Crown Paints Kenya PLC: The Undisputed Paint Market Leader in Kenya

Interview with Rakesh Rao, Group CEO of Crown Paints Kenya PLC

What is your assessment of the paint sector? What are the latest trends? Is the sector competitive?

The paint sector is very competitive in East Africa, particularly in Kenya. When we started in 2005, there were only 10 paint companies. Now, there are 70 paint companies. Many paint companies are mushrooming now, particularly those with low end products. Everyone would like to follow us to the number one brand and everyone says that they make the same quality. We have huge challenges to meet our customers’ expectations, to be competitive, and be a brand leader in the market. We have been the undisputed market leader in Kenya for the last 60 years and we will continue to lead for the next 40 years to come. With the innovations we have, the competitive advantages we have, the people we have, and the brand respect Kenyans have for the Crown brand, no one can beat our brand equity. We also have a presence in East Africa in Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda. There are a few challenges in those countries. We have been in Uganda for the last 10 years and in Tanzania for 4 to 5 years. We are starting from the bottom in those markets. Liter per person consumption in those countries is quite low. They have not matured in buying premium brand products because they cannot afford it, so they buy cheaper brands. 70 to 75% are local, cheaper, economy brands. When we sell economy brands, it is difficult to make money because the margins are very tight. We are working on 6 to 7% net margins. We have been trying to innovate, push our premium range, educate customers. Everyone respects our brand for quality and we are number one in Africa. It will take longer to educate people about the quality of our products. In the next two or three years, we will be able to have a very strong presence in the premium brands sector in Tanzania and Uganda. We have been doing fairly well in Rwanda. We have a quite strong presence in premium brands there. The Rwandan economy is a bit different, though. They love quality brands there. All the new developments, government initiatives, and infrastructures being developed there are using the quality brand. Wherever the quality is, that is where Crown Paints is and we will continue to lead. That is one of the key advantages we have as the Crown brand in East Africa.

What are your competitive advantages?

The most important competitive advantage is our dedicated employees. We have 60 years of experience leading the paint sector in this country. We are very distinct compared to our competitors. We have a lot of international partners who support us in technology. No other company has that. Every international company supplies quality raw materials. When they land in Kenya, they are looking for a partnership with Crown Paints. They are ready to sign off on an exclusive arrangement with us to support us with technology products. The quality of our products is tested in Germany, the US, and Belgium. We make sure to maintain those European and American standards for our products. The Kenyan market is very lucky that it is getting very high standard products in the market compared to any other companies today. We are the most innovative company. We have won many awards from various business communities such as COYA (Company of the Year Awards). We are able to provide extraordinary solutions to our customers for their painting needs, commercial or residential. We are very serious about protecting our customers’ home, wall, and interests. When you use Crown, it will protect your home for 5 to 10 years. On certain products, we can even provide a 15-year warranty. That is part of the exclusivity we have compared to other brands. Our network is one of the strongest being the oldest brand in this country. We have more than 1,500 retail outlets in Kenya. Across Africa we are up to 3,000 outlets now. You can find our products everywhere, even in small towns. It is one of the biggest advantages we have. We were known as a premium brand, but we have slowly started focusing on brands for the normal Kenyans also. We do not want Crown Paints to only be affordable for the premium sectors but want our brand to be affordable for every category. Our premium brands can meet the needs and expectations of professionals in the quality and longevity of the products. Housing is a big issue in our country. Low cost housing will start to drive big economic growth in this country. In that sector, we are proud to say that we are very competitive and we can meet those expectations of the contractors and users at a very competitive price.

What is the app you have recently launched?

We are the only company that offers the Crown Colour App which is available on any Android or Apple device. You can download our entire range of color shade cards on your mobile phone. Most of the time, when you want to buy paint, you have to go to a shop, choose a color, and it is very difficult to communicate what color you are seeing versus what color the people at home are imagining. Customers might buy paint and then their family is not happy with it. Many people come back wanting to return their paint so it is a big problem for us. With the app, the customer can choose a color, and if they like it, they share it, then they can buy it. This has been particularly helpful for interior decorators. When they are on site, they can download the app, choose the colors, and make a recommendation right away. Sometimes, these professionals do not have their shade cards on hand. They may have them in their car or back at their office. Now, they can show the Crown Colour App to the client and make a decision on the spot. Additionally, we have been offering feng shui and Indian Vastu Shastra advice of which color to use in which room and which type of color to use in which direction of the house to give your house better energy and avoid negative energy. Without color, there is no life. We give a colorful life. You can sleep better in your bedroom. You can have better energy in your kitchen or dining room. We have introduced a paint calculator so you can estimate how much paint is required for a project which will also help you calculate the cost. You can also look for distributors based on your location. You can drive straight to the distributor and buy your paint. We keep adding more and more features. Now, we are introducing color visualizers. You can take a picture of your wall and then you can see if a color is good or not. With the click of a button you can change the shade on the app and try out many different colors. We have also provided information on many fashion trends. We pick from our database which ones are most popular in the market. We also provide a gallery of which color combinations are on trend. We also offer information on how different color combinations can be used in your kitchen, dining room, drawing room, bedroom, etc.

You have a good relationship with painters in the country. What do you offer them?

Painters are our first customers. It is important for us to take care of them. We launched a painter loyalty program called Team Kubwa where painters buying any tin of Crown Paints will receive incentives and an award or bonus. Once a painter is stored in the system, we have his full data: which locations he has done work in, which customers he is associated with, etc. We have a full track of our painters’ buying trends. For example, if a painter only buys three products, we would definitely want to reach out to him and find out why he is not buying the rest of our 200 products. Maybe he is not getting work or he is not aware. So, we would reach out through our database and connect with him and have an interaction with him and offer our training programs to continue education. This year, we trained more than 40,000 painters on our products and applications. It is really helping them to scale up their knowledge, increase their income, and improve their lifestyles. We are certifying them as professional painters. They feel very honored and they become more loyal to us. We really care about their knowledge, how we can improve their lifestyles, and how they can become better painters. They also improve their social status as a professional painter. We have 150,000 painters in our database currently. An average of 50,000 painters buy paint every month and we track what they are doing every month.

What are your current projects?

We are working on 30 to 40 projects currently. We are working on TRM Mall on Thika Road. We are doing Aga Khan University Hospital on Parklands Avenue, the Ole Sereni hotel on Mombasa Road. We have done a lot of big projects and our quality of finish, professionalism, and workmanship is much higher than any other players in the market. We provide a lot of express painting tools and solutions and we are not working the traditional way. We look at how we can improve our game of productivity on site, how we can do a job much faster, better scheming, better sanding, and giving the best finishes. Today, we have tools and solutions which are able to give a very high-end, quality finish to commercial buildings and our professional honors.

What specific area are you focusing on at the moment?

Our focus next year will be in two areas. The first is the training and development of people. I want my employees to be the best in all areas: technology, digital knowledge, customer care, sales training, sales skills, technical skills. Secondly, we would like to focus a lot on IT in the sense of how we can improve internal workings, providing dashboards and processes which will give the best output from an operation point of view, and delivering best goods to the client. We want a more digital dashboard so we know what is happening in our organization and we can have better communication among all people. No one should say they do not have the answer. We are doing a lot of RPA, robotic process automation, to find how we can cut costs by giving certain jobs to robots such as many clerical jobs which take a long time. RPA will cut costs, improve processes and make them much faster, and produce better decision making. This will give us a competitive edge over other players in the industry. When I started this company, I started with 1 billion Kenyan shillings. My target is to be 10 billion Kenyan shillings or 100 million dollars by 2020. In the next 5 years, we can be at 15 billion shillings or 150 million dollars.

What products do you offer?

In the Kenyan and East African market, there is tropical weather and a lot of rain. Particularly for any wall or object that was painted, when the rain comes, there is a lot of humidity that builds up. Once the humidity is there, algae and fungus will begin to grow and the paint begins to peel off and you have to repaint. Normal paint will stay for only two to three years. Our solution uses silicone technology through our business partners Wacker from Germany. This product (Permacote Ultraguard with Silicone) gives you a three-measure benefit. The first is that when you use silicone, the paint becomes water repellent. It does not allow water to get into the surface. Second, after the weather changes, when the sun comes out, because of the humidity and ultraviolet rays, many times, cracks will form and then water will seep in. This silicone technology has features where the paint can breathe, expand and stretch. It is like a protective human skin where water rebounds but does not enter the body. It is a very strong and technical product. The paint can last 10 to 15 years.

We also have another range called Dr. Fixit which is one of the biggest product ranges. Pidilite Industries is one of the biggest partners of Crown Paints in Kenya and East Africa. We have a large range of products and solutions to prevent dampness. You can start from your basement up to the roofing and we can give all types of quality solutions for protecting from water in your home and in your commercial buildings. It is one of the best products at the moment in Kenya. We have been supplying to all retail shops. Most organizations only supply waterproofing products on a larger project base. But we have trained 40,000 painters to do these waterproofing jobs using the Dr. Fixit brand. Whenever we do painter training programs, in addition to our normal training to upgrade painting skills, we also scale up their knowledge on waterproofing. Many times, dampness in a house will reoccur and the paint will peel off again. We provide full solutions to the customers and make sure that we protect their money for a long time.

What do you do on the industrial side?

On the industrial side, we have two major product lines. The first is a marine coating which comes from AkzoNobel which is one of the biggest international paint companies. We provide marine solutions to all the ships in Mombasa and people who are working for shipping companies. We also have epoxy floor solutions: self-leveling epoxy paints for all types of industries (food, automotive, chemical industries, etc.) to protect surfaces. We can give a solution up to 2mm to 6mm floor coating to make sure that the surface is hygienic and productive for many years. We have done a lot of projects here in Kenya. Our products are very well accepted and we are very competitive in providing floor solutions to customers. In commercial buildings as well, we can also provide carpark solutions at competitive prices. We are the only company that has the technology to produce road marking paints in Kenya. We provide high-end, quality products and solutions for the roads. No other paint company has the capacity to produce this paint here. Most of them are importing and selling. We can provide facilities, technological support to our clients, and produce our own paints in house to give solutions at a very competitive price. We have more than 75% of this market share today.

ABOUT CROWN PAINTS: Established in 1958, Crown Paints (Kenya) PLC has grown to a company with an annual turnover of KSH. 9 billion in 2020, producing 3 million litres of paint per month and employing slightly less than 1,000 staff members. It is listed on the Nairobi Stock Exchange and has regional operations in Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda. Crown Paints is the most innovative paint company in East Africa, providing tailor-made solutions to the construction and retail segments of the market, with innovative products, services and world-class after-sales support.

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