Companies

French firm Schneider set to sack 50 Kenyans over costs

mehta

Naresh Mehta, founder of Power Technics Ltd. FILE PHOTO | NMG

The local operation of French energy solutions provider Schneider Electric Kenya is set to retrench some 50 employees in what it has attributed to a tough business environment.

The company, a subsidiary of French multinational Schneider Electric, has informed employees that the layoffs will be implemented on December 8. Schneider entered the Kenyan market in 2015 when it acquired Power Technics Limited, a company founded by businessman Naresh Mehta, in a deal that was estimated at more than Sh1 billion.

Power Technics had been a local distributor of its products until the acquisition. It becomes the latest firm to cut jobs in an economy beset by rising costs of doing business and reduced lending to the private sector, among other headwinds.

“These transformations have been brought about due to a host of macroeconomic reasons such as deteriorated market conditions, government freezing projects, challenging investor conditions due to high prices of resources and mounting pressure to optimise costs,” the Schneider regional general manager Edouard Heripet wrote to the affected employees in a November 9, 2018 termination notice seen by the Business Daily.

“If the proposed redundancy becomes effective, the proposed dues will be payable to you on the effective date of termination.” Mr Heripet added that the company needs to take timely action to adopt operations to a more lean and efficient organisation to maintain profitability.