Last year, South Africa was concerned after several of its business brands failed in attempts to invest in Kenya and deployed experts to find out what went wrong and how to fix it.
South Africa Inc was conducted in partnership with Brand Kenya and returned negative results about Kenyans’ perceptions of South Africa businesses and their managers as “imposing, aggressive and ignorant of the local reality.”
According to a report made public this year which concluded that Kenya’s perception of South African business stemmed from “how South Africa managers conduct themselves and treat Kenyans.”
“This perception impacts on the reputation of South Africans, the businesses in the market.
The above implies that any company, government, or other institution engaging in business in peer African markets should be very aware of local business culture and etiquette,” concludes the report that was presented to representatives of SA businesses at a roundtable session in Johannesburg.
As Brand South Africa was breaking down the figures for representatives of SA businesses in Kenya, their companies were changing tack and were quietly shaking up the corporate world in Kenya with buyouts.
Unlike the failure of SABMiller when it took on Kenya Breweries in the 1990s and flopped, the quiet buyouts give South African frims a Kenyan face.In the last 24 months, South African brands have absorbed several top Kenyan companies.
According to the South Africa Inc project, the goal is to access the East African market through Kenya. Some of the companies are Gateway Insurance bought out by Pan African Insurance, Access Kenya bought by Dimension Data, Cannon Assurancebought by Metropolitan , and Haco Industries bought by Tiger Brands.
Old Mutual recently acquired a stake in Faulu Kenya for about Sh3.6 billion. During the purchase, the Sunday Nation learnt that Mr George Adams Maina as chairman of the Faulu Microfinance Bank divestiture committee, negotiated a sweet deal for his company Micsha Capital to acquire eight per cent of Faulu shares. Old Mutual got 67 per cent of the shareholding.
The particulars of the deal contained in emails and documents reveal that Old Mutual will finance him up to Sh300 million.
The deal was conditioned on delivery of completion documents relating to the Faulu and Old Mutual transaction.
Whereas the deal is structured as a loan, the repayment is based on annual repayment from the receipt of dividends from Faulu Kenya profits, meaning Mr Maina will not have to pay anything.
