The company’s newly appointed Managing Director Vishal Patel said that the Copy Cat board will sit and deliberate on the proposal by ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru during Copy Cat Group’s 30th anniversary in Nairobi/COURTESY
NAIROBI, Kenya, May 12- Technology firm Copy Cat Group is considering listing on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) to spread ownership to other Kenyans.
The company’s newly appointed Managing Director Vishal Patel said that the Copy Cat board will sit and deliberate on the proposal by ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru during Copy Cat Group’s 30th anniversary in Nairobi.
“Listing will also allow Copy Cat to discover its worth and its owners to unlock the value of their investment,” Mucheru said in his key note address.
He said the management should give Kenyans a chance to share in the success of the company, which started operations in 1985 as an office machines vendor but has transformed into a full-fledged ICT company providing both hardware and software solutions.
ICT companies are primed for growth, noting that studies show 70per cent of the skills that will be required in the labour market will be technology based.
Patel said he will present the matter to the board to give the way forward.
“It’s an interesting proposition. He actually caught us by surprise,” he said. “But we will consider it since listing comes with a lot of gains for the company and staff.”
The company was founded in 1984 by Noordin and his partner Rajoo Patel who were both working for the same organisation in different departments.
The company, which in 1994 entered Tanzania market by acquiring Business Machines Tanzania Ltd, plans to expand to other regional markets with a presence Uganda and Rwandan market.
“East Africa is an exciting place to be as a technology company,” Patel said.
