INDUSTRIAL DETERGENTS-ENGINE DEGREASERS

Another major source of income is industrial detergents and particularly in motor vehicle industry. There is a recently discovered prime underutilized market of detergent business in this field-making Engine Degreasers.

Generally, Kenya has a total of 47 counties with an average number of 10 urban centers in each county. Every urban center (EXCLUDING NAIROBI, KISUMU, NAKURU, ELDORET, MOMBASA AND THIKA) has an average of number of 3 busy garages, thereby making it a total of 1,400 busy garages across the country.

Each of the above mentioned cities has over 400 garages at their jua kali sites. E.g. Nairobi has about 200 garages at Kirinyaga Road and over 200 in Ngara, Grogon, Gikomba, Industrial Area etc. Mombasa has over 300 garages at Jua Kali (behind Railway Station) and additional 100 in Majengo.

In a nushell, 3,400 (or more) garages in Kenya provide a ready market for industrial motor vehicle detergents especially degreasers since most of the work that revolves around every garage is repair of moveable parts and engine. This makes use of detergents capable of washing off grease (or oily parts under repair) not an option but a dire necessity.

On a casual walk around these garages, one will notice how costly Kerosene, powder detergents like OMO and other detergents are over utilized albeit with a lot of unease and poor results. Reason? Appropriate detergents like degreasers are not in use! No media in Kenya advertises sale or market presence of this commodity. Could it have been multi-national companies that make and sell greases have ignored this field? “No. There has been no research done about industrial detergents. This is because it is a developing (evolving) market. Major giant companies have not noticed this gold mine but in due time, they will” Says Herman of Cosmetics & Detergents Kenya.

Now, this is an opportunity to grab. A new greenfield to forage and make a fortune from.

Equipped with a skill in formulating Engine degreasers, you dont need to set up big company for degreaser detergents. Just hawking them, say supplying a 5 liter gallon of degreaser detergent to every garage once a week -at least 10 garages within your locality-means that you are dispensing an average of 200 liters of the commodity every month. On average, 200 liters of degreaser detergent can fetch you Ksh. 30,000 (337 USD). Remember, this is just your locality in other words 10 local garages!

But how do you get started? According to Herman of Cosmetics Kenya Limited, a local consulting firm based in Nairobi, you need to get the right standard formula for these detergents (there are 5 good Top Grade formularies which can dissolve grease, remove rust and impart sparkling on the metal surface of engine block or any metal surface that is being cleaned), buy raw materials, containers and find a small place to do the formulation.

Those who would wish to do it more professionally (elegantly) can brand their products according to the guidelines offered by the firm or formula guide booklets. (Branding your product will add value thus higher returns) Raw materials are locally available and very cheap.

Why wouldnt you give it a thought today?

Article By B.K. Thuranira (Mrs)

E-mail: cosmeticsteacher@gmail.com

CHEMICALS AND TRADE NAMES

In my teaching and research career, I came through challenging moments when I tried to source for various Raw materials from suppliers.

Firstly, while trying to source (with knowledge of chemical names) for particular ingredients, on the contrary, the vendors of such ingredients knew them by their Trade Names. This presented a  great nightmare in acquisition of particular brands. Other times, I would look for particular ingredients whose trade names I knew, but for the purposes of getting a variety, substitutes or different grades of such items, I would not get help from the vendors.

This challenge is also inherent in many people and more so my students who hit a snug while trying to shop for the right brand for their training or experiments.

Here are common Detergent Raw materials and their right chemical /trade names:
1. UNGAROL (Sodium Laureth Sulphate)
2. UFACID (Linear Alkyl Benzene Sulphonic Acid)
3. CAUSTIC SODA (Sodium Hydroxide)
4. SODA ASH (Sodium Carbonate)
5. PEALIZER (Glyco Distearate)

The list is endless but upon enquiry from Betty Chemicals or Cosmetics Kenya, they can always give you the names of what you are looking for, usage rates, alternatives and where to buy them.
Shalom.
B. THURANIRA

SOAP MOULDS, SOAP CUTTERS & STAMPERS

Soap making business, be it small, medium or large scale, as lucrative as it is, cannot be complete without various equipments.

For first time beginners, operating capital plays the central role in moving the business to the next level. Here, acquisition of basic machinery comes in handy.

These machinery are usually Soap Moulds, Stampers and cutters. Simple Wooden moulds are the cheapest but most undurable. Plastic moulds are the best but often very costly. Metal moulds are cheaper, more durable and easy to operate / clean. Soap Stampers are oftenly customized i.e, they can bear your name and logo. They are quite affordable. Soap cutters can be semi automatic, manual or automatic. All these can be jua kali made! They are affordable and easy to maintain.

One jua kali company based in Kariobangi is well known to provide these solutions. They area professional and punctual. Call Silas Ntii 0723424240