Woman grows small venture into big bottle making, labelling firm

Mother of three Mary Ngechu is fond of plastic bottles and has a rich collection which made friends nickname her ‘‘Mama Plastics’’.

But her decade long endeavour — which started as a labels-making printing enterprise inside a tiny stall within the Kenya Industrial Estates (KIE) premises in Nairobi — has grown into a bottle-making company providing solutions for companies engaged in various fields.

Ms Ngechu bit the bitter pill and disposed of a piece of land in Nairobi and raised Sh700,000 she used to buy a second-hand printer and set up her labels printing business at KIE, a State-backed incubator for mid-sized entrepreneurs.

She would go round bottling firms soliciting for jobs while her only worker remained behind handling clients and other menial jobs.

“Some people would also come to us and order for labelled bottles. It gave us leeway to outsource the bottle making job while handling the labelling task. We built a seamless business-to-business partnership that saw us source jobs for one another,” she recalled. Ms Ngechu said they moved to bigger premises two years later when she acquired a six- colour printing machine which helped her reduce the number of jobs she was outsourcing and improve security features for her labels.

“Our enterprise fulfils imaginations of many individuals and small companies which are not welcome guests at multinational bottle making firms that only handle orders of between 500,000 and one million bottles,” said the Plast Packaging Industries Ltd Managing Director.

In 2008, she added an eight-colour printing machine to counter competition thereby attracting more beverage, chemicals, drugs, detergents and other companies to her stable.

Ms Ngechu’s business flourished when multinational firms started closing shop as many ex-workers started small businesses to manufacture what they had been earlier employed to do.

“Many came to me for advice and assistance saying the only knowledge they had was making and selling products they had made at their former companies for years. I advised them to improve the products while I provided packaging solution for them,” she said.

KIE was created to support startups, especially in manufacturing, by providing support in the form of industrial sheds, subsidised credit, and training. She said the agency helped her meet public health requirements as well as standards set for processed goods.

The incubator, she said, also helped her form efficient complementary firms that conducted semi-value addition to various products before taking them to the market. “Many people have no idea about packaging a product for the market once it is produced and that is where we come in, to design labels and bottles befitting the said products. We help them start small, even on credit, and they pay later as their sales grow,” she said.

She has since acquired semi-automatic machines that can produce up to 100,000 bottles per day. “Even self-help women and youth groups have made orders with us to package their products from yoghurt, to tomato paste, honey, liquid soap as well as water,” she said.

Suppliers

This has given her a new avenue to further boost her business. She exhibits her products at national fairs, creating new clients who now see her factory as an incubation centre.

In the company’s formative years Ms Ngechu relied on casuals. Today she has 50 employees and outsources about 80 workers per month when orders rise.

Her annual turnover has risen to between Sh13 million and Sh15 million.

Her advice to startups? “Always honour your suppliers or risk the demise of your business.”

Her interest in managing businesses has seen her follow up on various ventures her partners are involved in with a view to creating a partnership that benefits both parties. Concentration and specialisation on her core tasks helps her understand the market, she said.

She said that Kenya needs to reduce the cost of energy to make processed goods more competitive on a regional and global markets.

On access to credit, Mrs Ngechu said there is a need for low interest loans with a flexible repayment module that takes into consideration prevailing market conditions.

“A bottle design can win you customers and my biggest win is ensuring I reserve integrity in my business to preserve a company’s label and bottle design.

‘‘This gives them confidence to market my products and business to their fellow businesspeople,” she said.