This archive report was first published on 16 August 2019.
On a typical day, Vishal Shah, the managing director of Vitendi Ltd, can be found at his office in Nairobi, overseeing the production of window blinds. But little does the public know that Shah's journey to becoming a successful entrepreneur began with a stint as a corporate investment banker in the UK.
However, it was a major setback in his parents' business that prompted Shah to take a leap of faith and venture into the manufacturing of window blinds. A client had requested for bamboo-made materials measuring 240 meters a decade ago but rejected the cargo upon delivery, leaving Shah's parents devastated.
Shah recalls, 'My parents were devastated as they did not know what to do with the consignment and I came in to try my luck at making curtain blinds for homes and hotels.'
With initial success selling homemade curtain blinds for kitchens, Shah and his father relocated to Nairobi, where they continued making their products inside their car garage. They sold to their extended family members, resulting in a Sh200,000 profit in their first year.
As demand grew, they launched Vitendi and later built a factory for blinds in Kikuyu town. Shah notes, 'Curtain blinds are an alternative to textile-based curtains and do present a wide variety of applications from window solutions to room partitioning as well as bathroom blinds.'
However, fierce competition, especially from imported curtain blinds, has seen them diversify into other home and office products for the wealthy, including customized lounge and outdoor seats as well as canvas-made veranda shades.
Shah adds, 'We also offer make and fix services for clients who prefer cut-to-measure products. We have an array of blinds whose materials are sourced from various manufacturers abroad and are made as per individual client tastes.'
Blinds retail for between Sh2,500 per square meter to Sh60,000 per square meter, where the blinds' market has expanded its offering to include wooden and aluminum blinds that are costly imported as finished products.
With slowed spending in real estate, the blinds subsector has also experienced a market stagnation, where various firms have opted to market their products countrywide through social platforms seeking new clientele.
Vitendi, just like many Kenyan companies, has shifted to online platforms and door-to-door marketing campaigns.
