It targets agricultural,building,construction and waste management sectors in the country
Leading construction and building equipment supplier, Ganatra Plant & Equipment Ltd and NIC bank have partnered to finance purchases of new JCB Back-hoe Loaders in Kenya.
This is in the wake of a credit crunch in the market occasioned by the interest rate cap law, which has lowered the purchasing power of majority of investors.
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The partnership is seeking to reduce the financial load from the customers by offering them flexible financing terms including a cost reduction of 20 per cent.
In the financing partnership signed in Nairobi this week, NIC will offer an 80 per cent financing, thus offering small medium enterprises and corporate organisations the opportunity to acquire the Back- hoe Loader through asset financing.
The move will therefore free up cash that can be directed into other business opportunities.
Backhoe loaders are very common and can be used for a wide variety of tasks: construction, small demolitions, light transportation of building materials, powering building equipment, digging holes/excavation, landscaping, breaking asphalt and paving roads.
NIC Executive Director Alan Dodd said: “We have come together to offer an innovative financing scheme that will allow Ganatra customers access finances to purchase vehicles at very favourable terms. This offering presents a strong value proposition to customers who are keen on expanding their businesses and buying new assets but face strained cash flows.”
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Dodd added that through the partnership, Ganatra demonstrates their shared goal of empowering small businesses to grow and expand by assisting clients with deposit payment.
Ganatra Plant and Equipment has been on the lead in empowering small businesses to expand by providing its clients with high quality machinery at the most competitive prices in a fast, efficient and reliable manner.
On his part, Ganatra District Manager, East Africa, Mr.Saurabh Gandhi said: “Kenya is a very important market for JCB because of the country’s fast economic growth. The growing urbanization is in turn driving massive infrastructure growth. JCB is in a position to support this growth with its market leading construction equipment range.”
“By significantly reducing the cost of procuring a JCB Back-hoe Loader, we hope to increase mechanization to boost productivity. The offer will also be attractive to Kenyan entrepreneurs who can make very high returns by renting out the machines. We want to also make it affordable so that customers currently looking at used equipment can now opt to buy new machines instead”.
The JCB Back-hoe Loaders targets agricultural sector, building and construction, waste management among others.
The move comes in the wake of a drop in sales of new motor vehicles in the first quarter of this year which went down by 14.5 per cent, with dealers partly attributing the fall to difficulties in accessing loans.
Data from the Kenya Motor Vehicle Industry Association (KMI) shows sales by dealers between January and March totaled 2,741 units, a drop compared to 3,209 units sold in Q1 of 2018.
KMI chairperson Rita Kavashe notes that though the industry suffered a shortage of number plates and slow registration by the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA), access to bank loans has also been a challenge.
The country’s new motor vehicle industry recorded good performance last year where sales jumped 33.9 per cent, shaking off the effects of the 2017 prolonged general elections.
New units sold in the year closed at a new high of 14,353. This was up from 10,722 units sold by dealers in the country in the electioneering year (2017),when sales plummeted to an eight-year low.
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