How previously successful Raymond empire collapsed
We had many successes at Raymond. For instance, when we found out that there were thousands upon thousands of sheep, especially in the highlands of Kenya, we started encouraging farmers to breed them for wool, not just for mutton, as had been the case before Raymond came into the market.
On average, one sheep would produce between 25 and 30 kilogrammes of wool in a season. Before we started engaging farmers, all this wool was going to waste.
We started organising outreach teams to talk to the farmers about wool production and created a market for them. We later imported machines to clean the wool for export. We maintained this robust business for the years that Raymond was active in Kenya but this collapsed when the company went down.
Those who took over the wool business started exporting unwashed wool, leading, obviously, to a dip in earnings. I still think that this is an area that the relevant government department should look into as it still has potential for growth.
One of my saddest moments was when the company’s profitability went up but my fellow directors and I disagreed on how to share the profits. When I had taken up the job of Marketing Director, we had signed an explicit contract detailing how I was to be paid commission on sales.
Company’s profitability dips
When the sales shot up as our product range grew, the company was reluctant to pay me the commensurate fees.
We renegotiated the contract and I agreed to the new terms in part because my income was not going to change significantly even if I took half the fees that we had agreed on initially. With time, however, the company had difficulties honouring its obligations and I saw no reason for remaining as a director.
There happened to have been a change in the top leadership of the company, including the chairman and directors. They took a decision to slice my pay and benefits, an outcome that I did not take kindly, so I offered to resign.
After much negotiation, however, they reinstated my pay and perks and also promoted me to the position of Vice-chairman in charge of sales and marketing.
Being a businessman, I had always desired to start my own factory once I had accumulated the requisite experience. During my meeting with the board, I made it clear that although I would carry on working for Raymond, I would also start my own operation.
The way I saw it, Raymond was not my mother. It was like someone else’s mother. Although I had a 14.5 per cent stake in the company, I did not feel that I owned it. This was a challenge for me.
The board and I agreed that I could set up my own factory on the understanding that I would not manufacture the same products as Raymond. That was when I told them that I would be making textile accessories like zips and buttons and other related materials.
After working for some time, I eventually took the final decision to resign and concentrate on the family business. With that, my years at Raymond ended abruptly. Sadly, within a few years, the fortunes of the company also started taking a turn for the worse, partly because of mismanagement and also due to the changing nature of the textile business in Kenya. The sun was eventually setting on Raymond’s glory days.
Millions lost in factory heist
I would like to revisit an incident that has been etched in my mind and during which Raymond lost close to Sh6 million in a robbery that left everyone in the company with their mouths agape. At the time, Sh6 million was a large sum, and this posed a serious credibility risk for Raymond.
It was 1983 and we were all preparing for New Year festivities. As a rule, the money with which to pay workers would be delivered to the factory after which the accounts department staff would put it in packets, with the pay for every employee clearly labelled. The packets would then be grouped according to the various departments for easy distribution on payday.
On this particular occasion, the money was delivered to the factory early so that we could pay the workers in good time for the holidays. However, it also happened that the road running right outside the factory was under repair and as such, was closed to the public.
At about 1 AM on the ill-fated night, a group of people dressed like police officers showed up at the gate with a man who looked like a suspect and who was in handcuffs. The alleged officers started berating the security guards at the gate, accusing them of laxity and allowing workers to walk out of the factory with stolen yarn.
When the guards examined the yarn and said it did not belong to the factory, the “officers” were even more incensed, accusing the guards of failing in their duty. They demanded that the gates be opened so that they could escalate the matter to the supervisor on duty.
Once they made their way into the main lobby, the gangsters cocked their guns and ordered everyone to lie down. Then they ordered the supervisor to give them the keys to the safe where the staff salaries were kept.
The supervisor did not have the keys since only the accounts department staff were allowed to keep them. When he told the gangsters this, they tied him up as well, then embarked on a targeted mission to round up all guards, including those with dogs, by driving around the factory with a company bus. In this way, they were able to avoid raising suspicion.
They tied up the guards and once they were sure all had been subdued, drove all the way to town and returned with an acetylene gas cylinder and metal cutting equipment.
Change in payment system
For the next three to four hours, they cut through the metal encasing of the safe while dousing it with water to ensure that the pay packets did not catch fire. The factory had about five hundred employees at the time. Some had been herded in groups, watched over by the men with guns.
At the end of the heist, the robbers had taken all the money that had been collected from the bank to pay salaries and wages. It was only after they had left that the workers realised that the men were actually not police officers but gangsters.
When this matter was brought to the attention of the insurance company at daybreak, the insurer was, thankfully, very understanding, and made a commitment to expediting the delivery of fresh currency notes, enough to pay the workers.
From that day on, we put in place a new system under which the pay packets were prepared at the bank and only delivered on the day that workers were to be paid.
Recalling it today might sound like a tall yarn but the truth is, on that night, Sh6 million shillings just disappeared into thin air, never to be traced again.
