Corporate News
From left: Keblest Limited directors Mayur Shah, Anju Shah and Jinit Shah at the company's factory in Thika. MARTIN MUKANGU
By SIMON CIURI
In Summary
- The brothers – now in their 60s – say unity of purpose is the bond that has kept the business steady and helped it grow over the decades even as its management changed through generations.
When media reports early this year revealed that baking firm Kenblest Limited was negotiating a Sh1 billion loan with KCB
to finance expansion of its Thika-based operation, keen followers of
Kenya’s dynamic business scene took in the news with some degree of
disbelief.
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As far as brand recognition goes, Kenblest is arguably among
Kenya’s top – its popular bread (of the same name) having landed on
nearly 80 per cent of the country’s breakfast tables. But then again it
is just bread – one of the simplest consumer goods to make and the
entry bar is not so high.
Yet the bread maker says growth has been steady in
tandem with the continuing expansion of the middle class as well as the
general population.
Anju Shah, one of the directors, says Kenblest
plans to invest the money in its wheat and maize milling plant, raising
its production capacity to 300 metric tonnes per day up from the
current 200 metric tonnes.
The investment is also expected to generate 200
more jobs in addition to the 700 people already employed. At Kenblest’s
base, the three brothers in charge of the operation have kept a modest
demeanour about their entrepreneurial achievements.
“Out there it is not possible to really see what is
behind these outcomes,” says Anju, the eldest of the trio that runs the
business.
This is the product of a successful business
succession in a company that was founded nearly eight decades ago when
Kanji Ladha Shah established a textiles and general goods outfit
targeting the small Indian population that operated clothing stores in
Thika.
Located in one of the then little known corners of
Thika, Shah Kanji Ladha Company has since walked through a series of
transformations and management transitions to become one of Kenya’s most
profitable companies with an annual turnover of Sh2.5 billion.
The series of transformations began in earnest in
1962 with the passing away of Kanji Ladha Shah who had long mentored his
cousin, Hemraj Sura Shah, to take charge of the business.
As fate would have it, Hemraj also passed on two
years later leaving the company in the hands of Mohanlal Dharamshi Shah,
who had joined the business in 1950.
Dharamshi , now aged 83, is the chairman of Kenblest Limited – a company he runs with his three sons.
Dharamshi , now aged 83, is the chairman of Kenblest Limited – a company he runs with his three sons.
“It was under my father’s tenure as managing
director that the business grew by the largest margin and diversified
into many areas including food supplies,” said Mayur, another of the
brothers. It was the diversification drive that in 1968 gave birth to
Thika Household Suppliers – a manufacturing firm that supplied mainly
foodstuff to government agencies, schools and hospitals.
Dharamshi introduced Anju, Jinit and Mayur to the
supplies business in the 1960s , but only after they showed an interest
in pursuing business as a lifetime career.
“He enrolled us in local primary and secondary
schools so that we could join him in business and learn the ropes after
school. We all attended Gatumaini Primary School in Makongeni, Thika,
and later proceeded to Chania and Thika High Schools,” said Jinit.
Anju was the first of the trio to join the business
in 1974 when it primarily dealt in corporate supplies. Four years
later, Jinit joined after finishing college. Mayur was the last to get
on board in 1981 after finishing a diploma in baking course.
Thika Household Suppliers later opened a
subsidiary, Anjim Fabrics, on Nairobi’s Biashara Street that dealt in
bedsheets, blankets and khangas.
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