Kenya’s Iconic Brands can Rise Again

The last couple of years we have seen many iconic Kenyan companies scale down operations or close shop for a variety of reasons. Companies such as Eveready, Softa, Sameer Africa , and Uchumi come to mind. While the stated reasons of competition from cheap Chinese products, high electricity cost, and poor infrastructure seem to be very solid, you realize that challenges in business is not a new phenomenon. Kenya’s iconic brands must reinvent themselves for the future without forsaking their past legacies.

There are numerous documented cases of companies that have reinvented themselves in the face of daunting challenges. Take for example Nokia; most people assumed that Nokia disappeared when sales to a nose dive with the rise of Smartphone’s and selling its mobile business to Microsoft in 2014. The big surprise is that Nokia focused on selling Networking hardware and software to Telecommunications companies and grossed sales of $14 Billion in 2015.

Similarly; after monopolizing the personal computer, IBM seemed to have found itself in trouble with Cisco despite developing the first commercial router. Two decades later IBM has developed new businesses in cloud computing, consulting and business support services.

African companies have also not been without reinvention cases; Naspers the South African newspaper business which moved from Newspapers to Pay TV and now has moved brilliantly into the digital world with a wave of investments in companies around the world.

There are many more wonderful stories of companies reinventing themselves that Kenyan struggling companies can learn from. Just like their global counterparts; many Kenyan companies are faced with a situation in which they are well known for products/services that is part of today, a huge part of the past , and unclear in its role in the future market.

Kenya’s iconic and existing struggling brands must consciously chart a new strategic direction even if it means changing its business model or current product offerings to meet future market needs. As they move in such new directions they should not try to get rid of their history but should leverage on such brand equity to their advantage.

The major lesson to be learnt by corporate Kenya is to realize reinvention is a continuous process of seeking new markets and opportunities and not a project that you do when you get stuck.