South African tech firm sets up shop in Kenya

Technology firm, MACmobile has opened an office in Kenya to support its existing customers and to grow its base in East Africa.

The South African firm is a provider of purpose-built and adaptable end-to-end cloud-based FMCG value chain solutions and platforms.

With its FIELDForce product, the firm seeks to enable manufacturers and distributors within the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) segments to manage and maintain sales and stock within their supply chains.

Expansion into Kenya by the South Africa-headquartered firm that has been in operation over the last 15 years, brings to seven, the number of countries that it currently operates in. It has strengths in the retail distribution and logistics space.

“MACmobile has experienced massive growth within the East African countries. Further expansion into this region makes sense to ensure adequate and consistent support and presence for further growth,” said Andrew Dawson, Group Commercial Director, MACmobile.

Mr Dawson added that investment has already been made, in the form of infrastructure and setting up offices in Nairobi.  The firm has also initiated engagement with local telcos, with a view of partnering with them.  Staff recruitment is also ongoing for the firm that has local shareholders and directors.

“MACmobile is built for Africa, by Africa. FIELDForce has evolved through getting our shoes dirty and walking through informal settlements, getting to grips with the needs of information transfer between retailers and supporting wholesalers. Through this process, we developed an understanding of the environment and developed a solution that caters for the unique distribution structures and processes within the FMCG value chain,” Mr Dawson explained.

FIELDForce is designed to cater for Africa’s unique style of warehousing within the FMCG market, enabling manufacturers and distributors to manage their fleets, run effective van sales, gain visibility of stock levels, and provide clean net invoices in-trade.

“Besides facilitating efficiency in business, we offer clean net invoices in trade – removing any book keeping problems after the fact. We also uniquely integrate into mobile payment platforms to enable a reconciliation process post payment,” Mr Dawson added.