German elevators firm eyes Kenya’s real estate sector

Corporate News

Kenyatta National Hospital, one of the facilities that is using the German company’s elevators. PHOTO | FILE 

By NEVILLE OTUKI

A Germany-based firm has entered the Kenyan market, targeting the booming property sector to move sales of its elevators, escalators and passenger lifts.

ThyssenKrupp Elevators, which installed lifts and escalators at the World Trade Centre that re-opened last year in New York, joins the growing list of foreign firms that have forayed into Kenya’s construction sector.

It has partnered with Nairobi-based East African Elevator Company to supply the regional market.

“We have been keeping a close eye on the developments in this market and are very proud to have partnered with the leading company in the East African lift industry,” ThyssenKrupp head of African sales Carlos Gomes said on Friday in Nairobi.

Kenya’s property market is booming, buoyed by high net worth investors pumping cash into office complexes, shopping malls and hotels alongside government’s increased spending on construction works like airports expansion.

Rapid urbanisation, population growth and expansion of the middle class remain the main drivers of Kenya’s property market.

The building and construction sector grew at the highest rate of 11.3 per cent in the second quarter of the year, ahead of all other sectors.

East African Elevator general manager Jiten Wadhia said the company will inject an additional $1.5 million (Sh158.4 million) into the business to boost capacity following the partnership.

The local firm, which has 150 engineers, handles elevators, escalators, moving walkways, passenger boarding bridges and accessibility equipment.

Some of its signature works include the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), Kenyatta National Hospital, Serena Hotel, and Intercontinental Hotel.

ThyssenKrupp, which also installed lifts and escalators at the new Dubai International Airport, handles passenger and freight elevators, escalators and moving walks, passenger boarding bridges, stair and platform lifts.