Barloworld Equipment
Equipping Africa Barloworld Equipment is always planning ahead to ensure they can deliver effective, value-added solutions to their customers Writer Emily Jarvis Project Manager Ben Wigger Barloworld Equipment is a wholly owned subsidiary of Barloworld Limited, a multinational brand distribution company that is listed on the Johannesburg stock exchange. The company operate as the sole dealer for Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) earthmoving machines, power systems and related mining and construction equipment in all its African territories. This consists of South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia, Botswana, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo's Katanga Province. The company also represents rotary blasthole drilling equipment from Atlas Copco, Metso Minerals Mobile Mining, Construction Crushing, Screening Plants, MAK and Perkins Diesel Engines. Strategic Planning and Improvements The company's strategic planning looks ahead to the future of their customer business. This allows Barloworld Equipment to anchor effective, value-adding solutions to a client's equipment procurement and management needs. The Barloworld Equipment Centre of Excellence at Isando, Gauteng, is the hub from which the company's earthmoving equipment solutions strategy is driven. A second location in Boksburg, Gauteng, serves the same purpose for the power division of the business. Barloworld Equipment runs a continuous process improvement programme, based on Lean 6 Sigma, which aims to give the customer what they want, when they want it and at the right cost. The programme has improved and continues to improve Barloworld Equipment's effectiveness in key areas. As part of 6 Sigma, a 'War on Waste' campaignaims to reduce the amount of wasted costs that…
Kenblest Group
Baking family values in every loaf Kenblest have a proud heritage and history as a family run business, baking bread of the highest quality in Kenya Writer Matt Bone Project Manager Callum Philp Kenblest's roots can be traced back to 1937, with the incorporation of Shah Kanji Ladha and Company in Thika, Kenya, by Kanji Ladha Shah. The shop located in the centre of Thika town, traded in textiles and general goods. This humble beginning was to pave the way for diversification throughout the years until Mayur Mohanlal Shah joined in 1981, having graduated as a pharmacist from John Moore University and completed a Diploma in Baking in the United Kingdom. Given the company's strong understanding and experience of the Kenyan market, the directors identified a large gap in the industry for good quality bread; and so plans were drawn up to expand into the bakery industry, resulting in the incorporation of Kenblest limited. In August 1982, the Kenblest bakery was commissioned with the prime objective to manufacture and deliver good quality and affordable bread to Kenyan consumers. Since 1982, the company focused heavily on combining international business practices into the workings of Kenblest bakery. Through dedication and hard work, coupled with strong business acumen, Kenblest flourished and within four years the bakery expanded its capacity from 80,000 to 230,000 loaves per day. Expansion in 2006 increased daily production capacity to 330,000 loaves per day, making Kenblest the single largest bread producer under one roof in Kenya. Jinit Shah, CEO of Kenblest, is extremely proud of…
Beiersdorf East Africa
Defining the future of skincare Best known for its NIVEA skincare product range, Beiersdorf are strengthening their market position through innovative research and strong branding Writer Emily Jarvis Project Manager Tom Cullum Beiersdorf is a global skincare company with more than 150 affiliates and over 17,000 employees worldwide. In 2012, Group sales posted €6.04 billion. The company's international success is founded on strong brands in all the relevant skincare categories: NIVEA in the mass market, Eucerin in the pharmacy segment and La Prairie in the luxury skincare segment. Today – 100 years after its creation – NIVEA is one of the largest skincare brands in the world and available in more than 200 countries worldwide, and market leaders in 46 of these. Further to this, Eucerin is a leading medical skincare brand of dermatological cosmetics; and in the premium segment, La Prairie is a leader in the exclusive anti-aging skincare market. When Group sales reached the €6 billion milestone in 2012, this marked a great achievement for the skincare manufacturer; but Beiersdorf continue to push for greater things. For over 130 years, Beiersdorf have been dedicated to meeting the consumers' individual needs and are considered to be the "inventors of modern skincare". Through Research and Development expertise, innovative products, and strong brands, the skincare giant strives to be number one in their field. Every day, millions of consumers trust Beiersdorf's innovative, high quality skin and body care products. Their successful international brand portfolio is tailored to meet the individual needs and wishes of consumers, as well…
Nature’s Garden
We do the gardening for you Nature's Garden have always aimed to offer the perfect balance of quality, taste, variety and convenience to its customers Writer Matt Bone Project Manager Callum Philp Nature's Garden have been in the business of producing frozen vegetables and chips in South Africa for over 15 years. Throughout this relatively short period of time, the company have grown vastly but have adhered to a strong set of ideals originally set out when the company began. Nature's Garden still believe in sourcing only the best quality vegetables from hand-picked local farmers and delivering them in perfect condition to their customers. With a constantly changing market, Nature's Garden have always aimed to offer the perfect balance of quality, taste, variety and convenience to its customers. Families in South Africa are becoming far more conscious of their diet and eating habits and are looking towards companies in the food industry to become as conscious with their products. With many people juggling a busy, modern lifestyle, Nature's Garden proudly highlight that growing all your own vegetables is simply not a realistic option, so instead they will do the gardening for you. It is this simple mantra that has made Nature's Garden the successful company it is today. From Fields to Freezers Nature's Garden believe their vegetables are of the highest quality because they handpick only the best farms and farmers who share in their commitment to deliver quality and sustainable farming. The company proudly highlights that they have over 50 hand-picked farms across South Africa,…
Baobab Resources : Masterful Mining in Mozambique
Baobab Resources is pushing forward with new mining projects that will put Mozambique on the natural resources map.
Gulf African Bank
Kenya's leading Islamic bank Gulf African Bank are an award winning financial institution – on both a local and international scale – and are the first fully fledged Islamic bank in Kenya Writer Emily Jarvis Project Manager Sheridan Halls Gulf African Bank (GAB) are the first fully-fledged Islamic bank in Kenya, whose transactions are based on model Islamic economics - forbidding interest, and is an alternative to conventional banking. This mode of banking, a flagship of the Gulf African Bank locally, has spread widely, attracting both Muslims and non-Muslims alike. The bank have maintained a sustainable business model based on rapid customer acquisition and retention; a calculated expansion strategy, and a firm commitment to their mission, vision and core values. The bank is a bona fide Islamic financial services provider and all of the bank's products and services are Shari'ah compliant. "Gulf African Bank is definitely an informed choice, for anyone from any faith, thinking about a perfect place to keep their money and seek financing in Africa and beyond," cites Abdalla Abdulkhalik, CEO and Board Member of Gulf African Bank. GAB are an award-winning financial institution on both a local and international scale. Last year, the company was crowned the best bank in Financial Management and Productivity and Quality at the annual Company of the Year Awards (COYA). "This is a big achievement from a very credible source. The bank also emerged as the Best Islamic Bank in Kenya in 2013 during the annual Islamic Finance News Awards in Dubai," Abdulkhalik proudly says. Reliable and…
Mitsumi Distribution
Africa's fastest growing IT distributor Mitsumi's regional geographical coverage and extensive customer base has made the group the largest and fastest growing distributor in Africa Writer Emily Jarvis Project Manager Donovan Smith Mitsumi IT Distribution was formed in Nairobi, Kenya in the year 1996 with the aim of introducing appropriate and affordable technologies to Africa and now 18 years on, the company are proud to be a Pan-Africa Distributor. As authorised distributors for leading global IT hardware and software brands, Mitsumi have a growing brand portfolio including the following well known brands: Acer, APC, Asus, BenQ, Dell, Dell SonicWall, D-Link, EPSON, HP, Huawei, IBM, iSurf, Lenovo, LINKSYS, Microsoft, Polycom, Rivedbed, Samsung, Sandisk, Toshiba, Tripp-Lite and WD. As one of the Africa's largest IT distributors, Mitsumi is the conduit through which the power of technology flows to 19 Countries in Africa. In the fiscal year 2011, the company sold IT products to more than 6,000 technology resellers in over 12 Countries. Every day these resellers depend on Mitsumi to help them costeffectively support the technology needs of end users of all sizes, including small and medium-sized businesses (SME's), large enterprises, educational institutions, government agencies and consumers. Mitsumi is a leading technology distributor with a wide network of resellers acting as a one-stop-shop in IT for dealers and resellers in Africa. Mitsumi distributes a wide range of products covering computers, data centre, storage, security, networking, software and hardware. Expansive Operations Mitsumi Distribution operates in over 19 countries in Africa. The market covered by Mitsumi includes East, West, North…
National Bank of Kenya
Banking made easy After a recent rebranding, National Bank of Kenya are expanding their reach with the help of skilled staff and by embracing new technologies Writer Emily Jarvis Project Manager Sheridan Halls In recent years, the National Bank of Kenya (NBK) have undergone one of the biggest transformations of an African financial institution. From its inception in June of 1968, NBK used to be entirely government-owned bank, with the sole objective of creating credit access for Kenyans. At this time – immediately after independence – most of the banks were multinationals and so the government wanted to ensure that they had their own hand in the finance business. After this period in time, there was a realisation that the bank would need to extend its reach in order to continue doing business to meet the changing needs of the public. Therefore, NBK made a decision to list its shares on the Nairobi stock exchange. This is when NSSF took a 48.5 percent stake in the bank, with the government through National Treasury retaining 22.5 percent and 29 percent going to the public. "This shift in ownership meant that NBK was no longer considered a government bank. Of course, we owe our founding days to the government, but right now, we are moving forward with new found vigour," explains Chris Kisire, Chief Financial Officer of National Bank of Kenya. Rebranding In May 2013, NBK rebranded and transformed in an effort to stand out from the crowd and Kisire is pleased with the outcome: "The reason for…
Airtel Rwanda
Always available, always affordable In the last 12 months alone, Airtel Rwanda has doubled their customer base as a result of the brand's selling points which are affordability, innovativeness and high quality internet Writer Matt Bone Project Manager Donovan Smith Airtel Rwanda commenced operations in March 2012 and has already become the most sought after telecom company in the industry for internet/data services and affordable smart devices. Unlike all other Bharti Airtel operations, Airtel Rwanda is in a unique position as the only greenfield operation in Africa to date. In the last year, the company has doubled its registered user base and is showing every indication that this number will further rise over the next 12 months. Teddy Bhullar, Managing Director of Airtel Rwanda, believes this substantial growth in only 2 years is down to two key reasons: Affordability in terms of both local and international tariff s, products and services and smart data plans that have pushed Rwandans to join the network. "We have brought in a great variety of plans and options for consumers in the country. Data is a massive revenue stream for us, consumers are always looking for new ways to communicate across different social mediums and we want to be able to give them exactly what they want. So far we have been able to do that although we could do more," explains Bhullar. Developing the Business Footprint Business growth for Airtel Rwanda has been progressive the last 12 to 18 months. Although the predicted growth for the company is slightly…
MSA Africa
Tailored safety innovations MSA Africa spend countless hours developing, testing and evaluating their products rigorously, to ensure they meet a very high standard Writer Emily Jarvis Project Manager Tom Cullum MSA are an organisation fully committed to protecting the health and safety of their customers. The company spend countless hours developing, testing and evaluating their products rigorously, to ensure they meet a very high standard. Founded in 1914, MSA has grown from humble beginnings to become an internationally recognised brand, with more than 5,300 employees across the world, protecting workers in more than 140 countries through their expansive product range of over 15,000 products. "We've never forgotten who we are, or who we work for: our customers. Their satisfaction and safety are our top goals every day," says Colin Oliver, Managing Director of MSA Africa. The company took root in Africa in 1940, making these operations the impressive age of 74 this year. "We have stood the test of time and retained our market position where others may have struggled. This year we are looking at 600 million rand revenue," cites Oliver. The MSA Africa footprint covers the majority of the African continent through either branches or partners, strategically placed across the continent for the ease of access to their services and products. Zooming in on the African operations, MSA have a reputation as the premier technology safety equipment provider in Sub-Saharan Africa. The company sell over 5000 products to the African market, 20 percent of which are manufactured in South Africa. This includes gas detection…
