Nairobi hub for Sierra Cables’ East African exports

Sierra Cables PLC which began operations in Nairobi, Kenya recently is eyeing the East African region for exports with Nairobi as the hub, officials said.

The company has already commenced commercial operations in Kenya in line with the rural electrification programme being implemented there. “We want to use Nairobi as the launch pad and market it as the hub for exports in East Africa,” Shamendra Panditha, Managing Director, Sierra Cables PLC told the Business Times.

The company has been awarded US$1 million worth of orders from Kenya, for which the first commercial batch is currently undergoing production through a manufacturing unit in Nairobi. According to Mr. Panditha, as commercial production for Kenyan orders takes place in Kenya, the company would be able to gain access to preferential price advantages for its cable products. “Already we are exporting to Uganda and Ethiopia,” he added saying that Sierra intends to sell more building wires in this region.

In October the company entered into a joint venture agreement with Vinod Patel and Co. Ltd, RC Manubbai and Co. Ltd and Progressive Investments Ltd to establish a power cable manufacturing plant in Fiji, where the company will be funding 30 per cent of the total investment of 4,000,000 Fijian Dollars. Out of these companies, two partners have a combined market share of 60 per cent in the hardware business in Fiji, Mr. Panditha said. He said that as the Fijian Government has signed Free Trade Agreements with countries such as Australia and New Zealand, the company will be able to automatically gain access to these new markets.

During 2Q17 Sierra, group revenue reported a year-on-year increase of 17.3 per cent to reach Rs. 1.1 billion from Rs. 941.9 million posted in  2Q16 which is primarily owing to increased orders getting factored in from the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), mainly for armored underground cables and insulated cables.   To date, orders from CEB remain the most profitable in terms of margins for the company.

The Sunday Times Sri Lanka