Beconnected Africa expands to Kenya

Our Beconnected Africa team is growing

As a retailer of branded and licensed apparel, entering a new market is not unlike walking into a party where you don’t know anyone yet: slightly daunting and not without its challenges. Despite this, the room is also full of new faces and fresh opportunities. And having good company by your side makes it so much easier to dive right in. That’s why we’re so happy to have people like Ann Kinyua on our team.

Ann joined us at Beconnected Africa in February 2023 in the role of country sales manager.

“My primary role is to lead our company’s entry into the Kenyan market,” she says. “This involves identifying and partnering with suitable importation partners.”

Ann will also ensure that a strong presence is developed for our products in major retail chains in Kenya. With 15 years of experience in sales and marketing, alongside a passion for meeting new people and a life mantra to “make it happen,” we’re confident that Ann will succeed in steering us through the exciting times ahead.

Opportunities in the Kenyan licensing market

As we expand Beconnected Africa, Kenya becomes a key focus. “The economy of Kenya is robust,” notes Ann, “presenting ample opportunities for investment and entrepreneurship.” She adds that “the government is currently upgrading the infrastructure of roads, ports, and railways, making Kenya more attractive for investors.”

But the opportunities don’t stop there. More come to light as we focus on Kenya’s consumer market, where there is an appetite for everyday essentials and licensed garments. “Kenyans have a global perspective on fashion and essential wear,” says Ann. She notes that this creates ample chances to sell high-quality and affordable clothing “to the youth and young at heart.”

Challenges to overcome

Always focused on our customers, we’re driven to deliver quality products to consumers in markets all around the world. This approach is, quite literally, etched into our core values at Beconnected and Erve Group. And to deliver on this, we must overcome challenges to seize new opportunities.

A key challenge when entering any new market is, of course, competition in the field. But commenting specifically about the Kenyan licensing market, Ann says that this location is also facing a wave of low-quality imported essential wear garments. “In our country, ‘licensed’ products are often substandard or too costly for middle, upper-middle, and high-middle-class consumers who have disposable income. Additionally, there is limited product variety, which drives consumers to resort to online shopping for fast fashion brands,” she says.

Yet, it’s this reality that paves the way for Beconnected Africa to grow in Kenya, where we fill the gap in the market for everyday apparel of great quality at an accessible price point.

What does it mean to be a part of The Erve Group?

Although the Kenyan team is still small and in its early stages, Ann is joining a much larger global family, which includes Beconnected offices in Ethiopia, Bangladesh and India, Beconnected Industrial and Beconnected’s head office in China, as well as Erve Europe. Together, they form the circle of companies that is the Erve Group. Powered by our common guiding principles, the Dudas, Ann’s team in Kenya will join our larger global efforts to deliver on our brand mission: to achieve growth for our customers, partners and people.

On this topic, we asked Ann the question we like to ask everyone – what’s your favorite Duda and why? And although she wrestled between two, she ultimately settled on customer focus. “Our primary objective,” Ann says, “is to understand and fulfill our customers’ needs to the best of our ability.”

What does the future hold for Beconnected Africa?

It’s about more than just sales. “We are genuinely invested in bringing the best to the African community as a whole,” Ann says.

Looking one year ahead, Ann sees our products being available in five African countries: Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Morocco and Nigeria. She adds that “our commitment to understanding the diverse African consumers is the key to our success.”

And with Ann’s positive outlook on life and strong belief in taking action to make things happen, we can’t wait to see what’s in store over the coming months as she grows into her role, and we grow into this new market.