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NEWS & CURRENT AFFAIRS

The Nairobian

Change of guard opens new growth path for Copy Cat

Financial Standard

By Lee Mwiti | Jun 07, 2016

Mr Vishal Patel, Managing Director, Copy Cat Group. PHOTO: STANDARD

In 1980, two guys working for the same company met for a chat over coffee. Nazir Noordin and Rajoo Patel had seen an opportunity in the market and decided to set up a company to supply photocopying machines, which grew into Copy Cat Group.

“Our friendship thrived during that time and both of us had a desire to own a business,” says Noordin, who later became the company’s managing director.

In 1984, they registered Copy Cat Limited, which started in January the following year. With aggressive marketing and networks, Copy Cat quickly became a household name in the market. “The Copy Cat name even turned into a rhyme amongst school going children and parents,” he says.

The primary business model then was to offer equipment with support and service facilities, but the company has grown into a full-fledged regional office automation and ICT solutions provider.

Noordin, now chairman, recently handed over the reins of the company to Vishal Patel, his late partner’s son, who is now tasked with taking it to the next level.

Keep Reading business

Mr Patel, who has worked with the company since 0early 1990’s, says his plan is to maintain growth momentum and expand Copy Cat’s scope both locally and in the regional markets. “With the team we are building, our competitive edge will remain innovation as the world gets even more connected,” said Mr Patel. He said growing regional economies present huge opportunities for technology companies, noting that technology spend as a percentage of GDP is growing and will increase into the future.

Smart Mall

Besides office automation and security, it’s adopting and deploying smart digital technologies. Copy Cat is undertaking big impact projects centered on connected retail, manufacturing, smart buildings and smart cities. It is involved in creating a smart mall at the Karen HUB in collaboration with Safaricom.

“We are also developing a mobile integrated platform that will serve the Two Rivers development in Nairobi. This solution will provide location analytics, indoor mapping and way-finding, event management, marketing and promotion and features alerts,” he says.

These few projects point to the new direction that the company is taking deep into managed services, leasing and managed print services, cloud-based services, turnkey solutions and information technology consultancy.

Mr Patel, who started out for BMTL Tanzania (Now Copy Cat Tanzania) in 1994, moved back to Kenya 10 years later where he has been understudying the founding CEO. He said in an interview that the company will focus on emerging technologies that have been globally acknowledged as the driving force, which include digitisation & internet of things, analytics, big data, cloud, managed services and security.

Copy Cat employs almost 600 people in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.