Safety Matches Training & Making in Kenya
If you ever thought of starting a Matchbox making company in Kenya, you will probably be the fourth manufacturer. This is on assumption that the recently trained entrepreneur in our school will delay a little bit before launching.
Safety matches are an everyday requirement for 99% of households, without which, no cooking, lighting cigarettes, candles, etc. can take place. They are placed the second most used household non-edible item after energy (Gas, Charcoal, Kerosene and Electricity combined). In the list of household expenditure, they are rated fourth after cooking oil, salt, Onions and soap.
Few manufactures in East Africa
Kenya’s vast population of 50 Million people (about 16 Million households) is served by 10 brands of Safety Matches whose manufacturers are only 5. Of these 5 manufacturers, only 3 are domiciled in the country. One of the local manufacturers of the safety matches has 6 brands of the same commodity in their portfolio, leaving the other two local makers with one brand each. Zebra, a common brand in many households is from South Africa, while Krishna is from Uganda
Inspecting the wider market, the east Africa Community, having a population of 485,066,925 million people (about 161.6 Million Households), is served by the said 9 brands.
The market scope
Here in Kenya, the leading safety matches manufacturer, Mach Masters Ltd, produce 5 top brands under one roof, which include Rhino Farasi, Kifaru, Simba and Paka and Kasuku. The firm commenced production in 1998.
Ndovu, another popular local brand is produced by Rhino Matches Limited. Kenafric Matches Limited, which is the third local manufacturermakes The Big 5 brand. Since the Kenyan market is big, though not bigger than Tanzania, DRC Congo, Uganda, the 3 local firms seem not able to fully satisfy the local consumership and therefore, foreign brands like Zebra, Swala, Krishna, Elephant and Toto have a share of the national cake. Zebra and Krishna brands are owned by Associated Match Company Ltd (South Africa) and Makepasi Match Ltd (Uganda).
Each household consumes an average of 3 matchboxes every month. Kenya alone, with 16 Million households, therefore, consumes an average of 48 million matchboxes every month (576 Million matchboxes per year). In east Africa, consumption of this basic commodity is in the tune of Five Billion, Eight hundred and twenty million, Eight hundred and three thousand, one hundred (5,820,803,100) matchboxes per year. These figures are mind boggling, but they attest to the affluence with which the local manufacturers in Kenya are associated with. In fact, in one of the local manufacturers website, they boast of employing “over 500 employees and a fleet of over 20 cars”. Remember, this is a company with modern computerized production machines that need little human involvement. The firm also discloses in their website that at the beginning, they operated on very basic level, meaning that a new entrepreneur doesn’t really need to start with millions of investments.
Investing on Safety Matchbox Manufacturing
Basic knowledge and understanding of a product, Interest, financial commitment and good marketing are the turnkey in industrial manufacturing. An industrial mentor acts as the bridge between the new manufacturer and source of knowledge and motivation
Our 13 years of training and mentoring young entrepreneurs, overseeing their market take0ver has always served as a source of motivation. Early this year we announced the start of Safety matchbox training and the news were received positively.
A week ago, we trained a client from Makindu who successfully completed the three-day course and was immensely satisfied. We demonstrated to him that it is not a big deal to start off the business (whose knowledge and expertise he has acquired) at a lower level. And he is set to do that.
Cost of Production
The matchbox manufacturing is divided into two facets: Box making and matchstick production, both of which may require different approaches. The average cost of making matchbox alone is approximately Ksh. 80 cents, while cost of making the 50 matchsticks is approx. 0.60 cents. This will, however, depend on the level of financial commitments. At wholesale procurement of the raw materials, the least cost of producing a well branded matchbox with 45 matchsticks is Ksh. 1.50. on the higher side, the manufacturer, purchasing raw materials from third party (retailers) can make the said unit at a cost of 2/-. This is not bad, considering that both are getting over 100% profit.
Raw material and sourcing
Interestingly, the raw materials used in making the matchsticks are available from school laboratory chemicals and equipment stores, making them easy to find and within reach for both cottage industry and high level manufacturers. Some of the raw materials have common usage in both pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry, further making their availability not only easy but quite cheap.
Machinery
There is one common principle in industrial operation that assert: Whatever the hands produce, machines too can produce, and whatever the hands can produce, machines too can. There are FOUR basic operations in manufacturing of safety matchbox.
The first operation is making the matchbox (not matchsticks). This involves folding and gluing the paper material which has been printed and cut into shape through a die cut. The two sides of the matchbox’s outer cover are impregnated with combustible material by a means of a small roller and left to dry. This, in most cases is 100% manual.
The second operation involves combining the reactants and stirring them together to form a paste. Batches less than 20kg can be comfortably mixed with hands or small modified kitchen blenders. Bigger batches of 200kg to 1 ton can be done with motored mixing machines.
The third and most important step is impregnating the wooden sticks with the paste, producing ball-like tips at the end of the sticks. This process, though manually achievable, can be a little cumbersome and uniformity of the coat (0.07g per stick) may not be achieved. Therefore, a small locally fabricated machine can achieve impressive results besides aiding in big batch handling. The fabricated machine can be supplied along with a drying chamber for the wet sticks (instead of air-drying) if the process is to be hastened. The final step is placing the matchsticks into the matchboxes. This is 100% manual in most cases.
The chemicals can be sourced from Betty Industrial Chemicals Limited among many other suppliers in town. The machinery can be designed by us and fabricated by Gilead Auto Machinery workshop in Kariobangi.
Legal Documents
The KEBS’ stringent measures must be met accordingly and part of our training comprises familiarising the trainee with the KEBS standards and procedures for certifying Safety Matchboxes. County Trade licences are also mandatory
Training Fee
Corporate training and Individual trainings are charged differently. Out Chief Training Officer, Ms KIKI can evaluate the training charges based on the client’s needs and recommend the fee which ranges from Ksh. 75,000 to 1.2 Million Shillings. You can reach Ms KIKI on mobile number +254 710 202326
Conclusion: Anyone can start, own and run a Safety match manufacturing business. The business is a multi-million-shilling earner. Machines can be locally sourced at the fairest prices. Minimum capital investment is Ksh. 40,000. The market is humongous, and neighbouring countries extend the catch.
The business is a low-risk investment compared to food products.
Would you like to give it a try?
Cosmetics Kenya Limited Institute 