Kilifi mining firm ventures into cement production

Samsung Electronics East Africa marketing manager, consumer products, Ronald Arao (seated) demonstrates how the new Samsung 85” ultra high definition HD TV at Mayfair Suits in Nairobi last month. The television set costs Sh3.7 million. Photo/Diana Ngila  Nation Media Group

Duma Group which is a mining operator based in Kilifi County has entered into the commercial production of cement to tap on the emerging opportunities in the real estate industry.

The firm has launched a 50kg mixture of sand and ballast premix that the management says will now be available both in hardware’s and in the local supermarkets.

The producer will be using its one hundred acre quarry as the production centre where the end products will be sold locally and also imported to other global markets if their flagship products gets acceptance in the market.

Miss Naja Dahmani who is the chief executive officer at Duma Group told the Business Daily in an interview that the company will be using their own crushing plant to cost-cut the expenditure that would have occurred from outsourcing the facilities that make will make them adopt fair pricing of their new item.

‘’Our pricing will be lower than other cement prices in the market. As a new company, we will try to be price conscious lower than what other companies are offering as we strive to create a market niche in the country,’’ said Naja Dahmani who is an investor from Italy.

The firm will now be competing with renowned cement manufactures in the country among them Bamburi Cement, East African Portland Cement and the Athi River Mining Company (ARM).

The firm said it will be targeting real estate developers as well as the road contractors who intend to use their products.

Duma Group said it has identified over thirty distributors who will be overseeing both distribution and the sales for their products as it works on the strategies to have their own ales Centre’s across the country.

The company will be producing 4200 packs a day and exuded confidence that the new product will have catch in the market.

‘’We have already employed over 40 workers at the factory and operations have already started. The number could go up given the performance of our product in the market,’’ added Naja Dahmani.

Naja explained that they will also be launching a packed Duma Ballast as well as packed sand to create a shift in the market.

A 50kg of cement locally ranges from Sh650 to Sh850 and the firm maintained that it will engage other companies on pricing wars given the dominance of some of the cement companies in the country.

Miss Naja did not rule out the possibilities of partnering with venture capitalist in the near future with the aim of creating more avenues as a strategy for growth and market penetration.

‘’The main thing is to create brand awareness and we are open to partners including the government to develop this product,’’ she said