How firm built thriving electronics business on quality cornerstone

For the last six years, Prafulchandra and Brothers Limited, an electronics company has continued to rank among the country’s top businesses.

Their sustained progression up the Top 100 company survey’s list serves as an indicator of the firm’s improving operations and, ultimately, the services they offer the public, the management says.

Last year the company was ranked position 46, a great improvement from its ranking in 2014 at position 78. The Top 100 is a study that grades Kenya’s fastest growing mid-sized companies with an annual turnover of between Sh70 million to Sh1 billion.

The family-owned business started as a small “duka” in 1964 mainly distributing films to cinemas in areas such as Ngara, the city centre and Eastleigh, all in Nairobi.

The firm was also selling electrical wiring and light bulbs from its base along Kirinyaga Road, formerly Grogan Road.

They were slowly eased out of the film distribution business as the State took up the role, turning Prafulchandra and Brothers into a wholly electrical shop in 1979, importing brands from across the world.

Today, the business has expanded to include supplying flooring materials, kitchenware, lighting accessories and fittings such as chandeliers even as it remains true to its initial electrical products offering.

This expansion has turned the company into a one-stop shop for contractors. However, despite the growth over the years, the company has ensured that its operations remain relatively small.

In 2007, the company moved from Kirinyaga Road to its current location, a 5,000-feet showroom located in Parklands, Nairobi.

Mukesh Desai, the company’s managing director, was only four when his father opened the electronics shop.

Growing up, he says he saw the needs and buying behaviours of their clients shift significantly with the business highly benefiting from the real estate and hospitality boom in the country.

He plunged into the world of business in 1979 immediately after graduating from high school and has never looked back.

Mr Desai attributes their continued success to the quality of goods the company sells and customer awareness of brands which comes with increased international travel and easy access to information on the Internet.

“The brands we sell have been the cornerstone of our business,” Mr Desai told the Business Daily.

“Ten years ago people were just focused on purchasing cheap stuff but now they are more focused on getting products that last long and are more brand conscious.”

Most of the lighting products are global designer brands such as Mantra and Eglo, which cater for lower middle class to high net worth individuals. The tiles too are imported and the shop sells the Italian Ragno brand.

Popular brands

The company supplies one of Italy’s most popular brands, Scavolini, whose price ranges between Sh400,000 and Sh1 million for standard kitchens. The price tag can increases further when a customer orders for premium ones which are designed to their specification.

“The spending power over the years has changed as people’s incomes continue to grow. People now want the best for their homes,” Mr Desai explained showing off one of the premium custom-made kitchen that retails at Sh60 million.