Atlas Copco Eastern Africa
Global Resourses Brought Closer to Local CustomersAtlas Copco’s global influence has been complemented successfully by a strong local emphasis that incorporates activities in all 14 East African nations Writer: Matthew StaffProject Manager: Arron Rampling Atlas Copco’s influence in Africa’s mining and construction industry is deeply rooted across all four corners of the continent, and none more so than in the eastern region as it continues to adapt, innovate and expand its offering to 14 countries.Having opened its doors to the region in 1936 in Kenya, the subsidiary of the internationally renowned Atlas Copco Group has built a strong presence through its ability to diversify its products and services in line with different market and national requirements, to ensure that it remains as relevant and customer-focussed as possible.The company’s longevity is now a major differentiator and selling point in garnering new business streams and attracting the best skills in the sector as it now looks to the next stage of its ongoing development and a concerted focus on optimising areas of human resources.“We don’t have big problems retaining people, because of our age and our reputation as being part of the Atlas Copco Group,” says Country Manager, Lina Jorheden. “We may not be able to pay the highest salaries but we thrive in areas of safety and stability, while providing the opportunity for people to grow within the company thanks to the training and investment into people that we provide.” International company, acting locallyThis ongoing dedication to internal sustainability and personnel development is replicated across its 14 countries of operation…
Holtan EA
Quality Construction for a Developing Infrastructure Boasting two decades of experience and a longstanding reputation among key East African clients, Holtan E.A. Limited persists with its commitment to build world class structures Writer: Emily JarvisProject Manager: James Smith From a small business with one just carpenter to a fully fledged high profile construction company in Tanzania with a turnover of 20 million, Holtan E.A has built its reputation from the ground up. Boasting two decades of experience and a longstanding reputation among key East African clients, the company persists in its commitment to build world class structures. “The majority of our projects are negotiated with skilled architects before the construction phase, which ensures that a client is satisfied before a project commences,” states Robert Scheltens, Managing Director of Holtan E.A. Limited since beginning its journey to success in 1996. Holtan’s exclusive list of clientele includes the likes of embassies, banks and insurance companies, law firms, hotels and private housing. Taking a project from concept to completion, the company work on professional contracts for corporate entities. “As a developing country, Tanzania is a great place for our business to grow. We strive to be the best in Tanzania, it is about quality and not quantity,” says Scheltens.Moreover, the company owns the largest woodwork facility in Tanzania which Scheltens says is a significant advantage: “No one else in the country has the large scale capacity that we have. Having control over the quality of woodwork that goes into our builds is a huge benefit; clients can trust in our craftsmanship from…
Eaton Towers
Towering Above the Competition Eaton Towers is a leading, independent, telecom tower company in Africa with one of the most diversified geographical tower portfolios in AfricaWriter: Emily JarvisProject Manager: Ben Weaver African telecoms infrastructure firm, Eaton Towers is continuing to expand its mobile operations and is one of a number of specialist players to launch services in Africa in recent years. Since 2010 the company has gone from strength to strength, signing tower management contracts with the likes of Airtel, Vodafone, Telkom, MTN and Orange to name a few. When we last spoke to Eaton Towers, they had plans to build 250 transmitter towers in 2013, increasing their African portfolio by a sixth. They put this growth down to the rapid increase in users of the internet.“The internet boom is one of the key drivers - more people are getting online as smartphone prices fall and telecom operators improve their networks. Mobile operators are building new base stations for two reasons; one is obviously coverage, and there is still some coverage expansion going on, but increasingly it is for adding capacity to the networks,” said Alan Harper, Eaton Towers’ Co-founder and CEO.Founded in 2008 by Sanjiv Ahuja (ex CEO Orange), Alan Harper (ex Vodafone UK MD) and Terry Rhodes (ex Celtel co-founder), Eaton Towers acquires, builds and manages shared telecom infrastructure, leasing it to mobile operators. The company is focussed exclusively on Africa with thousands of towers in seven countries.In November 2014, Mr Ahuja stepped down as Chairman and was succeeded by Jimmy Eisenstein, the Co-Founder of American…
Murray & Dickson Construction
‘Khula Nathi’ Murray & Dickson’s new motto, ‘Grow with Us’, is garnering fresh impetus into an already successful expansion drive which has incorporated not only improvements to its offering, but a larger, more skilled workforce Writer: Matthew Staff Project Manager: Nick Norris Murray & Dickson Construction (M&D) has managed to grow above the industry average over the past two years; capitalising on, and even surpassing, the generally lucrative increase in construction activity being seen across the region.The company’s target 18 months ago was to not only build turnover and profitability, but to also embed a stronger core of sustainability within the business to promote even more future growth.This strategy has reaped dividends for the medium sized construction company who has also leveraged its key differentiator in recent years of producing a diverse offering of services in excess of some of its larger competitors in the market.“This allows us to respond to our clients’ needs no matter what construction discipline they fall under,” explains Murray & Dickson’s Chief Executive Officer, Rukesh Raghubir. “Each division within the company is run independently of the others, with its own skills set. This results in focused teams delivering on the various services. It also maintains the close-nit fabric that is characteristic of smaller companies.“Our targets were aided by a pick-up in general construction activity in the industry, however, M&D managed to double its turnover in the interim, which indicates significant growth in market share.”Moving forward, the aim for the company is to now consolidate the management that has grown alongside its turnover growth,…
Eltek
Saving Energy on a Broadening Scale Eltek has branched out even further in 2014 as it leverages key business partnerships and widening regional knowledge to unveil its hybrid solutions in new markets Writer: Matthew StaffProject Manager: Donovan Smith Eltek’s influence across Africa has grown significantly over the past 12 months as it continues to introduce its high efficiency and hybrid telecom solution products to a wider continental audience.At the beginning of 2014 the company had set its sights on taking its hybrid systems, especially, into a wider array of mainstream markets, and the results over the subsequent 12 months have certainly supported the company’s EMEA Vice President, Bob Hurley’s prediction that they would become common place for mobile operators in the sector.“The biggest opportunity we saw this time last year was for hybrid solutions for mobile network operators,” he says. “The telecom and mobile network operators were looking to reduce diesel consumption, and so as a part of that, we have been very successful in introducing our hybrid solution and selling that product further into Africa.“As a result, we have won a lot of large projects in Africa supplying either our hybrid or CDC (charge/discharge) solutions.” This notable increase in the uptake of high efficiency products has been epitomised by two such modules which are identical other than their rating efficiencies.Hurley continues: “We sell two modules which are identical in size and fitting, but they differ in the efficiencies they provide. In 2013, there was an 80-20 percent ratio of sales in favour of the standard module, and that…
Unilever Food Solutions
Catering for the Changing Tastes Around the World Backed by a team of dedicated staff, Unilever Food Solutions aim to deliver high quality products and service excellence to remain a market leader in the food industry Project Manager: Ben Weaver Unilever is one of the most recognised names in the food industry around the world. If you go to your fridge right now there’s a pretty good chance you’ll find something with the word Unilever somewhere on the label. Among the many facets of the business is Unilever Food Solutions, the professional culinary division which is dedicated to offering products and services to the food service market all over the world. As Managing Director Michel Mellis explains: “We work with powerful global brands such as Knorr, Hellmann’s, Robertsons and Carte d’Or in combination with local names such Marvello, Meadowland and Fine Foods in order to offer culinary solutions to all kinds of operators, ranging from hotels, restaurants, contract caterers to quick service restaurants.”Of course, while Unilever is a globally recognised brand, Unilever Food Solutions can’t rely on brand recognition alone to bring in business. Its unique selling point, Mellis says, is the “incomparable end results our customers can achieve on meal preparation through our brands and services”. “We don’t just sell top quality products and brands, but we also offer services in the areas of menu organisation, kitchen preparation and guest satisfaction,” he says.This combination of high quality products and service excellence has been key in consolidating Unilever Food Solutions’ position as a market leader, but the company is still…
The Copy Cat Ltd
The Most Connected IT Experts in East and Central AfricaThe Copy Cat has been an instrumental part of the African IT sector over the last 30 years thanks to its fully qualified staff upholding the company reputation and through its delivery of a functional and quality productWriter: Emily JarvisProject Manager: Nick Norris In narrowing its focus to cater specifically for IT system integration, The Copy Cat Limited has been able to gain a competitive advantage in East Africa’s tech industry. Through partnerships with the likes of Oracle, Cisco, HP, IBM, Hitachi and Symantec, the company has become known as one of the leading information technology system integration companies in East and Central Africa.Celebrating its 30th year of incorporation this year, The Copy Cat has been an instrumental part of the IT sector thanks to its exemplary skill set, client focus and determination in delivering a functional and quality product to the customer. A particularly proud moment for the company was attaining an ISO 9001:2008 certification in 2014, owing to the successful adherence to quality management systems.The Copy Cat has had a presence in the region since 1985, when the initial focus of the business was to sell office equipment. The company quickly branched out and increased its offering into further IT and office automation services, expanding across Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Burundi, and now enjoys an annual group turnover of more than US$100 million and has more than 700 employees regionally. Gaining a competitive edgeCustomers recognise The Copy Cat as a reputable name in the IT sector, however…
Coast Millers
Bigger Leads to Better Following Tanzanian Expansion One year on and with a vast increase in capacity in place, Coast Millers has turned its attentions towards adding value to its products Writer: Matthew StaffProject Manager: Callum Philp Coast Millers enjoyed one of its most proactive years to date in 2014 as it laid the groundwork for a more prosperous future. Now, in 2015, the company is already reaping the rewards of its efforts.Increasing capacity was the main aim one year ago, enhancing not only storage space from 12,000 to 28,000 metric tonnes, but also its milling capabilities from 160 metric tonnes a day, to almost 300 metric tonnes.“The increase in capacity and investments were made as a result of our success in increasing turnover, and wanting to build this extra capacity to meet current demands and to further enhance future sales,” recalls the company’s Director and General Manager, Rahul Aggarwal.The investments not only made Coast Millers’ operations bigger, but also better, through an aligning upgrade of all machinery and technologies; playing a pivotal role in the company’s strategic expansion plan as it moves into 2015. Increased distributionWith the internal infrastructure now in place, the platform is there for Coast Millers to provide more of its wheat flour based products than ever before, so to compliment that, the company has invested much of its efforts in recent months into expanding its distribution channels.Previously operating across isolated, more urbanised areas of Tanzania, the business has now branched out to more ruralised and peripheral areas of the country.“With the increased capacity we have…
Vodafone Ghana
Ghana undergoes a Vodafone Transformation Vodafone Ghana has only been operational for six years but is already making an impact as it continues to innovate, expand and advance the telecoms industry within the countryWriter: Matthew StaffProject Manager: Donovan Smith Vodafone is replicating its globally-renowned, industry leading telecommunication services in Ghana as it looks to capitalise on a nationwide market ready to embrace the latest technological advancements.After acquiring a 70 percent stake six years ago in Ghana Telecom, the previous fixed and mobile incumbent in the country, Vodafone Ghana put into motion a long term strategy to revolutionise the infrastructure of both telecom facets; a development plan which is now seeing the fruits of the company’s hard work and investments.“Since the acquisition, Vodafone Ghana has invested around $1 billion in improving the infrastructure in the country,” says the company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Haris Broumidis. “This takes our total investments up to $1.9 billion, including the $900 million acquisition price of Ghana Telecom.”Back in 2008, at the time of Vodafone Ghana’s inception, there were only 400 sites across the country, a figure which needed dramatically increasing if the business was to implement its acclaimed array of network services.Six years on and that increase has culminated in more than 2,000 sites being developed – and counting – signifying the success of a transformation period which has already dramatically improved the levels of coverage and quality within the country. Four pillars of expansionThe target of Vodafone Ghana’s investments have not just been on mobile adoption, but also on more traditional fixed networks,…
Uchumi Supermarkets
Uchumi: Your Home of Value Kenya’s oldest supermarket chain celebrates almost four decades in East Africa Writer: Emily JarvisProject Manager: Callum Philp With a total of 37 branches spread across the East African region, Uchumi Supermarkets bring close to 40 years of experience to the retail sector in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Proud of the company’s commitment to excellence and value, CEO Jonathon Ciano says that through the company’s strong branding and qualified staff complement, Uchumi provide the best customer service in the business: “Uchumi is a treasure hunt for its consumers and we take pride in keeping the in-store experience fresh and unique. Originality is our middle-name - we take creativity and innovation to another level.“For example, our stores are designed to be modular so that we can quickly adapt to industry trends in terms of products and how to best stack them on the shelves. These are just a few of the ways Uchumi stands out from the crowd.”Established in December 1975, Uchumi Supermarkets Limited has witnessed substantial growth over the years, recording 4,500 employees in 2014. Furthermore, Uchumi is the only supermarket that is listed on the three East African stock exchanges’ Nairobi, Uganda and Tanzania, which means that all operations reach a reputable industry standard. Revenue has steadily grown to reach highs of KSh 17 billion in the financial year-end July 2014.In the past 12 months, the East African retail giant has witnessed exceptional growth and has widened its business scope by opening nine additional branches across the three countries of operation as a result.Testament…
