Kenya: Kiambu Rolls Out the Red Carpet for Investors

John Ngirachu And Oliver Musembi

15 June 2011

Nairobi — Kiambu, so near the seat of government and with an excellent road network, is well placed to develop as an industrial zone.

Indeed, the proximity to Nairobi and the good roads exemplified by the eight-lane Thika super highway has turned Kiambu from a county of coffee and tea estates into an industrial hub and favourite destination for high-end real estate developers.

Tatu City, one of the biggest developments in the region, is planned in Kiambu. It will be one of Africa’s biggest privately funded cities, with business, leisure and sports facilities.

But it is Thika Town towards the southern tip of the county that is home to the largest number of factories, and the area that could develop into Kenya’s industrial zone if the wishes of the investors are to be fulfilled.

Thika’s industrial area is on both sides of the road leading to Garissa and the border with Ukambani. Although some industries have come and gone, many are thriving.

Within Thika although not always within Kiambu is the expansive Del Monte pineapple estate.

Del Monte is a global company and in Kenya produces pineapple products for export as well as local consumption and a range of fruit juices.

Then there is Nampak, formerly known as Metal Box, which still produces metal containers for packing fruits, jam, shoe polish, industrial chemicals and bottle tops.

Bullpark in the same compound produces the brown bags used to pack flour — Unga Ltd is their biggest customer — and to pack drugs bought over the counter.

There is also Kenya Nut Company, fruit juice processors Kevian the manufacturers of Pick n Peel and Afia juices, as well as Kenblest, the bakery and flour producers.

Other industries on the Thika-Garissa road include Kenya Vehicle Manufacturers, the vehicle assembly plant while British American Tobacco has its leaf threshing factory in the area, where there is also Polysack, a National Cereals Produce Board depot plus Chania Flour Mills and Bakex Millers.

Further up the road is Bidco Industries, who make detergents as well as cooking fats and oils with brands including Kimbo and Elianto Corn Oil.

Thika Cloth Mills and the Kenya Textile Industries both once thriving, have long since closed.

But why are most of the industries in Thika, and not Kiambu, Limuru or Ruiru, which has a few industries yet are close to markets?

Bidco managing director Vimal Shah said there are few difficulties in running a business in Thika, especially when compared with Nairobi.

“Thika council, the town clerk and the mayor are pro-industry because the biggest employer here is industry… they have not been in any way negative,” said Mr Shah.

The council collects land rates and issues licences while the water and sewerage company is also paid for its services.

Bidco started production in Thika in 1991, two years after breaking ground to set up their factory there, and Mr Shah said it proved to be a good move.

The markets were accessible by road, would be more accessible if the railway was working as it should, and business would improve with the completion of the expansion of Thika Road, he added.

Ruiru was a possible place for their factory, he said, but they settled on Thika, with the encouragement of the government through the Rural Industrialisation Programme.

Thika was also suitable for business as it was not prone to the water shortages that characterise Nairobi, its sewerage system was not under too much pressure and labour is cheap.

The company has a workforce of 1,200 people and operates around the clock.

According to the mayor, Councillor John Wandui, the town’s potential for growth has for long been hampered by the Thika highway which becomes congested and slows down transport.

However, this is soon to be a thing of the past with the completion of the superhighway, in addition to bypasses to Kiambu and Embakasi through Ruiru Town.

“People travelling to Limuru or the airport need not go through the city centre,” says the mayor.

Land was also abundant says Town Clerk Felix Mbiuki, adding that the mainly flat terrain was conducive for development and industrial activity.

The mayor said the Nanyuki railway line had helped to ease the transport crisis as various companies including Del Monte, KVM and Nampack use it to take their cargo to Mombasa.

Thika was determined to attract new investors through the council’s quality service to its citizenry, he added. Heaps of garbage familiar in some other towns are nowhere to be seen here.

Mr Shah says he hopes that the new county leadership will continue with the pro-business policies.

“We hope whoever comes into power in the county will be of sane mind and will not destroy what is happening but enhance and make it better,” he said.

The new council should have a private sector mentality that would speed up the delivery of services and encourage business.

Mr Shah, who is chairman of the Kenya Association of Manufacturers, said a lot of industries in Nairobi were willing to move out of the congested city and that Kiambu would benefit if it made industrial land available.

“In the next 30 to 40 years coffee will not be viable in this area. There will be more of real estate and industrial areas and the county can grow on this,” said Mr Shah.

Nestled in a green valley about 50 kilometres from Thika is the factory belonging to the Githunguri Dairy Farmers Savings and Credit Cooperative Society, the producers of Fresha dairy products.

Established in 1961 with a membership of 31 dairy farmers, the society nearly collapsed due to mismanagement and theft of funds in the mid-1990s.

Farmers’ milk

But it has undergone a renaissance of sorts since 1999, when it was collecting 24,000 litres of milk in a day and had an annual turnover of Sh211 million.

It initially used to collect farmers’ milk and sell it either to Kenya Co-operative Creameries or directly to consumers in Nairobi and Thika, the closest urban centres.

Annual turnover now stands at Sh3 billion while the society collects over 170,000 litres of milk a day.

Fresha took the market by storm when it introduced polythene packed milk in 2007 when all the products in the shelves were sold in Tetra Paks.

Its success is marked by a number of awards including the Most Improved Company at the Company of the Year Awards in 2006, the Best Managed Marketing Cooperative and Best Marketing Cooperative in the 2008 Ushirika Day celebrations.

What is perhaps Kiambu’s best known industry is in Limuru, home of the Bata Shoe Company, which established its factory there in 1939.

Bata’s factory is famous for the production of Safari Boots, branded as the “The boots that say you know Africa”, which it still produces. The company has its own tannery.

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