Kamau registered his company, Plenser Limited, which focused on servicing boilers. However, with the market getting crowded, Plenser branched into incineration technology.
Plenser currently registers a yearly turnover of about Sh100 million up from Sh2 million in 2001.
The success of the company saw it ranked fourth in the 2013 Top 100 medium and small-sized enterprise competition.
During his school years in the 1980s, Moses Kamau studied hard to become a land economist. But he ended up studying accounting, which got him employment in various organisations for about 10 years before he finally became jobless in 1996.
As a business enthusiast, he ventured into hawking, buying television aerials from Mombasa and selling them on the streets of Nairobi for a modest profit. But the trade was unsustainable and at one point, he was unable to pay his rent.
One of his childhood friends came to his rescue and proposed a business venture they could do together. The two raised Sh9,500 and in 1997 begun a business that focused on servicing industrial boilers to ensure they worked well without exposing operators to risks such as explosions.
Mr Kamau took the opportunity to learn as much as he could on plant engineering from his friend who was an engineer. He read widely and acquired on-the-job expertise. The knowledge and expertise came in handy when the two partners parted ways to work independently in 2000.
A year later, Mr Kamau registered his company, Plenser Limited, which focused on servicing boilers. However, with the market getting crowded, Plenser branched into incineration technology.
“Competition is normal in business, that’s why you need to keep innovating,” says Mr Kamau who is now in his late 40s.
“Boilers and incinerators share the same operating mechanism. The only difference is that the former heats water while the latter burns waste,” he explains.
His interest in incineration was also largely driven by the impact of the technology on human health and waste management.
Incineration offers the best medium for destroying hazardous waste from hospitals, research laboratories and industries by burning them at extremely high temperatures until they become ash.
“If handled carelessly they can contaminate the environment and seriously infect otherwise healthy people,” says Mr Kamau.
A breakthrough for Plenser came in 2006 when the National Environmental Management Authority (Nema) enacted laws regulating the management of bio-hazardous waste.
The body also set standards for the type of incinerators to be used in Kenya: smokeless and odourless.
Mater Hospital was the first to comply with an incinerator from TodaySure Mathews — a leading UK incinerators manufacturing firm — that later made Plenser their sole agent in Africa in 2008.
“It’s actually the hospital that recommended us to these manufacturers as it was pleased with the job we had done,” says Mr Kamau, adding that businesses should always strive to give exemplary services to clients as this eventually pays off.
Since then, Plenser has received orders from various local and international institutions interested in incinerators such as the Aga Khan and Pumwani hospitals, the Kenya Medical Research Institute branch in Kilifi and the Geita Goldmine in Tanzania.
The incinerator prices range from between Sh6 million to Sh50 million depending on the amount of waste it is expected to handle.
However, Mr Kamau says these prices will drastically go down by 2015 as Plenser will begin manufacturing the incinerators locally under licence by TodaySure Mathews.
New opportunities
“We will also have low cost smaller units so practically anyone can place orders.”
Aside from the sales, Plenser offers waste management consultancy and installation and maintenance services for the incinerators.
“We also advise clients on incinerators that best suit their needs and offer training to staff who will be operating the technology.”
This new venture brought forth other opportunities that Plenser was quick to grab.
“Upon installing incinerators, clients would ask us to build a structure for housing it. And when satisfied with our work, they would give us other building, refurbishment and interior design contracts,” he says.
Plenser initially outsourced these jobs but later built its internal technical capacity to handle the work. “It was worth the investment as building is now our second best revenue source after the incineration technologies.”
Plenser currently registers a yearly turnover of about Sh100 million up from Sh2 million in 2001.
Even though it started with only two permanent employees, it now has 24 employees and employs many more on contractual basis yearly.
The success of the company saw it ranked fourth in the 2013 Top 100 medium and small-sized enterprise competition.
“We were thrilled and surprised. This was our first time to participate and we didn’t think we would go this far,” he says.
Mr Kamau attributes the success to Plenser’s commitment to professionalism, customer and employees satisfaction.
He says that a positive attitude, commitment, hard work and belief in oneself are essential tools for would be successful entrepreneurs.
