African Review of Business and Technology spoke with Narayan Mirji, Regional Head of Kirloskar Brothers Limited for North Africa, about the development opportunities for the company in Africa
Narayan Mirji is the Regional Head of Kirloskar Brothers Limited for North Africa and is based in Cairo Egypt. He also heads the operations of SPP Pumps MENA LLC in Egypt, a subsidiary company of KBL engaged in assembly, testing and packaging of value added pumping systems and services.
Can you give an overview of your company and the projects you take part in?
Kirloskar Brothers Limited (KBL) is a global fluid management solutions provider and the largest manufacturer and exporter of centrifugal pumps and valves from India. KBL has been one of the prominent players in the field of constructing large irrigation pumping stations. Over the last five decades KBL has constructed more than 50 pumping stations in Egypt irrigating close to 150,000 Ha of land. KBL has successfully executed turnkey projects for both the Government and the Private investors in the field of irrigation pumping stations. KBL has received new contracts from the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, Mechanical & Electrical department, Egypt for the supply, installation and commissioning of large Horizontal Split Casing pump sets and Vertical Turbine pump sets. Besides irrigation, KBL has supplied 28 Nos. large pump sets to Alexandria Water Company, Egypt for supplying raw & treated water to the Alexandria city. KBL bagged a prestigious contract from Morocco for the supply of vertical turbine pump setsfor Loukkos Irrigation project. Also supplied end suction /split case pump sets in stainless steel material for a water supply project in Morocco.
How are your products different to that of your competitors?
KBL is known for custom made pumps often used for many critical applications/site wherein the pumps are specifically designed for the application and the site conditions. One example which we could mention here is the supplies made to Alexandria Water Company, the pumps are tailor made to suit every aspect of hydraulic and mechanical design of the existing pumps /site conditions. KBL is also known as “Complete Solution Provider”rather than a product supplier. Imparting training to our customers through structured training programmes makes us even more different.
Which countries in Africa are you exporting products to? Will you be targeting more countries?
At present Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Ethiopia, Sudan, Nigeria and Ghana are the focus countries that we are exporting to.
Have you built a reputation in the construction, water, power and other sectors? How are you looking to build on this?
We are strengthening our presence in the construction sector through our newly launched facility in Egypt, SPP pumps MENA LLC, wherein we will be supplying value added pumping packages viz., UL listed firefighting pumps, HVAC pumps, etc., As I mentioned, for the water sector, we already have made supplies to various customers and it’s going to be our potential market in most of the countries that we are operating in to. We have started working in the power sector, especially in Egypt since there are big investments happening and at present we don’t have significant presence in this sector.
Are you seeking to add to your product range?
Yes. We would like to introduce Lowest life cycle pumps in this region, which will benefit our esteemed customers with consistent and efficient performance. Introducing Concrete Volute pumps is another opportunity, which is cost effective and highly reliable pumping equipment.
How are your products tailored to customers’needs?
We go into the details of application, site conditions and then decide hydraulic and mechanical design of the pumps so that it’s a precise solution to our customer. This could be challenging but KBL overcomes this with the technical expertise of engineers who, at all times, recommend tailor-made pumping solutions to customers.
In terms of developing your products, what is your future expansion strategy?
We have plans to expand our Egypt facility. We would like to build local vendor base and manufacture some of the components locally to offer cost effective products/solutions.
