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The promoter’s competitive advantage is the ability to produce a premium product at lower cost than competitors and their security gate and door products are specially designed to survive in high temperature conditions in Africa (especially the D12 being an all steel door).
Manufacturing
The promoter’s core business is the manufacturing of Expanding Security Gates (often called Retractables or Retractable barriers), Burglar Bars (often called Fixed Grilles) as well as Industrial and Domestic Garage Doors. The garage doors are manufactured from galvanized and chromadek steel, meranti wood and fiberglass.
Agencies
The owners of the company have been active in the physical barrier & security industry and have been involved in the co-founding and ownership of companies selling doors, the offering of protection services as well as executive VIP Security & Training. Having been active in the security industry extensively, the promoters recently became agents for a fog cannon distributor in South Africa and are busy establishing an african footprint for the product as well. The promoters also acquired the agency rights for firearm GPS/GSM micro trackers (small enough to fit into a handgun or rifle), Asset Trackers (such as for Laptops, Containers of High Value Cargo & Vehicles) as well as trackers for animals such as Rhinos.
Business Model Manufacturing
There are 3 models under which the promoters operate their manufacturing mode. In all models they remain the main manufacturer and appoint a main distributor in each territory who then on sells and/or installs. The models employed include the following:
- A distributor is appointed exclusively in a territory (country) and this distributor installs for their own clients and on-sells as well.
- A distributor is appointed non-exclusively in a territory (country) and this distributor installs for their own clients and on-sells as well. This allows more than one-reseller for a territory (usually works best when there are multiple economic hubs in a country).
- A distributor is appointed exclusively in the territory (country) and receives the product not in SKD (semi knocked down form) but as extrusions – stock would be bought upfront (all possible combinations). The distributor would therefore need to maintain one or more assembly tables as well as a compressor and other equipment. This distributor assembles and installs for their own clients and on-sells as well. This set-up is similar to a franchise model and allows the distributor a reduced turnaround time to service customers as all stock is available immediately. There is also some logistics and cost savings per item as well.
Geographical Regions
Agents are geographically located in the following regions;
- Harare, Zimbabwe
- Windhoek, Namibia
- Maputo, Mozambique
- Blantyre, Malawi
- Lusaka, Zambia
- Gaborone, Botswana
- Mbabane Swaziland
Each agent has signed territorial distribution agreements that defines the terms and conditions of how they purchase goods and receive them.
Order Process Flow
The promoter’s customers obtain leads either from social media advertising or from their own sources. Some of them quote off a price list provided by them and some agents prefer for them to do a quotation for them on a per job basis. They then add on their transport/logistic costs, mark-up and quote their customers. Once the order is approved the agent transfers 100% of our quotation
amount into our bank account. Our terms and conditions stipulate this as we will begin manufacturing unless these conditions are met. The order is then placed into production with an average lead time of 7 to 10 working days. Once order is ready for collection the agent either collects them or arranges a courier to collect.
Marketing & Acquisition of Business
Most of the business currently is obtained primarily from social media Adverts and from the small adverts that each agent runs locally. Some of the agents such as the ones in Swaziland and Malawi sell our products as add-ons to the work they are currently doing for a customer – (e.g., glass & aluminum or awnings). The ideal scenario is to advertise in the local newspapers and to properly launch the business in each country in collaboration with the agents. The promoters would also like to attend local exhibitions to promote their products. The promoter’s are looking for funding to market the brand in newspapers, officially launch it in construction publications and also advertise in suitable magazines or in the media. The agents also have a requirement for us to sometimes come and assist them with measuring and quoting on projects as well as meeting their potential corporate customers as well as to understand the challenges faced in each country to assist them in finding solutions. The promoter does also want to make site visits or strategy meetings. The promoter’s see the way forward as forming partnerships with the various agents and hope to be involved in quoting on projects they are working on and supplying their products throughout the continent of Africa and the Middle East.
Interested? For more information, please contact;
Office Africa
Kennedy Makimii
nmakimii@firmfactoryafrica.com
+254202448888
Office Europe
Jan Reijer Brons
jrb@firmfactoryafrica.com
+31653354494