SAFAL GROUP
RAISING THE ROOF
SAFAL GROUP
2 | BUSINESS FOCUS MAGAZINE
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SAFAL GROUP
WE LEARN HOW OVER 60 YEARS THE SAFAL GROUP HAS EVOLVED FROM A ROOFING PROVIDER TO A TURNKEY CONSTRUCTION SOLUTIONS COMPANY.
RAISING THE ROOF
PROJECT MANAGED BY: JAMIE WAITE The Safal Group has operated in the steel business for 60 years, starting out in Eastern Africa and expanding across the region and into South Africa. “Our work includes roofing, long products, and merchandized steel products. Now I have been in the company for about a year and we are moving our business from roofing to building solutions, trying to drive a lot more value-selling, integrated sales and solution selling to customers,” explains company President Anders Lindgren. “We’re looking at pre-engineered building to serve the market better. We’re building a portfolio around building solutions, expanding into trussing solutions, and a range of traded items, including solar solutions, with the aim to become a “One stop shop”.
Anders Lindgren Safal Group Company President
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“S
afal Group believes in pre-engineered building solutions for warehousing storage facilities and has solutions can be erected in a very short space of time. Their product range includes standardised products as well as “soft” versions of their solutions that make it easier to fit the customers’ dimensions and specifications. “The environment we’re in now we’re seeing an increase on the e-commerce side and we see good opportunities there going forward,” Lindgren says. “We’ve all got a bit off track with the events of the last couple of months but the big thing for us is we’re a very strong, familyowned business.” At this point the Safal Group is probably the biggest roofing company in Africa, operating across ten countries including Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa as well as Rwanda, Namibia and Malawi. “What we do in the group is buy hot rolled coil from Japan. That roll is rolled down to the right thickness. It’s coated with zinc and aluminium, which is a superior coating
to the galvanised steel plate businesses usually use, then we paint an increasing share of the roofing, and we supply it to our customers,” Lindgren explains. While the company has been expanding its offering, they have been doing so according to a clear strategy. We have a four pillar strategy, drive building solutions, improve channels to market, develop people and operational efficiency, Lindgren says.
STANDING FOR QUALITY
Across all of the sectors Safal is working in, however, there is one unifying cause. “We stand for very high quality,” Lindgren insists. “Our mission statement is we deliver trusted building solutions made with pride and care to provide superior customer value. We only take the best material from Japan. On top of that, we have good customer service and now, of course, we’re doing more value-adding to give better value than our competitors. There are not many companies in a position to offer the full range that we do when it comes to building solutions. We also
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YOUR REFERENCE IN STEEL Active all over Africa since 1988 ANTWERP HQ Lange Klarenstraat 16-20, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium Tel: +32 3 224 10 80 | info@steelforce.net | www.steelforce.eu
WITH OFFICES IN
Kenya - Nairobi | Ethiopia - Addis Ababa | Nigeria - Lagos | Tunisia - Sousse
THE COMPLETE LOGISTICAL SOLUTION UNDER ONE ROOF
www.steelforce.eu
Bahari Forwarders Ltd was incorporated some 35 years ago with an objective of carrying out business as a clearing, forwarding and transport company. Ever since its inception, the shareholders and directors had a common vision for its geographical growth and expansion. During the years, Bahari Forwarders Ltd has steadily grown within the industry serving all kind of clients for LTL, FTL, break bulk cargo, empty container depot and warehousing. We have an employee base of 400 employees and a fleet of 180 trucks & trailers serving small to big clients, SME’s to multinational in the East African region.
Bahari Forwarders Ltd. Nkurumah Road, Bank of India Building, 5th Floor, Mombasa, Kenya. Tel: +254 723 244 444 Email: info@bfl.co.ke Offices in: Changamwe, Mariakani, Nairobi, Malaba – Kenya / Kampala - Uganda
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STEELFORCE Steelforce is a leading steel trading company with headquarters in Antwerp, Belgium. The company is active in Africa since more than 30 years experiencing a profound market knowledge. With 12 offices worldwide Steelforce is well represented close to its customers as well as to the global steel sourcing markets. Steelforce adds value by delivering quality steel at the right market price capable to set up logistics and financial solutions to its customers. Trading is mainly done in the range of flat/long/coated steel, semi-finished steel, tin plate steel and aluminium products. The company’s experienced staff are focussing on the constant changing market conditions aiming to optimising sourcing, logistics and financing delivering a durable and competitive solution.
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SAFAL GROUP
have good availability for our product in our core markets.” While Safal is competing from a position of strength, that does not mean the company has not faced challenges. “One challenge is competition. China today is providing a lot of steel at low costs, so we’re competing by providing value and service,” Lindgren admits. “The other challenge is that playing in the markets we do there’s a lot of volatility across markets from a business and political point of view. With regards to currencies, we buy all of our steel in dollars. So there’s constant currency exposure you have to manage.” While there are challenges and risks, Lindgren has found there are ways to mitigate against them. “You can do hedging in main markets. Sometimes it’s expensive to hedge so you need to judge how you do your hedging over time. We also manage our supply chain well so we can see how much we’re taking in at different price levels,” he points out. “We’ve bought steel from Japan for 60 years and we have good and strong relationships there with a good pricing strategy which we can adjust if need be. It’s a combination of course. There are two challenges, currency, and the movement of raw materials, both of which can have a big impact on our business. You need to be very aware of the situation in the market.”
UNFORESEEN CHALLENGES
Of course, one challenge nobody could have seen coming was the COVID-19 pandemic. “It affected business a lot. Construction was hit somewhere in the middle, not like travel or airlines but we’re all fairly hard hit,” Lindgren tells us. “It was far below what
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SAFAL GROUP
was initially in our budget. We planned for the worst-case scenario and fortunately, things are substantially better than that. We’re holding up well, especially in East Africa and as a group, we’re doing better than expected.” While COVID-19 might have been unforeseen, Safal has still been able to put plans in place. “It’s about planning and putting a solid contingency plan in place,” Lindgren explains. We have weekly management meetings and bi-weekly meetings with our respective Market Companies, where we go through market situation, supply chain, sales and finance, and people. We believe that hopefully this period will eventually be normalised and once we’re back to more normal times we don’t want to have lost ability or competence. So we’re keeping the right people in place.” But in overcoming all of these challenges, Lindgren insists that there was one ingredient that is essential to Safal’s success.
“WE PLANNED FOR THE WORST-CASE SCENARIO AND FORTUNATELY THINGS ARE SUBSTANTIALLY BETTER THAN THAT.” “Our biggest asset is people” he explains. “We make sure we attract good talent into the company. We can only be as strong as our people. There’s something traditional in those family values that have always
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been
good
for
A UNITED TEAM
the
group.”
The company’s reputation has ensured that they are in an excellent position to attract talent. “I think the good thing is we know the value of a good brand name, and here we’re very well known,” Lindgren says. “We are reputable as a company which attracts good talent and works in many countries. We’re not multinational but we are international and we can give opportunities around the region.” More than a strong brand name, however, Safal also has a culture that people want to be a part of. “I think also this whole in-road of creating a good platform for people and take care of them
is essential,” Lindgren says. “People don’t go to work only for salary, they go to do something interesting and meaningful in a positive environment, and I think we have that family culture and those values. That and the opportunities we provide brings people in.” It’s a culture that Lindgren believes will take the company into a bright future. “Our strategy has not changed,” he says. “We’ll continue to drive the building solution side of the business as much as we can. I think we will continue to keep up strong service, good people and develop even more our good trust, building solutions, moving to solar. There are a lot of opportunities there.”
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SAFAL GROUP
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SAFAL GROUP
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