Barron South Africa selects Ramco Group as its East African distribution partner
South Africa’s market leader in corporate and promotional branding, Barron has entered into a strategic partnership with Ramco Group that will see Ramco distribute promotional materials on behalf of Barron. The deal is set to give the company a toehold In the East African region, as a burgeoning private sector drives demand for promotion and branding materials in a bid to win more customers.
The partnership will see Ramco group which enjoys a solid foothold in the region distribute an array of Barron promotional materials to all sectors of the market with a special focus on business to business and business to customers.
The partnership ties with Ramco Group’s business model that is anchored on cooperation with likeminded players keen on providing innovative solutions and responding to growing market demands for quality and consistency.
“This partnership is landmark for us at Ramco Group and resonate with our business ethos of fostering long term, mutually beneficial partnerships with our clients even as we endeavour to be a market leader across East Africa in providing innovative and modern solutions while responding to market needs guided by the philosophy of our founding fathers. With Barron’s cutting edge promotional materials and our strong network in East Africa we look forward to tapping into more businesses and transforming promotion and branding as we know it,” said Amit Patel, the CEO of Ramco Group.
Ramco Group prides itself in having been in business for over 60 years, with operations spanning across six different sectors of print, hardware, manufacturing, office supplies, services and property and employing more 3,200 people. With an annual turnover exceeding USD 275 million and operations spread across Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda, it has positioned itself as the regional branding powerhouse.
“We have been looking to make forays in the East African region as we seek to grow our African footprint. With a growing SME and private sector in East Africa expressing an insatiable demand for promotional and branding materials to reach out to their customers, we saw a gap that we have sought to fill through some of the most innovative platforms. After intensive market research, we settled on Ramco Group as our local distribution partner due to the company’s strong network base across East Africa and its unique business model,” said Steven Isaacson the Chief executive of Kevro under which Barron falls.
The partnership is timely, coming at a time when companies in East Africa are looking at the most innovative and cost effective ways to package themselves to reach customers effectively with promotion and branding proving key as competition grows.
With these companies now enjoying cross border clients and businesses, international best practices in branding and promotion are at the heart of their branding strategy. “Barron therefore brings to the East African region years of expertise in the promotional market having worked with some of the most reputable institutions in the continent. It is a win for the region,” said Mr. Patel.
The two companies project a sales growth of Sh.60 million by year end, which will grow to Sh.160 million by the end of 2018.
