Tuskys to go public in four years’ time

Tuskys CEO Dan Githua (centre) and retail chain’s COO Major (Rtd) Peter Leparachao when they paid a courtesy call on Standard Group CEO Sam Shollei (left) yesterday

Retail chain Tuskys Supermarket will go public in the next four to five years.

Tuskys Chief Executive Officer Dan Githua told The Standard yesterday that the chain plans to sell shares on the Nairobi Securities Exchange through an initial public offering (IPO) in 2019 or 2020.

“We have the mandate from the owners of the business to give part of Tuskys to Kenyans who have been with us for over 25 years,” he said. He noted that they got the nod from the family owners and board of directors.

Mr Githua said this when he paid a courtesy call on Standard Group CEO Sam Shollei at Standard Group offices in Mombasa Road.

The retail store, the second-biggest supermarket chain, which has about 55 branches in Kenya and seven in Uganda, also revealed that it planned to extend its regional reach beyond the two countries.

The company plans to enter Ethiopia, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in the next five years.

Tuskys’ Chief Operating Officer (COO) Peter Leparachao said that they had already done a due diligence in Ethiopia and would be moving into the country ‘soon’. “We have done our due diligence and chances are that Ethiopia is our first point of call outside where we are in East Africa,” he said.

However, Mr Leparachao noted that the Ethiopian retail market is barely formalised with small shops dominating. Mr Leparachao reckoned that only after settling in Ethiopia would they then cast their eyes in other countries including the Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania.

“The total population of East Africa is 150 million. That is a huge population for us to explore,” he said.

Tuskys, a 25-year-old family owned business is also partnering with Vivo Energy to come up with new convenience shopping stores known as Tuskys Express. According to Mr Githua, this is a way of enabling customers to shop quickly and conveniently.

“Tuskys Express are stores meant for the shopper who wants to spend utmost five minutes,” he said noting that Vivo Energy will give them an opportunity to put up 75 new express stores in the next two years across Kenya. The supermarket has already opened two such shops along Thika Road in a model where it largely stocks fast-moving consumables in the premises leased from Vivo.

Mr Leparachao said: “We really want to give people alternatives, for those people who don’t want to go to the malls and all that.”