Firm's bid to address complexities of cross-border relocation
From left: Nellions Uganda CEO Henry Kasoma, Nellions Kenya CEO Cosmas Kamuyu, Nellions Board Member Martin Kiarie and Nellions Board Member/Creative Director Anthony Githua, while marking the firm's 10 year anniversary in Nairobi.
What you need to know:
- The company works closely with a partner in Tanzania, enabling it to operate across East Africa.
- The company also provides storage for families and businesses who are renovating their premises.
After seeing many of his friends from abroad struggling to settle in the country due to the limited number of companies offering cross-border relocation services, Cosmas Kamuyu decided to set up Nellions Moving and Relocations Company in 2014.
While many companies were offering local moving and relocation services, not many companies were helping businesses and individuals navigate the complexities of moving across borders.
"Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and other bloc countries are third world countries and we have a lot of challenges that affect movement including harmonisation of customs regimes, poor infrastructure and network issues," says Kamuyu in an interview with Powering SMEs.
As it was not feasible for clients to keep up with the ever-changing local customs laws, the company would do this on their behalf, advising on best practices to avoid delays at ports and border points.
The business would also work closely with port authorities and customs officials, who sometimes did not know how to handle certain goods coming from abroad, to ensure they arrived on time.
"Household goods are unique and sometimes you go to a border and find that the customs officer you are dealing with does not know how to handle them, so we come in to make sure that our customers are not inconvenienced," Kamuyu says.
The market was ready for their service, but there was still a skills gap in the country that meant they couldn't provide the service to the standard they wanted, so they launched the Nellions Moving Academy in 2016.
Here they would train selected young people in more than 70 different moving and relocation skills using a documented curriculum, as well as training them in modern moving trends in the industry.
“Ours is a unique service; you have to believe in it before you even start working. We work a lot with young people so we have to find ways to motivate them, train them and guide them to get better results,” explains Kamuyu.
As their workforce grew, the business began to offer other services such as corporate relocation, data centre relocation, vehicle relocation, pet relocation and residential relocation.
The company would also provide storage for families and businesses who were renovating their premises, moving to new premises with incomplete rooms, or moving to a new country but had not yet found suitable accommodation.
“We have three warehouses where people can store their items for future use. Exporters and importers can also leverage the facilities to save on hefty demurrage and port storage services while processing documents,” says Kamuyu.
For their ingenuity, they became the first company in East Africa to be accepted into the British Association of Removers and the International Association of Movers (IAM), enabling them to provide door-to-door moving to any part of the world.
In 2019, sensing a greater opportunity in the Ugandan market, which was less saturated than the Kenyan market, they ventured into the country.
“Covid-19 struck a few months later and there was a lockdown in Uganda that extended for up to three years, but we never closed, we never failed to pay our employees any month [and did not] cut salaries, and we never downsized,” says Henry Kasoma, who runs Nellions Uganda.
The company, which currently employs around 60 permanent staff in Kenya and 20 in Uganda, also works closely with a partner in Tanzania, enabling it to operate across East Africa.
Amidst the progress, Kasoma notes that the business faces its fair share of challenges, including the skyrocketing cost of packaging materials, which affects its operations.
“Moving across borders means that we have to pack up items to international standards, so we use good packing material. The cost of packing material has gone up, which poses a major challenge for us,” says Kasoma.
With a lot of work now being done virtually and remotely, he says they also have to deal with a shrinking market as people are not moving as much.
Unfortunately, those who do move still face documentation challenges, despite efforts to harmonise East African Community protocols.
“How I wish freedom of movement was respected as it is enshrined in the East African Community protocols. When people are moving, we are in business,” says Kasoma.
The firm is in the process of launching the Managed Relocation Service, which aims to provide companies with a structured and organised way of relocating their employees.
“I have always believed that if you have an idea, there is always something you can do to make it better. Whatever service or product you offer, you can innovate to make it better,” says Kamuyu.
He says the country still lags behind global standards of relocation, and more can be done to ensure that the industry is respected and recognised, and that people do not suffer when they move.
