Big dream that could earn Kariobangi startups billions

An illustration of Sh4 billion Viken Thirty Industrial Park, in Ruai, Nairobi that is expected to host 300 godowns for small enterprises that have been working from Kariobangi light industries zone.

Anthony Omuya | Nation

What you need to know:

  • About 150 small investors are constructing Sh4bn industrial centre in Ruai

The narrow alleys between the stalls are a slimy quagmire of muddy sewerage.

Food kiosks, vegetable stalls and juakali shops compete for space with residential buildings in Kariobangi, a light industries centre located to the east of Nairobi.

“We have had numerous fires that have cost lives. Many of the industries here lack ventilation,” Mr Joseph Maina, told Money.

This sticky mire has stuck for decades, but not anymore, Mr Maina says.

The 60-year-old who is a master of making vehicle paints is the brain behind a spirited push by Kariobangi Light Industries’ businesspeople to relocate to Ruai, in a spacious environment where hopefully, they will compete with their counterparts from the Asian tigers.

Mr Maina has pulled together over 150 entrepreneurs to establish a modern industrial park, whose construction cost is estimated to be Sh4 billion once complete. The plan is to relocate in two years.

“For a long time, I’ve had this dream to move from Kariobangi to a better location where we can implement international standards in manufacturing. Nothing raised my desires higher than a factory fire that broke out in 2010, killing 10 people and causing massive destruction,” Mr Maina, founder and boss of Alpha Paints, said.

300 godowns

Adding: “we set up a committee. And after identifying land in Ruai, Nairobi, we approached Unitas for a loan. We offset the loan and now we’ve the title deed.”

The land is valued at about Sh110 million. Already, construction is ongoing on the 47-acre site between two rivers, Kasarani and Nairobi, on the Eastern bypass.

Viken Thirty Industrial Park will accommodate 300 godowns, giving manufacturers safety for their goods, raw materials and finished products. Each enterprise will have a godown.

“The goal is to produce goods that compete with imported ones, create more jobs, and raise our share in the regional market to 15 per cent from seven per cent,” says Mr Maina.

The park will incorporate renewable energy system to help cut production cost. “The park will zone industries according to their line of manufacturing.”

At the moment, when it rains in Kariobangi, lorries picking goods plough their way in littered, soggy alleys that serve as roads. Insecurity is at an all-time high.

However, the centre generates over Sh1 billion per year in income to the vendors and employs 800 people directly and 3,000 indirectly. Over 30 entrepreneurs export to Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan.

In a trip organised in collaboration with the Kenya institute of business training in 2012, Mr Maina, together with five others, visited India where they borrowed handy tips on industrial parks.

“In India, there are banks set up to provide collateral-free, interest-free loans to young graduates to start businesses. The government supports them during expos overseas by meeting 80 per cent of the cost.”

In addition, the government reserves 20 per cent of procurement for small and medium entrepreneurs so that they can grow.

Export-import services

Once complete, Viken Park will have a shopping mall, banks, an exhibition-cum-conference centre, re-creation parks, health centres, and a police post.

The mall will have a shop displaying products by each enterprise and offices providing various export-import services.

Tarmac roads would interlink the factories and walkways will have trimmed flower hedges and refreshing ornamental trees, a complete contrast to the current set up where stalls choke in garbage.

Staff houses will also be constructed within the park, as well as a hotel.