Canon Aluminium to test strength with regional expansion

Canon Aluminium, a manufacturer of aluminium and glass products, is among the many Kenyan small and medium sized businesses eyeing East Africa as their growth frontier to generate more revenue.

The company, ranked number 11 in this year’s Kenya Top 100 SME Awards organised by Business Daily, is a lead manufacturer of bullet-proof glass, a product it is betting to sell across the region to improve its revenue.

“The market for bullet-proof glass is increasing very fast due to demand from the banks and residential property owners, who do not want to use iron grills for security,” said the company’s CEO Mr Parbat Dhanji.

Overall, the company supplies bullet-proof glass, aluminium window grills and frames to the East Africa region, with major customers being banks and residential property developers.

Demand for bullet-proof glass among the residential areas is growing because developers are keen on enhancing security and aesthetics.

“Eventually, the goal is to have a glass manufacturing factory in the country. We have sand and soda, the raw materials to do that,” Mr Dhanji said.

East Africa currently imports all her glass needs yet countries like China that export glass to the region use Kenya’s soda as a raw material.

The company said it will target the larger Eastern Africa region as its core market because currently only South Africa and Egypt have such facilities.

Canon Aluminium's focus on regional market for growth is part of the trend among Kenya’s small and medium sized companies that have banked on the regional integration wave to increase sales.

A survey by Synovate, a consumer market research firm, found that the sale of goods and services in neighbouring Uganda and Tanzania was the topmost driver of revenue growth in 76 per cent of Kenya’s Top 100 small and medium sized firms.

“These companies have shown a strong desire to expand and not put their eggs in one basket,” said Mr Phillip Muema, a partner at audit firm KPMG, and the SME survey project manager.

The recent establishment of a common market that allows the free movement of goods, capital and labour across the region is expected to deepen Kenyan SMEs foray into neighbouring economies and add impetus to their growth in the medium term.

That expectation is supported by the fact that 93 per cent of Kenya’s Top 100 SMEs expect regional integration to have a positive impact on their business and that market expansion remains the biggest driver of their growth.

The Top 100 SMEs survey – the brainchild of audit firm KPMG and Business Daily, ranks Kenya’s businesses with a turnover of between Sh70 million and Sh1 billion based on profitability, liquidity, return on equity and level of indebtedness among other indicators.