Business
Nakumatt: The growth of an African retail chain
(Reuters) – Nakumatt, Kenya’s largest retailer, plans to expand across Africa by focusing on opening stores in more eastern Africa countries over the next two years, its managing director said on Thursday.
After starting three decades ago as a small mattress shop in the provincial town of Nakuru, family-owned Nakumatt has grown into a firm with US$500 million annual turnover and pan-African ambitions.
It aims to raise sales to 50 billion shillings (US$600 million) this year from last year’s 40 billion (US$480 million), at its 36 stores in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania, Atul Shah told the Reuters Africa Investment Summit.
He said Burundi and South Sudan were the next targets and space had already been identified in both.
“It is a 12-18 months project to get what we want,” Shah said at the Reuters office in Nairobi. The stores would cost Nakumatt between US$ 2.5 and 4 million.
Shah said he was not concerned at the growing conflict between South Sudan and Sudan, expecting it to be resolved by the time Nakumatt moved in.
Shah said he was also looking to set up a joint venture in Ethiopia, one of the most populous countries in Africa, and hoped to be established in a couple of years.
