover of between Sh70 million to Sh1 billion.

In 2013, Lean Energy Solutions emerged top in the Top 100 Small and Medium Sized enterprises list, a posi-tion Tembhekar said was as the result of its leadership in green technology that has attracted major players in the market.

The company appeared in fifth

and seventh place last and this year consecutively.

At his previous job Tembhekar was mostly involved in helping organiza-tions improve productivity, which is how he founded the business aiming to help companies to reduce their en-ergy consumption.

Lean Energy Solutions uses green energy produced from briquettes made from sugarcane dry waste to heat wa-ter in boilers and produce steam. The company installs the boilers in indus-tries, a way of bringing the cost of en-

ergy down and stop the rising costs of fossil fuels.

The company has a briquetting ma-chine in Muhoroni, where it gets its sup-ply of biomass materials that are com-pressed into briquettes. The leftover ba-gasse from Muhoroni Sugar Company is what the company uses to make the briquettes. The sugar company which previously used furnace oil embraced the use briquette boilers courtesy of Tembhekar’s innovativeness.

Use of briquettes prevent carbon dioxide emissions which is a major

contributor to climate change. It also reduces the over reliance on the import-ed oil bringing the cost of production down and promotes employment.

In a past interview with the Busi-ness Daily Tembhekar said that statis-tics show that “every tonne of briquettes manufactured by the company creates a 12 days of employment and saves the country $150 by reducing reliance on imported oil.”

Steam can used to sterilize medical equipment in pharmaceutical indus-tries, fixing dyes in textile industries and boiling syrup for the manufactur-ing of beverages

Industries using the option spend 25 percent less of the amount they would incur by using a furnace oil or diesel fuel to produce steam energy. Coca-cola, Sas-ini Coffee, SpinKnit and Flamingo Tiles are some of the company’s clientele who are mainly from the manufacturing and processing sector.

Lean Solutions Group signs an eight year agreement with its clients and deploys its workers to run the boil-ers. After the eight years companies can choose to renew the contract or pur-chase the boilers.

The company employs 200 people, 15 of whom are engineers. It has also made an entry into the Tanzanian mar-ket, and plans is that it will open an of-fice in Uganda bin 2018.

The company has been recording a growth rate of 30 to 50 per cent annu-ally in turnover and profits. Tembhekar attributes the success to quality service which also supports conservation of the environment.

Lean Energy Solutions Limited managing director Dinesh Tembhekar (centre) and officials pose with their trophy after the firm emerged seventh during the Kenya Top 100 Mid-Sized Companies 2015 Survey.

Fi≥m finds fo≥tune in clean ene≥gy solutions

By EVANS [email protected]

To consistently feature in the list of the Top 100 Mid-sized companies in Kenya, North Star Cooling Systems must be doing something right. NSCS was one of the winners during this year’s survey of mid-sized firms.This is a confirmation that the firm is excelling in its chosen field of supplying and installing HVAC systems. Any business should strive to add value to the economy and should live up to or exceed the expectations of the clients. Quality service delivery guarantees business continuity and NSCS has succeeded in delighting its customers.HVAC systems, which this firm specializes in, is important in the design of medium to large commercial or industrial, laboratories, cold rooms and office buildings. These are places where safe and healthy building conditions are regulated with respect to temperature and humidity, using fresh air from outdoors.Ventilation is used to remove unpleasant smells and excessive

moisture, introduce outside air, keep interior building air circulating, and prevent stagnation of the interior air. Ventilation includes both the exchange of air to the outside as well as circulation of air within the building. It is one of the most important factors for maintaining acceptable indoor air quality in buildings.In modern buildings the design, installation, and control systems of these functions are integrated into one or more HVAC systems.

For larger buildings, building service designers, mechanical engineers, or building services engineers analyze, design, and specify the HVAC systems. Specialty mechanical contractors then fabricate and commission the systems.

North Star Cooling System’s unique competency and perhaps the biggest differentiator is that, they do not simply carry out the project as a typical contracting firm, where as they work closely with all the stake holders of the project and look at the entire system in a holistic manner keeping in-view of certain critical factors such as optimal design, efficiency, reliability, life cycle cost and after sale service, among others.This philosophy and approach earns the confidence of the firm’s esteemed clientele.

NORTH STAR COOLING SYSTEMS LTD, P.O Box 5085-00506, Nairobi, KenyaShiv Business Park, Unit No.4, Old Mombasa Road, Tel: - 2013142 Tel/fax: - 551398

Cell:0710-200400 / 0737-777600, E-Mail: - [email protected] [email protected]

NORTH STAR COOLINGSYSTEMS LTD

Best in professional services

XVMonday October 26, 2015 | BUSINESS DAILY

Superbroom Services Limited officials pose with their trophy after the firm was ranked eighth during the Kenya Top 100 Mid-Sized Companies 2015 Survey.

SUPERBROOM SERVICES LIMITED

8 SUPERBROOM

INDUSTRY SERVICES

So you’re thinking about starting a busi-ness? Terrific. About 543,000 small businesses are started each month in the United States ac-cording to data from DocStoc. However, for those thinking about starting one, it’s often the mental hurdles that prevent you from forging ahead.

Unanswered questions can get in the way of advancement. Am I ready to start a busi-ness? Do I have enough savings and time? Or, I have several business ideas -- which one should I pursue?Starting a business is exciting, heady stuff, and it’s not for everyone. Here’s some guidance to help you determine your entrepreneurial tal-ents, whether you’re ready to join the ranks of small business owners and the next steps.

Why Start a Business?For some, entrepreneurship is inspired by the need for autonomy, like in Jayson DeMers’ case. The founder and CEO of Audience-Bloom, a Seattle-based SEO agency, was 24 years old and working a full-time job at an online-marketing agency when he began a side business. “I questioned everything and felt uncomfortable being bound by someone else’s rules,” he says. “I wanted to be free to make my own decisions, take time off when I chose to (without asking) and not have to

report to anyone.”After gathering freelance clients, DeMers

was eventually able to quit his full-time job.For others, starting a business comes from

solving a problem in their own lives, like it did with Sujan Patel, the vice president of mar-keting atWhen I Work, an employee software scheduling company.

Last year, Patel, 30 years old at the time, created two marketing tools to save himself time and effort in his job. After telling friends, who were also in the marketing field, about his tools, he discovered they were willing to pay him money for access to them.

“That’s when I knew I had something people really wanted,” he says. “It was a bit of an accident.”

He started two new businesses, ContentMarketer.io and Narrow.io, with the benefit of marketing his SaaS products to in an industry where he already had more than 10 years of experience.

Some entrepreneurs go into business for the challenge. Mike Templeman, CEO of Fox-tail Marketing, a digital content marketing firm specializing in B2B SaaS, was at a full-time job where he’d been promoted and given a raise -- and he found himself restless.

He would work on side projects at night. Eventually, those projects brought in enough income to allow him to leave his full-time job and start his own company at the age of 30.

Steps to sta≥ting a small business

XVI BUSINESS DAILY | Monday October 26, 2015

9 SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGIES LTD

INDUSTRY ICT

Software Technologies Limited (STL) started in 1991 with only five employees, and has grown

to become one of Africa’s leading IT solutions provider, with over 120 em-ployees around the globe.

It emerged as the best ICT com-pany in the 2015 Top 100 mid-sized companies survey, an initiative of

accounting firm KPMG and the Na-tion Media Group designed to iden-tify Kenya’s fastest growing medium sized companies.

Software Technologies first ap-peared on the Top 100 mid-sized com-panies list in 2009 finishing at posi-tion 97. In 2013, the company was once again on the Top 100 list and finished at position 78. The firm showed contin-ued growth this year when it finished at position nine and was declared the ICT industry champion.

From its conception 24 years ago, Software Technologies aimed at com-ing up with unique services that would offer solutions to the needs of its busi-ness and individual clients.

It creates and comes up with its own software, which has over the years created high confidence levels from its customers, leading to a steady growth

of its customer base. The company strives to bring in-

novative products made by Africans to Africa. “We give our clients quality products and services. Our standards in the quality of products we offer our clients are international not local,” said Jyoti Mur-khejee CEO of Software Technologies.

When it was established, it was the only company in Kenya that developed it’s own IP locally, and, even now, it is

the only company in Kenya that offers a board meetings management system

called the e-Board. E-Board is a software that allows busi-

nesses to make use of the best corporate govern-ance practices and all aspects of boards, including recording board meetings, cre-

ating agendas, and al-lowing directors to carry

out evaluations, as well as containing the directors’ CV’s.Some of the companies that have

benefited from this innovation are Eq-

uity Bank, KenGen, CIC Group Insur-ance and the Kenya Central Bank.

The company, which has a presence in Tanzania, Uganda, Nigeria, Zambia, and the Middle East, places its clients as the central pillar in all it does.

It has set up an online remote sup-port system for all its local and inter-national clients, which guarantees maximum satisfaction and has led to the continued growth of its cus-tomer base.

It also continuously works on bringing technology like cloud com-puting to Africa, which has helped businesses run their IT departments better and at a cheaper cost, as well as increasing the business solutions it offers to its clients.

Over the years, STL has expanded from IP services provision to providing services such as consultancy, support and training, web and e-commerce services, and application migration.

It remains relevant to its market by monitoring the emerging client needs and coming up with new innovations to provide the solution, and by avoid-ing the redundancy of services offered by its competitors.

STL has a vision of growing to be-come Africa’s leading global software solutions company.

-AFRICAN LAUGHTER

Officials and staff from Software Technologies Limited with their trophies after the firm was declared industry champion in the ICT category and ninth overall during the Kenya Top 100 Mid-Sized Companies 2015 Survey.

The IT fi≥m that delive≥s solutions fo≥ small business

XVIIMonday October 26, 2015 | BUSINESS DAILY

10 HIPORA BUSINESS SOLUTIONS

INDUSTRY RETAIL LOGISTICS

BY MUGAMBI MUTEGI

Hipora Business Solutions East Africa Limited has lately been in the news for a number of

reasons.The logistics firm, which specialises

in verification of supermarket processes to reduce losses, was in July, hired by cash-strapped Uchumi Supermarkets to audit the financial health of the retail chain in the three East African nations where Uchumi had a presence.

Uchumi recently pulled out of Tan-zania and Uganda citing perpetual losses. It is, however, not clear if Hi-pora’s report had anything to do with the decision.

Two weeks ago, the firm was once again in the media. This time around Hipora, whose annual revenue stands at over Sh200 million, had emerged fifth

in the latest edition of the Top 100 Mid-Sized companies survey.

“The award was a great honour for us. Other than endorsing the company’s health and viability, it has made more people know us and understand what we do,” said John Wanjohi, the firm’s finance director and co-owner.

Hipora’s job can be boiled down to ensuring that whatever retailers buy from suppliers and what they sell to

customers balance off.In the event that these inventories

do not reconcile, the six-year-old firm investigates the cause and advises the supermarket’s management accord-ingly.

Mr Wanjohi, who is one of the four equal shareholders in Hipora, initially worked as a finance manager at Sho-prite – a South African retail chain before moving to retailer’s Tanzania

branch in 2008. He teamed up with a South African friend-turned business partner, Mr Tshepo Monnanyana, who at the time worked at a risk manage-ment firm in South Africa.

The two figured out that there exist-ed a big risk management and logistics gap in Kenya’s blossoming retail sec-tor, which lost Sh3 billion every year to shoplifting, pilferage and outright theft through well-coordinated rack-ets transporters, receiving and pack-aging teams.

Armed with this insight, Wanjohi, Tshepo and two other partners (a Kenya and a South African) decided to set up a firm to offer a range of inventory and logistics services to retailers.

Hipora, which is based at Panari Sky Centre along Mombasa Road, started its business in 2009 when it wrote a proposal to Tuskys Supermarkets to employ workers for the retailer.

After the Tuskys deal, Hipora started marketing itself as a brand and within three years of operation, it had secured more clients from the region.

“Tuskys offered us even the space to operate from. It was a good recep-tion given we hardly knew each other as client and service provider,” said Mr Wanjohi.

Today, the list of Hipora’s clients

in Kenya include Tuskys, Eastmatt, Nakumatt, Quickmart, Maathai and Eastmatt supermarkets. In Uganda, it serves the likes of Uganda Breweries as well as Tuskys and Nakumatt.

Under the contract, no deliveries are paid to retail suppliers until Hi-pora confirms that the amount due corresponds with the quantity and quality delivered.

The company also works with ware-houses and institutions that buy goods in large quantities and receiving and dispatch sections that are prone to stock losses.

Hipora provides companies with loss control managers, stockroom controllers, front end checkers, floor-walkers who check anomalies that may occur in the supermarkets.

It recently introduced undercover agents who covertly provide informa-tion on any underhand dealings at the work stations. This intelligence is criti-cal to sealing any loopholes that may exist in the organization.

Hipora is now targeting county gov-ernments, manufacturing plants and supermarket suppliers all of whom deal in large quantities of supplies and there-fore need to beef up their accountability in their supply and distribution.

Hipora Business Solutions East Africa Limited director John Wanjohi (right) and officials pose with their trophy after the firm emerged tenth during the Kenya Top 100 Mid-Sized Companies 2015 Survey.

Logistics company that helps ≥etaile≥s cut losses

XVIII BUSINESS DAILY | Monday October 26, 2015

11 WELL TOLD STORY

INDUSTRY SOCIAL MEDIA RESEARCH

From the ashes of political tur-moil that followed Kenya’s 2007 general election arose a business

idea that used storytelling to reach the youth who were vulnerable to chaos and violence.

Two years later the originators of that idea registered Well Told Story Limited, a socially dedicated media research and production company based in Kenya and Tanzania, focus-

ing on positive transformation of young people in Africa.

“It became clear to us in the wake the post-election turmoil that there was a need to give youth in Kenya access to good ideas, opportunities and inspira-tion so they could take action to im-prove their lives,” Rob Burnet, 46, told the Business Daily in an interview.

Eight years later, Well Told Story – the enterprise -- finished number 11 in the Top 100 mid-sized companies’ sur-vey an achievement that testifies to the rapid growth it has realized since it was formally registered six years ago.

“We saw an opportunity in that space, for a socially motivated com-pany that could create value shared by youth, corporations and by develop-ment agencies all anxious to reach the youth demographics in positive ways,” he explained.

Well Told Story Limited was founded by Mr Burnet who works along with a

group of individuals and has incorpo-rated other partners in the business.

The company’s main business is telling the on-going story of DJB, the pirate radio DJ at the heart of Shujaaz – the multi-media channel on FM radio, social media, video, TV, film and the Shujaaz comic books that are distrib-uted in the Saturday Nation, a publica-tion of Nation Media Group and from M-Pesa kiosks every month.

Like most startups, Mr Burnet re-calls his first month of doing business as hard but that hardened his grasp to push on until the end.

He categorises his hardest part as getting to the launch of the platform with all the necessary partnerships in

place. However, he says the easy part was connecting with young Kenyans who loved the Shujaaz media right from the outset.

His first clients were and still is mo-bile services provider Safaricom and the Nation Media Group who distrib-ute Shujaaz comics including Coca Cola that does the same in Tanzania.

“We still work with the United Kingdom government. Our base has broadened to include the Gates and Hewlett foundations, Unilever, Voda-com in Tanzania and others. And the audience has grown too – Shujaaz now reaches 69 per cent of Kenyans aged 15-24,” said Mr Burnet.

“From the outset our motivation was

to offer genuine, measurable value to Kenyan youth. Maybe we were naïve but we figured that our business would be sustainable and grow if we delivered to young people first, our clients second and ourselves third. We still work to maintain that order of priority.”

Well Told Story Limited break-through came in the year 2012 when they won the first of our two Inter-national Emmy Awards for the way they tell stories across multiple media platforms.

He says knowing they are among the best in the world at what they do has been a boost to every part of their business.

Currently, the company has around 40 staff in Kenya and Tanzania, as well as a lot of freelance creatives spread across the region.

Well Told Story Limited said their business segment has not received much competition. “Almost everyone else puts profit over purpose. We stick to our core – we serve our audience first.” He says the only fears are about moving as fast as our market.

On expansion plans, the company plans to spread into further countries in Africa and is currently developing opportunities for strategic growth with focus to stay on under-served young people.

“We are working on a number of strong new ideas that add value to our existing brands,” he says.

Well Told Story Limited officials pose with their trophy after the firm was ranked 11th during the Kenya Top 100 Mid-Sized Companies 2015 Survey. Looking on is NSE chairman Eddy Njoroge.

A c≥eative sto≥y that tu≥ned into th≥iving business

XIXMonday October 26, 2015 | BUSINESS DAILY

12 AMEX

INDUSTRY AUTO/HARDWARE SUPPLIES

Amex Auto and Industrial Hard-ware Limited started out in 1988 as a small retail shop in

Kisumu, with a staff of four.With an “in-depth” knowledge of

vehicle spare parts, it has grown today to be listed among the Top 100 compa-nies in the region.

For a company to be recognized in the competition, they must be willing to submit audited results for the past three years, and have an annual turno-ver of between Sh70 million and Sh1 billion, something they boast of.

The company’s Director, Devesh Patel, says that, they started by slowly increasing their turnover and creating a bigger customer base.

In 2010, they had saved enough to buy them bigger premises for the com-pany’s expansion, he says.

“With a new change of environment and a fresh team of 24 people in 2013,

we started doing wholesale business as a change of strategy to slowly increas-ing our sales with very low margins. We have empowered our staff and created a good working culture in the company, which is crucial for growth,” said Mr Patel adding that his father, Manhar-bhai Patel, was the founder.

“Our yearly turnover has grown steadily in the last three years”.

The company deals with a range of vehicle spare parts.

From suspension arms, body parts, side mirrors, headlamps to service parts.

Mr Patel says they recently launched an e-commerce website allowing cus-tomers to securely pay for goods using a variety of options including mobile money, Master Card and Visa Credit cards.

“Innovation is the way to go in business and we have created an auto parts e-commerce website to make

things easier for our clients and we also provide free delivery on all online orders throughout Kenya. We also fully computerised our operations so it is easy to monitor inventory, ordering, sales,” he said.

He added that they have also part-nered with Jumia to sell their auto parts on their online platform. Their target market include retail shops, garages, insurance companies, fleet owners and individuals.

The director states that they import their hardware directly from their fac-tories in Asia.

They will soon be opening an outlet on Butere Road in Nairobi’s Industrial Area starting November to better serve our Nairobi clients and their counter-parts in the surrounding environs, says Mr Patel.

They also serve Uganda and Tan-zania markets.

“We have managed to keep and grow our clientele through the unbeat-able prices on top brands while break-ing even. We will be creating a further 30 jobs in our Nairobi office in 2016 as we look to expand our customer base to Central Africa,” he said.

Mr Patel quickly adds that the com-pany made notable strides from be-ing position 62 in last year’s Top 100 companies’ survey conducted by the Business Daily and KPMG to number 12 this year.

“The experience is amazing. This big leap (being ahead of 50 compa-nies compared to last year) has re-ally empowered our staff and we are all looking forward to increasing our productivity and clinch position one come next year,” said Mr Patel.

-AFRICAN LAUGHTER

Amex Auto and Industrial Hardware Limited officials celebrate after the firm was ranked in position 12 during the Kenya Top 100 Mid-Sized Companies 2015 Survey.

Moto≥ spa≥e pa≥ts fi≥m ≥evs to ≥ecognition

THANK YOU FOR MAKING US NO 2 COMPANY IN KENYA IN THE TOP 100 MID-SIZED COMPANIES

2015/16We thank our dedicated staff and customers for having trust and confidence in us.

Professional Clean Care Ltd is a leading company in Commercial Cleaning Services with over 28 years in providing outsourced cleaning services to a wide variety of clients who need to focus and concentrate in their core business.

We have hundreds of satisfied customers occupying millions of square feet of office space who can testify that, when it comes to value, quality and responsiveness, Professional Clean Care Ltd is number one.

We thank God that we were for a third time recognized by KPMG Kenya/Nation Media Group as the No.2 overall winners out of 100 Top SME’s Companies. We were awarded the prestigious award on 9th October 2015.

We wish to mention that we were the first cleaning company to attain ISO 9001:2008 Certificate in 2011.

The company’s success is due to my hands on leadership skills and good organizational structure and confidence in my staff.

The company has since opened branches in Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru, Kisumu, Nyeri, Thika, Marsabit, Eldoret. We crossed over to Kampala and Somalia and very soon venturing to Rwanda.

Visit us at Brunei House,1st FloorWitu Road-(off Lusaka Road)Cell:0725685492/0772145050

Mrs. Betty Wanyoike CEO of Professional Clean Care limited receive their trophy from Diamond Trust Bank CEO Nasim Devji (left) after the company emerged number two during the Kenya Top 100 Mid-Sized Companies 2015 Survey Gala dinner at the Carnivore Grounds in Nairobi on October 9, 2015. Looking on (left) is KPMG CEO Josphat Mwaura.

THANK YOU

For Quality Cleaning in Hospitals, Offices, Houses & Commercial Properties

XX BUSINESS DAILY | Monday October 26, 2015

INDUSTRY ICT

13 DATAGUARD DISTRIBUTORS LTD

As computer viruses and mal-ware continue to multiply in cy-berspace, James Kinyua saw an

opportunity to keep digital gadgets safe and make money in the process.

Six years ago, Dataguard Distributors was set up as a link between producers of anti-virus software and individual com-puter users and businesses.

Essentially, the company is a major distributor of products to sub-dealers like shop owners and networking com-panies who sell them to individual con-sumers, SME enterprises and govern-ment agencies.

Dataguard has since grown in leaps and bounds to post impressive numbers that have put it firmly in the league of Kenya’s fastest growing Medium-sized companies.

Though Mr Kinyua, who is the compa-ny’s chief executive, was about the com-pany’s finances – Dataguard definitely runs an annual turnover in excess of Sh70 million. “Last year we entered the Top 100 competition and were at posi-tion 126. It says something that this year we are at 13.”

Among the clients it has served are Sa-faricom, Kenya Revenue Authority, KCB, National Hospital Insurance Fund and Bank of Kigali.

When a company approaches them for solutions, Dataguard will execute the job through one of their sub-dealers as they do not deal directly with the cli-

ent. The company distributes products from three foreign companies. These are Kaspersky anti-virus solutions which was their first product; Bitdefender another anti-virus software and ICT hardware from an American company Netgear.

“It’s been a challenging growth. There was a time a lot of people couldn’t even pronounce Kaspersky but now it has a market share of over 50 per cent in Ken-ya,” Mr Kinyua said.

Under the Netgear brand, they dis-tribute switches, wireless connection products, routers and gateways and storage solutions among others.

Mr Kinyua said that they plan to add more products to its stable but this is only done after a careful review of the mar-ket. He however adds that the number of products they handle would be capped at seven. “We have in the past introduced some products but realise that they have not performed so well so we dropped them,” he said.

As technology continues to develop new services and gadgets like cloud computing, smartphones and tablets, the need for connectivity devices and

anti-virus protection has offered Data-guard an even bigger opportunity for growth.

The company has spread its wings in the eastern Africa region and now serv-ices its 40 sub-dealers in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania.

The nature of their operations as more of a logistics operator has meant that they have managed to keep a lean staff of 15.

Mr Kinyua said that they face stiff competition especially from online sales of the products they sell as well as indi-viduals who fly out of the country and acquire the items there.

Ente≥p≥ise makes its ma≥k keeping digital gadgets safe

Dataguard Distributors Limited officials pose with NSE chairman Eddy Njoroge (second right) after the firm was ranked in position 13 during the Kenya Top 100 Mid-Sized Companies 2015 Survey.

INDUSTRY INSURANCE

14 WAUMINI INSURANCE BROKERS LTD

What started out as an insurance agency af-filiated to the Catholic

Church and its related institutions has grown into an award winning enterprise in the financial servic-es industry, as Waumini Insurance Brokers Limited emerged the best in the Financial Services category during the 2015 top 100 survey of the fastest growing mid-sized companies in the country.

“As a team we felt humbled by the recognition, which was as result of rigour-ous research. The award has injected fresh motivation and will go a long way in helping our portfolio grow,” said the manag-ing director, Nancy Muriuki.

This year, the insurance broker-age secured position 14, up from po-sition 59, in 2014, following the Top 100 survey, which is run by the Na-tion Media Group’s Business Daily and audit firm KPMG. This is an in-dication of growth and the growing confidence people have towards its products, said Muiruki.

Waumini Insurance Brokerage

Ltd has now been listed for six years running as one of the Top 100 mid-sized companies in Kenya. Other recognitions include the special commendation award in leader-ship and management from the Association of Insurance Brokers of in February 2010 and the coveted award for excellence in training and professionalism and professional-ism development from the same as-sociation, AIBK, in March 2012.

Waumini has insured more than 10,000 organisations in Kenya and offers a broad range of services in-cluding insurance brokerage, gen-eral insurance, motor vehicle insur-ance, pension scheme administra-

tion, group life assurance, risk management and

medical insurance. It was incor-

porated to fill the insurance needs of the Catholic Church and its re-

lated institutions in 1997. However, it has

grown its market to include non-Catholics and was upgraded to an insurance broker in 2005. The company started with an annual premium of Sh 2m and only three employees in 1997, but today it’s 22 permanent staff handle Sh500m in premiums.

Muriuki said that one of the biggest challenges has been the competition for talent, and the growing numbers of companies in the insurance industry.

“One of our biggest challenge

in this industry is the competition for talent. In the previous year, we trained seven people, and four of them were taken up by other insur-ance companies.”

“There is still a slow uptake of insurance products in Kenya, which has also affected the growth of many insurance firms, as well as stiff completion from other finan-cial institutions, such as banks, that previously did not offer insurance services,” she said.

However, Waumini, which start-ed off with a branch in Nairobi, has since added another three branches in Kisumu, Nyeri, and recently in Nakuru.

“We have plans to be in every part of the country and so in the next three years, we intend to have open other branches in Mombasa, Machakos and Eldoret. We also plan to engage more youths in selling in-surance thus creating employment and increasing the penetration of insurance, which is still extremely low at 3 per cent,” she said.

Muriuki reiterated that Wau-mini stands out among its peers for its deep-rooted values of trust, professionalism, team work, self-lessness, integrity, innovation, respect, loyalty, and community citizenship.

“Being a faith-based organiza-tion, we ensure that we uphold the highest standards of integrity and professionalism. We also conduct continuous education to our clients on insurance,” she said.-AFRICAN LAUGHTER

Faith and diligence d≥ives insu≥e≥ to Hall of Fame

Officials from Waumini Insurance Brokers are congratulated by KPMG East Africa CEO Josphat Mwaura (right) and Nation Media Group CEO Joe Muganda (left) after the firm was declared industry champion in the financial services category during the Kenya Top 100 Mid-Sized Companies 2015 Survey. FILE

XXIMonday October 26, 2015 | BUSINESS DAILY

BROLLO KENYA LTD

INDUSTRY CONSTRUCTION

Manufactures a wide range of value added steel and tubular products for the building and con-struction, manufacturing, automotive and pack-aging industries.

CANON CHEMICALS LIMITED

INDUSTRY MANUFACTURING

Develops a portfolio of quality brands which are part of an everyday affordable life: homecare (Petroleum Jelly, Lotions)It has a proud heritage passionately committed to empower and enrich people’s lives in Africa by developing a portfolio of quality brands which are part of an everyday affordable life.

KENYA BUILDERS & CONCRETE CO LTD


Manufacturers of Aggregates and Precast Con-crete Products

ELDOHOSP PHARMACEUTICALS LTD

INDUSTRY

PHARMACEUTICALS

Distributors of brands like GlaxoSmithkline, Novartis, Sanofi, Bayer E.A Limited and Pfizer amongst others. Main distributors for Torrent and Microlabs.Importers of Surgicals and allied products. C

LUB

101

A Kenya Builders and Concrete Company Limited official is congratulated by KPMG East Africa CEO Josphat Mwaura (left) and Diamond Trust Bank CEO Nasim Devji after the company graduated to Club 101 during the Kenya Top 100 Mid-Sized Companies 2015 Survey.

MEGA PACK K LTD


SIGMA SUPPLIES LTD


One of the country’s largest fully integrated poul-try company.Main products include dressed chicken, cut ups, day old chicks( broilers and layers), table eggs, hatching eggs, poultry equipment and animal feed.

TRUFOODS LIMITED


One of the eading producers of healthy, conven-ient foods for every eating occasion - Zesta, Ke-nylon. Home is where “true” food is. TruFoods is passionate about serving up good food. They understand the power of food to connect people, unite cultures and enrich daily life.

VEHICLE AND EQUIPMENT LEASING LTD

INDUSTRY

LEASING

Vehicle and equipment Leasing Limited (VAELL) is the leading independent asset leasing company in Eastern and Central Africa. VAELL have established themselves as the foremost experts in asset and plant leasing acquisition and maintenance providing services in an array of sectors across the economy. VAELL have be-come a leading provider of asset leasing acquisition solutions to governments in the region.

HEAD OFFICE:Astral Plaza, Old Mombasa Road, Kyangombe

P.o Box 7335-00300 Nairobi, KenyaTel:020-2081501,Email [email protected]

Website:www.tridentplumbers.com

• Plumbing & Drainage• Sanitaryware Installations• FireFighting Services• Automatic Irrigation

Systems• Air Conditioning and

Ventillation Systems• Compressed Air systems

• Boiller Installations• LPG Gas and Petroleum

Service Systems• Health Club Services• Solar Water Heating

Systems• Water Storage Facilities• Water Distribution

OUR EXPERTISE

XXII BUSINESS DAILY | Monday October 26, 2015

INDUSTRY TRAVEL

15 PINNACLE (K) TRAVELS & SAFARIS LTD


16 TROPIKAL BRANDS A LTD

Manufacturer of household, personal care, food and baby products and distributor of top quality multinational brands.

INDUSTRY PETROLEUM

17 RUSHAB PETROLEUM LTD

18 ALLWIN PACKAGING INTL. LTD

INDUSTRY INSURANCE

19 D&G INSURANCE BROKERS LTD

20 SHEFFIELD STEEL SYSTEMS LIMITED


21 COAST INDUSTRIAL & SAFETY SUPPLIES LIMITED


22 NOVEL TECHNOLOGIES EA LTD

INDUSTRY

ICT

23 POWERPOINT SYSTEMS EA LTD

INDUSTRY ENERGY

24 MACHINES TECHNOLOGIES (2006) LTD


INDUSTRY

SUPPLIES

18 ALLWIN PACKAGING INTL. LTD

Great customer service: this is the secret of success, ac-cording to Allwin Packaging

International Ltd, which in just over 10 years has grown from a virtually unknown company to become a leading supplier of pack-aging machines with a monthly turno-ver of Sh30m-Sh40 million.

Allwin Pack-aging Interna-tional Ltd, which supplies packaging machines & materials, coding and water purifica-tion machines to manufacturing industries, started as a humble business in 2004 to cater for a gap in the market.

“With a capital of Sh650,000, I started the business in 2004 to pro-vide affordable packaging solutions for manufacturing industries,” said Saji Kuria Khose, Managing Direc-tor of Allwin Packaging International Ltd. “Packaging is very sensitive and people expect very high quality. We do not just supply packaging machines to industries, but also make an effort

to follow up if the client is experienc-ing any problems. There are times when we have sent engineers to go to industries at night to fix machines just so that the packaged products come out well,” said Khose.

It is not only Allwin’s great cus-tomer service that Khose takes pride in, but also that the company has grown without any bank loans.

“I have never taken any bank loans or overdrafts to in order to grow, because financing in this country is very expensive. I have, instead, chosen to grow in a slow and steady manner by re-investing back into the company,” said Khose.

This slow and steady growth has seen the company now

achieve 38 employees and supply over 250 different packaging machines to various manufacturing indus-

tries, including those in tea, sugar, cosmetics, and

agro-chemicals.Allwin’s growth also saw them

recently acquire the rights to be the sole distributer of global leading packaging company, Ishida.

“Around two months we ago, we were given the go ahead to be the only distributer of Ishida, which is a Japanese company in East and Cen-tral Africa,” said Khose.

Passionate about seeing other start-ups grow, Allwin has kept its affordable packaging machines, de-spite acquiring more expensive ones over the past decade. It is also this passion that saw Khose help a stu-

dent set up a start-up, something he terms as his greatest achievement.

“A university student once came to me saying that he wanted to start supplying packaging machines with just a starting capital of Sh10,000. He bought a machine worth Sh6,000, af-ter which he came back for another similar machine a few months later. Two years down the line, this student came back to me and bought a ma-chine worth Sh2m,” said Khose.

Three years ago’ Allwin Packag-ing International Ltd was among the Business Daily Top 100 Companies and it has appeared in the list three times consecutively, another feath-er Khose is proud to add to his cap. “Ever since we were selected three years ago, people started taking us more seriously, which has done great for the business,” said Khose.

The journey to the top has not been smooth sailing and Khose terms unfair competition as a ma-jor impediment. “There are people who use illegal routes of importing these machines and therefore do not pay taxes. This affects us because they end up selling the machines cheaply which is hard to compete with,” said Khose. He also attributes the grow-ing traffic congestion as another challenge to the business. “In the 10 years we have been in the business, our productivity has been reduced by 10-20 per cent because of the traffic jams,” said Khose.

But to succeed, said Khose, “one should know their product”, a plat-form from which Allwin, itself, now hopes to expand across Africa.

Packaging fi≥m th≥ives on excellent custome≥ se≥vice

Allwin Packaging Limited officials receive their trophy from Nation Media Group CEO Joe Muganda (centre) after the firm was d eclared industry champion in the retail category. Looking on is KPMG East Africa CEO Josphat Mwaura.

D&G Insurance Brokers Limited officials pose with their trophy after the firm was ranked 19th in the survey.

D&G INSURANCE BROKERS LIMITED

XXIIIMonday October 26, 2015 | BUSINESS DAILY

25 LOGISTIC SOLUTIONS LTD

INDUSTRY

LOGISTICS

Logistic Solutions Limited is Mombasa based company that was founded in 2009 to handle

empty containers on behalf of shipping lines. The empty containers are ship-ping boxes that can be stuffed with vari-ous contents.

“Last year, Kenya Ports Authority handled over one million containers. It is only natural that for every container that comes to Kenya or the region as imports must leave as loaded or empty export,” said Abdikhani Abbas, the chief executive of Logistic Solutions.

The company, which is renowned for its vast experience in the logistic service provision industry, credits its success to its high level of service and efficiency, which has been influenced

by the huge investment the company has made in buying equipment, such as an empty container ambulance, reach stalker, and folk lifts, which make its work easier and faster.

Logistic Solutions had its first list-ing on the Top 100 companies this year, taking position 25. In addition, it has received awards from WEMA for best in customer focus; the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNCC) for employer; and Kenya Ports Authority Awards, for efficient depot.

The company’s success has been fueled by a strong team whose collec-tive experiences span the inland trans-portation business, running an empty container depot, and the CFS operations to develop a flexible facility that corre-lates with today’s dynamic container repositioning demands.

“We have implemented an in-house IT system, which we use to track the containers, and we have linked this

system to the shipping lines and Ken-ya Ports Authority, making operations smooth,” said Mr Abass

Efficiency has also been increased by one-on-one relationships with cus-tomers, an open door policy, and the 24 hour, seven days a week operating system.

The company’s continued invest-ment in modern fleet facilities and commitment to deliver goods safely and on time, whatever the circum-stances, has ensured the individual needs of customers are met.

The company has also had its fair share of ups and downs, with the big-

gest challenge being finances. In order to have competent manpower and re-sources the company has had to do a lot of staff training and resource mobiliza-tion, which are both expensive exercises to undertake.

Poor infrastructure has also posed a challenge, with poor roads contributing to high wear and tear to the contain-ers, leading to an increase in mainte-nance costs.

Traffic snarl ups have also caused delays in container repatriation, which affects vessel loading. The other chal-lenge has been system breakdowns at Kenya Ports Authority and Kenya

Revenue Authority. But despite the challenges, the company has grown and has discovered new avenues for earning further revenues. New services it has added include repairing contain-ers, and chemical cleaning of contain-ers, which has enabled it to prepare the containers for export.

But the company is not immune to global trends. “Since the dollar has in-creased, we have noted a drop in con-tainer imports into the country. This will, in return, effect the volumes of empty containers that we will han-dle,” said Mr. Abass.

But the great motivation the com-pany has is the creation of employment opportunities, with now 160 employees, which is an achievement it is very proud of. As the company continues growing by expanding its range of services, it anticipates more job opportunities still for the youth. It has also secured a key contract with one of the world’s major shipping lines.

Beyond the normal operations of the company, it holds an a 10-day eye clinic project every year with doctors from Germany, who come in to do eye tests and surgeries where necessary. The project targets 3,000 people a year and is conducted in the remote villages in Kenya.

Logistic Solutions is also looking into expanding into Uganda and Tan-zania within the next 10 years.-AFRICAN LAUGHTER

Logistics Solutions Limited officials pose with their trophy after the firm was ranked 25 th during the Kenya Top 100 Mid-Sized Companies 2015 Survey.

Containe≥ fi≥m uses technology to boost efficiency

XXIV BUSINESS DAILY | Monday October 26, 2015

34KISIMA ELECTRO MECHANICALS LTD


Kisima Electro Mechani-cals (KEML) was found-ed in 2010 to test bore

hole pumping efficiency and achieve optimal water yields, across now 350 sites in Nairo-bi, Nakuru, Thika, Machakos, Kitale, Narok, Naivasha, Na-manga and Kajiado.

By blending innovation and technology, KEML has provided low and middle income com-munities with practi-cal water solutions, with each project uniquely ca-tered for.

Its achieve-ments have run hand in hand with remarkable growth. By 2011, the company was adding its second test pumping machine, and a third one by 2012, as it also moved into bore hole mainte-nance & rehabilitation work, the supply of pumps and UPVC pipes, construction of water storage systems, and water dis-tribution.

“Sincerity and transpar-ency have been the building blocks of this company,” said Yashwanth Kumar Shetty, Di-rector of KEML, who looks af-ter the company’s operation on a day to day basis. He is a familiar face at the site workshop along

Mombasa Road, providing guid-ance to his team. In the midst of a fully set up workshop, small meetings are carried out, and the day’s plans for dealing with clients are gone through.

KEML currently has 28 staff, 18 of them dealing directly with drilling related activities. “My technical team, and the high quality of service that we pro-vide has helped us grow as a company,” said Yashwanth.

KEM provides the major-ity of its drilling solutions for property developers, as well as for NGOs, such as the Interna-tional Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which has had pumps installed in the

Karen area of Nairobi. Compassion Inter-

national Kenya has had similar services provid-ed in the Meru region. “We do

not carry out much advertising

to target our clients,” said Yashwanth, “word of

mouth has helped us.”But the sector is competitive,

meaning KEML has had to keep abreast of what competitors are offering. It constantly surveys for innovation and ways of sourcing in the local and inter-national market. “Our aim is to supply the best products to the market, with an emphasis on be-ing energy efficient.” The com-pany always selects and installs the right size of energy efficient pump and motor to match the client needs.

As new technology comes

in and trends change the mar-ket, KEML also trains its staff, giving them the relevant skills to adapt to the evolving work environment. Staff are also en-couraged to be professional, and to follow all safety procedures when at work.

Clients are not left out ei-ther. “We ensure all safety com-ponents to safeguard the cus-tomer pumping system,” said Yashwanth.

Client communication has been given a high priority level by the company. “Any problems we encounter during drilling are openly discussed with clients. Any amount of progress is de-tailed to the clients as well.” This opens positive communication channels ensuring clients are al-ways up to speed with drilling projects across Kenya. Clients are also able to contact KEML via phone or email, and site visits are also provided when necessary.

“Whenever there is a prob-lem identified by a client, my team knows to always respond as soon as possible.” Over the years, KEML have also learned to negotiate with clients and lis-ten to their specific needs.

With regards to the impact of being listed 34th in the com-pany rankings, Yashwanth said: “I’m very thankful for the rec-ognition. In fact, it has played a major part in encouraging our employees, who are now highly motivated after seeing the com-pany’s ranking.” KEML intends to be the best and most effective water management company in Kenya and eastern Africa.

26 HAJAR SERVICES LTD


27 SUPREME PHARMACY LIMITED

INDUSTY PHARAMACEUTICALS

28 NORTH STAR COOLING SYSTEMS LTD

INDUSTY ENERGY

North star cooling systems is a renowned name for their design, installation , repair , maintenance and optimization of mission critical refrigeration and HVAC systems.The company has handled various projects of differ-ent sizes and different sectors like healthcare, enter-tainment, government and may others

29 UNITED EAST AFRICA WAREHOUSES LTD

INDUSTRY

LOGISTICS

United (E.A) Warehouses Ltd is one of the leading providers of integrated logistics solutions to the Tea, General and Bulk Cargo Industry. The company is a 100 per cent Kenyan privately owned limited com-pany that was founded in 1999 by Justin J. Ogwapit. The United (E.A.) Warehouses Ltd team is made up of seasoned professionals who provide quality serv-ices in Import, Export, Transit Cargo Documenta-tion, Custom Clearance, Warehousing and Quayside Bagging Freight at our centres in Mombasa, Nairobi, Malaba and Kampala.Our purpose built-godowns are conveniently locat-ed at our head office in Shimanzi, less than 1km from the Port of Mombasa and span over 150,000 sq ft. The godowns feature featuring custom built load-ing bays, modern conveyor belts, railway siding and state of the art security. We have a fully fitted modern tea tasting room and a buying department that caters auction purchase, blending and packaging of black CTC tea as per the requirements of all major markets including Paki-stan, Sudan and Egypt.Our clearing & forwarding arm is fully conversant with the procedures involved in the import and ex-port of all types of local and transit merchandise and offers a range of services including:• Customs Brokerage• Freight Procedures• On-site supervision of all Port Operations • Border Point Units at Malaba and Lunga Lunga to track all incoming and outgoing cargo.• Continuous Cargo monitoring and issuance of cli-ent advisories• Sighting and Cross-Stuffing of containers• Clearing of Personal Effects, Bulk and Container-ised Cargo

30 JO WORLD AGENCIES LIMITED

INDUSTRY ICT

Jo World Agencies Ltd, a locally incorporated com-pany, is an Information Systems Solutions and Support provider. Despite having reasonable and reputable client base, we have managed to keep our services at both a personal level, and corporate level through the years. We have over the past decade grown by leaps and bounds and are now one of the most efficient and respected providers in user sup-port in Information and Communication Technology.

31 RAVENZO TRADING LIMITED

INDUSTRY TECHNOLOGY

32 GENERAL CARGO SERVICES LTD

INDUSTRY TRANSPORT & LOGISTICS

33 MPPS (1998) LTD

INDUSTRY SUPPLIES

35 BTB INSURANCE BROKERS LTD

INDUSTRY

INSURANCE

36 SPECIALIZED ALUMINIUM RENOVATORS LTD

INDUSTRY

MANUFACTURING

Specialised Aluminum Renovators Limited (SARL) is a Nairobi-based company established in 1992 that is recognised across East Africa as general contractors of highly professional service which includes inte-rior fitouts , aluminum and upvc fabrications , glass works , suspended ceilings , joinery works, architec-tural stainless steel products, paint works, etc. Our specialties serve a cross-section of the market - do-mestic, commercial and contract customers.

D≥illing company blends innovation, technology

Officials and staff from Kisima Electro Mechanicals Limited pose with their trophy after the company was declared industry champion in the Infrastructure and Construction t category during the Kenya Top 100 Mid-Sized Companies 2015 Survey.

XXVMonday October 26, 2015 | BUSINESS DAILY

37 SPENOMATIC LTD

INDUSTRY ENERGY

38 BLUEKEY SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS (K) LTD

INDUSTRY ICT

39 MANDHIR CONSTRUCTION LTD


40 ASTRAL INDUSTRIES LTD


41 EXON INVESTMENTS LIMITED

INDUSTRY LOGISTICS

42 EXPRESS COMPANY LTD

INDUSTRY ELECTRICAL

Express Company Ltd is a leading supplier of Treated Wooden Poles, Power Transformers, Cables & Conductors, Spares and Equipments to Power Utilities across East Africa. We are also distributors of “Tanalith” brand of wood treat-ment chemicals from Lonza/Arch UK as well as branded generators of sizes 5KVA to 50KVA.

43 RILEY SERVICES LIMITED

INDUSTRY

44 IMPAX BUSINESS SOLUTIONS

INDUSTRY ICT

Impax Business Solutions Limited (Impax) is an information systems consultancy company based in Nairobi, Kenya but with operations across Africa. We provide business solutions and consultancy services in the areas of financial & accounting systems, business.

45 MIC GLOBAL RISKS INSURANCE BROKERS LTD

INDUSTRY INSURANCE

46 PRAFULCHANDRA & BROTHERS LTD

INDUSTRY ELECTRICALS

47 ZEN GARDEN LTD

INDUSTRY

FOOD & HOSPITALTY

48 ARK CONSTRUCTION LIMITED

INDUSTRY

CONSTRUCTION

49 HOMESCOPE PROPERTIES LTD

INDUSTRY REAL ESTATE

50 TRIDENT PLUMBERS LTD

INDUSTRY

PLUMBING

51 SOLLATEK ELECTRONICS (K) LTD

INDUSTRY RENEWABLE ENERGY

52 AIRTOUCH COOLING SYSTEMS LTD

INDUSTRY ENERGY

53 RILEY FALCON SECURITY

INDUSTRY SECURITY

54 WOTECH KENYA LTD

INDUSTRY

WATER SOLUTIONS

55 CIRCUIT BUSINESS SYSTEMS LTD

INDUSTRY ICT

56 SILVERBIRD TRAVEL PLUS LTD

INDUSTRY TRAVEL

57 GENERAL AUTOMOBILE CORPORATION LTD

INDUSTRY AUTOMOTIVE

50 HOSPITALITY SYSTEMS CONSULTANTS

INDUSTRY

ENTERTAINMENT & COMMUNICATION

Hospitality Systems Consultants Ltd was found-ed in the year 2000 to provide complete guest entertainment and communication solutions to the hospitality industry in Africa. In partnership with leading global ICT companies we design and deliver highly innovative solutions that add value to our clients’ service. We have a strong commitment to good customer service deliv-ered through our support offices in Nairobi and Johannesburg and our partner network around Africa. “

59 TOTAL SOLUTIONS LTD

INDUSTRY ICT

60 NDUGU TRANSPORT CO. LTD

INDUSTRY

LOGISTICS

37 SPENOMATIC LTD


Kenya is among the fastest growing economies in Africa and Spenomatic, an energy

solutions company, is well equipped to support this growth through its unique product offerings.

The company offers energy, environment and smart solutions that are suited to the local needs while staying close to the goal of cleanliness.

Spenomatic offers state-of-the-art, high efficiency boilers and thermic fluid heaters from Thermax that

can be fired on renewable energy sources such as variety of biomass, biogas thereby reducing operating costs of operations. To date Speno-matic has installed and commis-sioned more than 800 boilers and is still counting.

The company offers robust and efficient pressure jet and rotary cup burners from European burner majors such as Nu-way, Oilion and Saacke. Spenomatic has an installed base of more than 900 burners.

More recently, the company has ventured into power sector where it is offers turn-key solutions from re-newable energy source such as agro-waste. In this package, high pressure boiler comes from Thermax and the steam turbine from Triveni Turbines Limited.

Spenomatic has so far supplied three such power plants in Africa and there are few more to come and

is also making forays into Solar PV systems. As the manufacturing sec-tor grows, so is the demand of process cooling. Spenomatic offers vapour absorption chillers that can even be fired on waste heat. These chillers are coupled with patented mist type cooling systems thereby providing least energy solutions to the end us-ers. This is also suitable for comfort cooling for hotels, Malls and office complexes etc.

To address continuously increas-ing demand of right quality of water for drinking and process, Spenomatic offers end-to end solutions in water treatment for any kind of raw water source. Be it surface water, bore hole water or seawater. Spenomatic offers high quality UF/NF & RO membranes from Hydranautics, USA.

Lack of proper sanitation and ef-fluent treatment is affecting health of community in general. Spenom-atic also offers sewage and effluent treatment plants that guarantee treated water in compliance with Nema norms. Spenomatic offers cost-effective chemicals to keep the utility equipment such as boil-ers, cooling towers, water/effluent treatment plants etc in best working conditions.

Spenomatic also contributes in the growth of agro-based industry by offering turn-key dairy plants, food processing units, packaging machines etc. We believe that any-thing which can be measured can be improved upon and to improve the efficiencies, we offer remote moni-toring solutions for any process/equipment.

Spenomatic Limited officials pose with their trophy after the firm emerged in position 37 during the Kenya Top 100 Mid-Sized Companies 2015 Survey.

Ene≥gy solutions fi≥m makesma≥k in d≥ive fo≥ clean powe≥

XXVI BUSINESS DAILY | Monday October 26, 2015

61 NAPRO INDUSTRIES LTD


62 DEVSONS INDUSTRIES LTD


63 DUNE PACKAGING LIMITED


64 KANDIA FRESH PRODUCE SUPPLIERS LIMITED

INDUSTRY AGRICULTURE

65 KENCONT LOGISTICS SERVICES LIMITED

INDUSTRY LOGISTICS

66 COMPULYNX LTD

INDUSTRY ICT

We provide a niche and innovative solutions in various industry segments including Re-tail, Education, Banking, Finance, Insurance, Government and Manufacturing. We are well positioned to understand business processes, styles and ethos of organizations and the busi-ness solutions that are needed in a competitive environment.

67 SMART BRANDS LIMITED

INDUSTRY

ADVERTISING

68 FURNITURERAMA LTD

INDUSTRY INTERIOR DECOR

Well established furniture manufacturing com-pany in Mombasa, with over 35 years of wealth of experience in manufacturing and supply and importation of Quality, Durable, Stylish and Af-fordable Office & Household and Institutional Furniture.

69 MASTER FABRICATORS LTD


The company is able to build the simplest and smallest types of bus to the most modern, comfortable air-condition coaches within the region.

74 EDUCATE YOURSELF LTD

INDUSTRY

EDUCATION

The company has been started to provide Edu-cational books Resources and solutions to all institutions in East Africa.

72 ORBIT ENGINEERING LTD

INDUSTRY ENGINEERING

We are manufacturers of high quality Institu-tional, Office, Hospital and School Furniture.

73 KENYA BUS SERVICE MANAGEMENT

INDUSTRY TRANSPORT

Kenya Bus Service Management Ltd is a Trans-port Management Company established Eight (8) years ago in Kenya from the ashes of Kenya Bus Services Ltd. We offer public transport services through a bus Franchising Operator Model. Using a Franchising and Commerciali-zation Model, we have revolutionized and re-defined the management of public transport services in a Para transit dominated County that offers no subsidy.

74 EUROCON TILES PRODUCTS LTD


75 HYDRO WATER WELL (K) LTD

INDUSTRY WATER SERVICES

Devsons Industries Limited officials pose with their trophy after the firm was ranked 62nd in the survey.

Hospitality Systems Consultants Limited founder and CEO Nashon Omondi (seated) and company staff pose with a trophy after the firm was ranked in position 58 in the survey COURTESY

Master Fabricators Limited officials receive their trophy form Business Daily managing editor Ochieng’ Rapuro (right). The firm was ranked 69th in the survey.

HOSPITALITY SYSTEMS CONSULTANTS

MASTER FABRICATORS LIMITED

DEVSONS INDUSTRIES LIMITED

Kandia Fresh Produce Suppliers Limited officials receive their trophy form NSE chief executive officer Geoffrey Odundo (right) after the firm was ranked 64th during the survey.

KANDIA FRESH PRODUCE SUPPLIERS LIMITED

XXVIIMonday October 26, 2015 | BUSINESS DAILY

From seventh to fi rstPharmaceutical, dental

and medical equipment distributor, Pharmaken Ltd,

is this year’s Top 100 Mid-size Companies’ survey winner. This is a notable achievement after climbing from position seven in 2014.

This win confi rms that, indeed, dreams do come true. At last year’s gala for the same event, the fi rm’s directors declared that they would go for “the best overall company award next year (2015).” This has come to pass.

Pharmaken Ltd started operations in April 2006 by importing and distributing pharmaceutical products in Kenya.

A year later, it started the dental line and equipment, eventually growing to become a leading company in that segment. Five years later, the fi rm began distributing a variety of medical equipment, including those designed for Intensive Care, theatre and mortuary.

From theatre lights, operating tables, anaesthesia machines, morgue refrigerators, medical gases compression and fi lling plants and oxygen generators, Pharmaken ventured into ambulances and special vehicles like fi re engines and garbage collection trucks in 2013.

The consistent growth speaks of a well-planned-out expansion strategy, placing the company a cut above many of its peers. That

TOP 100 MID�SIZED COMPANIES 2015

Our contacts:Mombasa Offi ce:- Email:

[email protected] | Tel: 020-2343454, 0717685075 or 0733944444

Nairobi Offi ce:- Email: [email protected] | Tel: 020-8024582, 0733244444 or

0723078422

county hospitals.Pharmaken also has an infection-

control division, which supplies disinfectants, including hand sanitizers and theatre equipment disinfectants.

it achieved position One this year in the Business Daily/KPMG Top 100 Mid-sized company rankings had just been a matter of time.

The company head offi ces are at Links Plaza in Nyali, Mombasa and at Fortis Suites, Hospital Road in Nairobi. These deliver supplies countrywide.

Pharmaken depends on its marketing team of 19 staff to market its products. It focuses on providing quality at reasonable prices. Since its inception, the company’s motto, “Quality Products for Quality to Life”, laid the foundation.

The company’s clients include the major hospitals in country, including Nairobi Hospital, Kenyatta National Hospital, Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, the Aga Khan hospitals, Mombasa Hospital, Pandya, Mater, Karen and many other

Plans are underway to expand its market to South Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda, and to also set up a local manufacturing plant, expected to be commissioned by 2017.

Nairobi staff .

Mombasa staff with Mr. Raza Muravvej, Director - Finance and Administration (3rd right seated).

Pharmaken Limited Chairman & CEO Dr. Samier Muravvej (seated) pose for a photo with his staff members, Mr. Leonard Njeru, Marketing Director (2nd right), Nation Media Group CEO Joe Muganda (right) and KPMG CEO Josphat Mwaura (3rd left) after his company was declared overall winner during the Kenya Top 100 Mid-Sized Companies 2015 Survey Gala dinner at the Carnivore Grounds in Nairobi.

XXVIII BUSINESS DAILY | Monday October 26, 2015

76 TYPOTECH IMAGING SYSTEMS

INDUSTRY ICT

77 BAGDA’S AUTO SPARES LTD

INDUSTRY AUTOMOTIVE

78 STATPRINT LIMITED

INDUSTRY PRINTING

79 OIL SEALS AND BEARINGS CENTRE LTD

INDUSTRY MECHANICS

Esteemed organisation dealing in the supply of Bearings

80 NATIONWIDE ELECTRICAL LTD

INDUSTRY ELECTRICALS

We are a family owned business consisting of engineers with vast experience in different sec-tors of the electrical installation and mainte-nance sector.

81 KENBRO INDUSTRIES LTD

INDUSTRY

CONSTRUCTION

Roofing and flooring subcontract company, in the name of Kenya roofing and building con-tractors

82 CUBE MOVERS LIMITED

INDUSTRY LOGISTICS

Cube Movers is your smart and trusted remov-als and relocations company

83 NEWLINE LIMITED

INDUSTY FURNITURE

Furniture supplier in the Kenyan market by in-troducing a new concept in modular furniture without compromising on quality

84 SPECIALISED HARDWARE LIMITED

INDUSTRY INDUSTRIAL SUPPLIES

Specialised Hardwares Limited was estab-lished in 1991 as a general hardware and indus-trial equipment supplier.

85 NAIROBI ENTERPRISES LTD

INDUSTY LOGISTICS

Nairobi Enterprises Limited continues to be fo-cused on providing for the medical demands of your hospital.

86 FARMPARTS LIMITED

INDUSTRY SUPPLIES

87 SOLOH WORLDWIDE INTER-ENTERPRISES LIMITED

INDUSTRY

PRINTING & SUPPLIES

Printers & Stationers, General Merchants, Importers, Exporters, Manufacturers Repre-sentatives

88 DEEPA INDUSTRIES LIMITED

INDUSTRY

FOOD & SPICES

These are the creators of brands like the Tropi-cal Heat spices and snacks; crisps and chevda

89 RELIABLE CONCRETE WORKS


Makers of precast concrete,civil and structural contractors.

90 AVTECH SYSTEMS LIMITED

INDUSTRY

MEDIA

Avtech Systems Limited is a leading systems integrator in professional Audio and Video so-lutions across the East Africa region.

Kencont Logistics Services Limited officials receive their trophy form NSE chief executive officer Geoffrey Odundo (right) after the firm was ranked 65th during the Kenya Top 100 Mid-Sized Companies 2015 Survey.

Newline Limited officials pose with their trophy after the company emerged 83rd in the survey.

KENCONT LOGISTICS SERVICES LIMITED

NEWLINE LIMITED

De Ruiter EA limited officials pose with their trophy after the company was ranked 99th in the survey.

DE RUITER EA LIMITED

XXIXMonday October 26, 2015 | BUSINESS DAILY

91 BELL ATLANTIC COMMUNICATIONS LTD

INDUSTRY COMMUNICATION

Telecommunication company which special-izes in Supply of computers and networking ac-cessories, Authorized dealers For HP Compaq, Dell and Toshiba, IT products. HP servers, Dell servers and Epson printers.

92 IDEAL MANUFACTURING CO. LTD.


93 EMOMENTUM INTERACTIVE SYSTEMS LTD


We are a trusted technology solutions provider and consultancy advisor in East Africa.

94 PALMHOUSE DAIRIES LTD

INDUSTY AGRICULTURE

Deliver dairy products to our customers.

95 GACHICHIO INSURANCE BROKERS LTD

INDUSTRY

INSURANCE

Gachichio Insurance Brokers Ltd provides pro-fessional insurance brokerage services in the Kenyan market.

96 SYNERGY GASES (K) LTD

INDUSTRY ENERGY

Synergy Gases supply compressed gases for every process, from welding to life support to instrument calibration.

97 IRON ART LIMITED


Iron Art Ltd has been at the forefront of creat-ing and supplying Wrought Iron Craftsmanship for domestic and commercial purposes to East Africa

98 IRON ART LIMITED

INDUSTRY DRILLING

Drill bore holes in various sizes from 6” to 12” in diameter.

99 DE RUITER EA LIMITED

INDUSTRY HORTICULTURE

Founded almost a century ago, De Ruiter has been working continuously on the breeding and improvement of the rose as a product.

100 ROY TRANSMOTORS LIMITED


Deals with fleet of trucks. Through the years, the company has grown from a local through national and currently to a regional player in the field of road transport.

Bell Atlantic Communications Limited officials receive their trophy after the company was ranked in position 91.

Kisima Drilling Limited officials pose with their trophy after the company emerged 98th during the survey.

BELL ATLANTIC COMMUNICATIONS LIMITED

KISIMA DRILLING LIMITED

Emomentum Interactive Systems Limited officials pose with their trophy after the company was ranked 93rd in the survey.

EMOMENTUM INTERACTIVE SYSTEMS LIMITED

Avtech Systems Limited officials pose with their trophy after the company emerged position 90 during the Kenya Top 100 Mid-Sized Companies 2015 survey.

AVTECH SYSTEMS LIMITED

XXX BUSINESS DAILY | Monday October 26, 2015

Armed with powerful mobile devices, con-sumers and employees have become the force behind a wireless wave of change.

Whether they are seeking discounted prices or looking to coordinate a sales campaign, these mo-bile end-users are growing impatient with com-panies that are still trying to control behaviour and the sharing of information. Enterprises that fail to learn how to give up some of that control and innovate to meet the evolving needs of their constituents could soon find themselves in the back of the pack. There are five ways to ride this Wireless Wave, write the authors of this opinion piece, Todd Hewlin, managing director of TCG Advisors, a boutique consulting firm in Silicon Valley, and Scott Snyder, a senior fellow at Wharton, author of The New World of Wireless: How to Compete in the 4G Revolution and president and chief strategy officer of Mobiquity, a mobile strategy and ap-plications development firm.

When Tawakkol Karman was named a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize last week, it was fitting that The New York Times carried a front-page photo showing her talking excitedly into a mobile phone. Karman, a leader of the anti-government protests in Yemen, has become a standard-bearer for the Arab Spring, and the cell phone was one of the key weapons in the battle. Fuelled by the rapid proliferation of the

mobile and social web, the Arab Spring demonstrates the collective power of technology-enabled citi-zens. The clash between

empowered and connected end-users and con-trolling governments has led to regime changes throughout the Middle East (though not yet in Yemen), producing one of the most dramatic and unpredictable waves of socio-political upheaval since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

While the events of the Arab Spring are still making headlines, another less-publicized tech-nology-enabled revolution is unfolding that also pits connected masses of people against large or-ganizations trying to control them. This revolu-tion is occurring in the business world, and the end-users who are rising up are consumers and employees. These end-users, equipped with pow-erful mobile devices, are enabling a new wave of disruptive innovation that is transforming the companies they buy from and work for.

If you do not give your customers a way to easily compare and search for discounts on your products, they will use Red Laser or Amazon Price Check. If you do not give your sales team better ways to share knowledge and coordinate efforts, they will use Facebook or Flipboard. Fail to give patients a better way to manage their chronic dis-ease, and they will use Welldoc or Patientslikeme. Mobile technology is creating both an expectation and impatience in users that never existed before. Immediacy is not just desirable; it’s fundamental

to the mobile experience. If you fail to deliver on that expectation, impatience will grow — and you will risk losing the business of customers and the loyalty of employees. In another context, former Procter & Gamble CEO A.G. Lafley summed up the situation this way: “We have to strike the right balance between being in touch and being in con-trol. The irony is the more in control we are, the more out of touch we become.”

The notion of relinquishing control in order to win is counterintuitive for most large companies. They have spent their corporate lives putting con-trols and processes in place to regulate behaviour, maintain a common identity/brand and drive ef-

ficiencies. But the very controls that define them are also the ones that may impede their ability to innovate around wireless, given that such in-novation is all about allowing the end-user to discover what new and useful things they can do with the technol-ogy. As enterprises will come to real-ize, control is just an illusion in the digital world.

Wireless as the Forcing FunctionThe Wireless Wave is expected to

be bigger than the earlier technology waves by anywhere from 10 to 100

times, just based on the number of connected de-vices, from smartphones and tablets to appliances and game consoles. The size of the opportunity and the pace of disruption have drawn in a new set of players that are now dominating the mobile opportunity space — Apple, Google, Amazon, Mi-crosoft and SAP, with Intel, Cisco and Dell ready-ing their own mobile offerings. All in all, mobile is shaping up as the next showdown that will define the winners and losers in the technology sector. And we’ve only just begun.

The Wireless Wave is about reshaping the landscape. People who are wireless-enabled are living and working differently than they did be-fore. In fact, there are striking parallels between the Internet and wireless waves in terms of how long-term innovation came together seemingly overnight. Understanding these parallels will help business leaders anticipate where wireless is headed and position their organizations for the big changes under way.

Innovation is not always a good thing. If you owned a music store, you likely did not celebrate the 1994 launch of Napster, a “poster child” for user-driven platforms. Napster popularized the sharing of music files by making it easy and free. Enter Apple, which saw the consumer demand for the instant gratification of downloading mu-sic online. Its hugely successful iTunes franchise makes illegal downloads less necessary, thus capitalizing on the seismic shift consumers were already driving.

Three Disruptions to Plan ForThree major disruptions are bringing about the rise of empowered end-users: the New “Last Foot,” the Rise of Mobile Personas and the Fall of En-

Unwi≥ing the ente≥p≥ise: A≥e you ≥eady to lose cont≥ol and innovate?

EVOLUTIONYou need to deliver on expectations of customers or they will become impatient

try Barriers. Each one poses tough questions to be considered as you plot a course through the Wireless Wave.

The New “Last Foot”: Wireless is becoming the “last foot” for moving information from the cloud to within arm’s reach of every person on the planet. It connects the physical and virtual worlds, providing real-time access to systems and resources while acting as the “eyes and ears” for centralized IT systems. How much could you save if your ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems had real-time visibility for all of your assets, inventory and people? What are the breakthrough wireless-enabled solutions that redefine your buying criteria? Are you taking into account how quickly decisions get made across your management team?

Rise of Mobile Personas: Mobile devices have blurred the lines between personal and profes-sional use. Phone numbers are now people, not places. Wireless brings individual-level, real-time detail on location, presence, activity level and preferences that no PC ever had. What new opportunities exist to build direct relation-ships with your end customers and your chan-nel partners? How can mobile social network-ing build more employee loyalty? Have you thought through security and privacy issues?

Fall of Entry Barriers: The barriers to entry for attackers are a step-function lower in the Wire-less Wave than in the preceding ones. This shift is partly based on the free-rider effect that wire-less enjoys as it leverages all the cloud-based services from prior waves (virtual desktops, corporate private clouds, online services like Google and others). It is also due to the remark-ably small investments required to develop and bring to market disruptive offers. With off-the-shelf tools and the distribution of the App Store

The i≥ony is the mo≥e in cont≥ol we a≥e, the mo≥e out of touch we

become

A. G LAFLEY. FORMER CEO,

PROCTER & GAMBLE

KNOWLEDGE@WHARTON

Engage young em-ployees and users in identifying new mobile opportuni-ties. FILE

XXXIMonday October 26, 2015 | BUSINESS DAILY

and its imitators, a small team can produce a wireless innovation that has a major impact.

You have less time than you think to meet these challenges. Your organization needs to im-mediately assess the ramifications of each dis-ruption and develop a top-down plan for playing offense and defense in the Wireless Wave.

Preparing for the Wireless WaveThe Wireless Wave is busy shifting power to the “new edge” of an enterprise’s customers, partners and employees. However, in a recent survey of more than 100 senior executives in a broad range of sectors, 70 per cent said that they believe their current wireless readiness is insufficient to drive wireless innovation in their organisations (see The New World of Wireless: How to Compete in the 4G Revolution). What can you do to prepare? Across industries, leaders are moving ahead on five key fronts.

Scan Broad and Deep. This front involves searching non-traditional sources, such as millennial/native digital users and emerging markets for future user needs and innovation ex-amples. These sources are your best bet for seeing over the horizon to how wireless will change your industry and company.

Engage young employees and users in iden-tifying new mobile opportunities, collaborate with players outside your traditional market or industry and leverage emerging markets as a window into the innovations from unwired so-cieties like India.

Decide Where to Stand Out. To play good offense, you need an aggressive plan for differ-entiating or disrupting in attractive areas. Win where you can — and be good enough every-where else to meet the minimum expectations of mobile users.

Pick markets that are big enough to matter, early enough to lead and a good fit with your crown

jewels — assets or capabilities that you control and are essential to delivering a step-function improvement in customer value.

Focus IT on Systems of Engagement. For the past three decades, your IT group has focused on implementing systems of record. That is, digital systems that record all transactions making up your business.

The next two decades will be about systems of engagement — the communication, collaboration and interaction systems that enable your people to work with each other, partners and customers more productively regardless of location.

Co-innovate With End-Users. The most glar-ing capability hole in most enterprises is what might be called user experience design (UED). The Wireless Wave provides opportunities for mass customisation of the user experience. Think about how different your iPhone is from mine, even if it is the same model number.

Beyond just modules/apps that can be com-bined by the user, simple composite apps or “mash-ups” are making the jump from the consumer world to the enterprise. UED allows customers, partners and employees to tailor their wireless ex-perience based on their unique needs and prefer-ences. Co-innovation with end-users will be critical to future success in the Wireless Wave.

Adopt a Pull-Training Model. In a time of dis-ruption, a great premium is placed on flexibility. The Wireless Wave will demand new skills, proc-esses and roles within your workforce. The chal-lenge is to keep training flexible. The customer, partner or employee should be given information on a need-to-know basis.

As the Arab Spring dramatically changed the Middle East’s political landscape, the change in wireless will reset the playing field for enterprises as well as the underlying business models that define their industries. Are you ready to lose control?

Why ent≥ep≥eneu≥smust get se≥ious about online educationFive reasons why you should now take online education more seriously:

1. Online courses are less expensive. For a fraction of the cost, you can now get a university-level learning experi-

ence taught by an industry expert. That is, you can if you take the right kind of classes (more about that below).

2. Online courses are results-ori-ented. Since you’re likely giving money to

someone you’ve never met, online educators are motivated to help you get the results you want (instead of simply teaching dry theory). Their reputations are on the line (literally), after all.

3. Technology makes the experience of an online course more exciting.

Instead of attending a couple of 45-minute lectures per week, you’ll now have worksheets, discussion forums and interac-tive presentation at your fingertips.

4. The classrooms are cooler. You no longer have to grab a sack lunch and spend a half-day at your local com-

munity college, sitting in a cold, dimly lit room. You can attend class right in your living room -- whenever you want.

5. You get to keep the course. This might be my favorite reason for on-line education. In contrast to traditional

education, where the only keepsakes you get are the overpriced textbook and a three-ring notebook full of illegible scribbles, many on-line courses let you keep a lot of the course material (including the lessons).

If you haven’t considered taking an online course, then, you should. But, and this is im-portant, don’t sign up for just any class that comes along. There are a lot of swindlers out there (who probably made those cat videos -- no offense intended, of course, to Grumpy Cat).

Solid credentials. Has the teacher achieved the expertise he or she claims? In other words, if you’re taking a course on how to get published, is a pub-lished author teaching it? Or is the teacher at least someone with real-life experience in that industry? If other marks of legitimacy (i.e., licenses and such) are needed for what you want to learn, make sure the instructor has those, too.

Trustworthy testimonials. What do previous students say about the course? Don’t read just the landing page copy; find people who have gone through the class and will give you their honest opinion.

Legitimate access to the teacher. This is up to you, but I recommend taking a course that gives you some potential live access to a teacher or fa-cilitator. That may mean live video chats or conference calls with other students. Or it could be personal email access when you get stuck. It really depends on the teacher and the material. But having someone to guide you is essential.

Discussion opportunities. One of the best parts of an online course is the oppor-tunity to connect with other students who are going through the same experience as you (this is the best part of any educational experience). Does the course have a forum or Facebook group, a place to ask ques-tions and get help from your peers?

Good refund policy. Just as with college, there should be an initial period of time in which you have the freedom to drop the class, if it isn’t what you’d hoped. A 30- to 60-day money-back guarantee is pretty standard in the online business world, and you shouldn’t take a course that doesn’t offer something similar.

He≥e’s what to look fo≥ in a good online cou≥se:

XXXII BUSINESS DAILY | Monday October 26, 2015