Kenya Power has announced plans to diversify its portfolio and venture into candle manufacturing in a bid to reverse its declining fortune.
Announcing the new venture, Kenya Power CEO Bernard Ngugi said that the candle venture falls in the company’s grand vision of eliminating darkness in Kenya. “We are pleased to take our war on darkness to a new level with this new innovative product.”
The new plan seems to have been motivated by KenGen’s announcement last month that it will venture into manufacturing detergents. This was interpreted as an effort by KenGen to cash in from the other popular competitor in water consumption; laundry.
Critics argue that the motivation to venture into candle business could have been informed by the increasing competition that candles are offering Kenya Power. “With frequent blackouts, Kenyans are forced to depend on candles and what Kenya Power is trying to achieve is to eat from both ends. As long as it is dark, they want to make money from you. It is easier to sell candles than to ensure there is power all the time.”
What would candles from Kenya Power look like? We asked a number of people and they could not agree on the design or appearance. However, one thing that they all agreed is that the candles will not work most of the time.
