• Speaking at the Wego group headquarters in Weihai city in Shandong province of China, Lee said the move will further strengthen their grip on the Kenyan market.
• Lee noted that Kenya’s human capital and developing infrastructure makes it one of the key markets for products from not only China but also other parts of the world.
Image: BRIAN OTIENO
Medical device and pharmaceuticals company, Wego Group, plans to leverage on the developing infrastructure in Kenya to introduce more products.
According to the company’s East Africa sales manager Jack Lee, the group will soon introduce an array of products including renal products (both for consumables and equipment), dental products, orthopedics, imaging supply, surgical products, cardiovascular products, neurology and pharmaceuticals.
“With time, we will be able to share with you what exact products we are looking at introducing to the Kenyan market,” Lee said.
Already a major supplier of medical consumables like blood bags, endotracheal tubes, colostomy bags, electric and manual operating and examination tables, among other products, the Chinese company has lined up a number of new products that will soon be introduced to the Kenyan market.
Speaking at the Wego group headquarters in Weihai city in Shandong province of China, Lee said the move will further strengthen their grip on the Kenyan market.
Lee noted that Kenya’s human capital and developing infrastructure makes it one of the key markets for products from not only China but also other parts of the world.
However, he noted that unfair competition from rogue merchants who saturate the market with substandard goods make it hard for genuine firms to do business.
“Substandard and low priced medical commodities and equipment in the market are hurting us,” Lee said.
“When there are such key price variations, quality is highly compromised and the market becomes uneven.”
High levels of corruption in public institutions like the controversial Kenya Medical Supplies Authority does not help, he said.
Lee added that a strong governance system and improving policies on trade, Kenya stands to become an even more important player in East Africa, controlling most of the 300-million strong market.
“This is due to its ease of accessibility, which makes it possible to have many varieties of products thus creating a healthy availability of foreign exchange. Kenya also has an experience human resource pool."
WEGO also plans to infiltrate the developing parts of Kenya at the county level, which Lee said could create a win-win situation for both the Kenyan people and the company.
Although most of the key distributors are based in Nairobi, this trend is changing as counties work to attract more businesses thus creating competitive environments for business growth.
“With the collapse of Kemsa and counties now doing their own procurement, there are opportunities to get into different markets,” Lee said.
With a market volume of USD150 million (about Sh17.9 billion) Wego said the future is bright despite negotiating through economic turbulence from time to time.
With more than 1,000 varieties of products provided in more than 150,000 specifications, Wego’s medical instruments have entered 11 out of 15 segmented markets.
This makes it of the most safe and reliable suppliers of medical system solutions in the world.