”Kenya is a diverse and vibrant society. With a population of well over 43 million people and a rapidly growing ICT industry with a mobile penetration of around 85%, there exists an excellent opportunity for growth in the mobile telecommunications sector especially in the areas of rural broadband and LTE in the urban areas.”
Says Francis Otieno, Program Manager, Network Implementation at Telkom Kenya.Today, there exists well over 8500 sites in Kenya, with massive expansions in 3G and 4G technologies across the country, comprising new builds, collocations and modernization of existing sites to accommodate new technologies and products to an ever growing and demanding consumer base.
”We have also recently seen the entry of a new Towerco in this space with whom we, alongside other operators, collocate on a number of sites,” Francis continues.
”This means the need for site solutions and especially antenna fixings has grown exponentially. We are also in need of innovative partners and solutions that make collocations and expansions on existing sites easier, faster and simplifies the approval process.”
Francis continues:
”We see MAFi as a valuable partner for site solutions with demonstrated expertise and a well-developed portfolio suitable for our market. I have personally known MAFi products since 2015, having been introduced to the sub-Saharan market by our Elektroskandia partners.”
According to Francis MAFi products are known fortheir quality and practicality which makes them a favourite for engineers and installers.
”One of the biggest challenges we face here in Kenya and Africa, in general, is logistics and quality control. We therefore particularly like the way MAFi manages the packaging of their products meaning we always get the right material transported to site at the least possible costs.”
”The Engineering manuals are very well done, simple to understand. This makes it very easy for the field teams to work with the products. We very much look forward to working closely with MAFi to grow our market share in Kenya.”
”I´m looking forward to working with solid design when we develop new solutions for the telecom market,” says Anna Borgny, a new employee at the company´s construction department.
Anna is an engineer, specialised in electrotechnology, from the Swedish University of Chalmers Lindholmen. When she had finished her training, she was headhunted by Ericsson in Sweden. She held several positions, as machine operator in a clean room environment, production technician for automated testing, and for the last seven years, developing and programming the test environment.
When Ericsson recently had to let people go, Anna volunteered.
”My partner Olle and I wanted to move to Dalarna, partly because he has most of his family here, but also because we like it here so much,” she explains.
So they moved to a 18th-century house just outside of Orsa, about a 20-minute drive from MAFI´s head office in Mora.
”I heard MAFI was hiring and I applied. And, a bit to my astonishment, they chose me!”
Anna will be a part of MAFI´s construction and design department, together with Jonas Wassdahl and Andreas Axelsson.
”It will be fantastic to learn new things and to go in-depth when it comes to CAD-construction and solid design,” she says. I am currently studying at university level to fill some missing gaps in my education.”
So, how else will Anna contribute to MAFI and its customers? She doesn´t need much time to answer the question:
”I´m extremely devoted and focused. I like to work and get things done. And I will be part of a team that finds honour in producing quality products for our customers. I also see myself as a happy person, so I hope I´ll spread some positive energy.”
When Anna isn´t working she likes to renovate the house, but also to just relax, watching a film or maybe go hunting.
Responsive, reliable and exploratory.
These are the core values of MAFI, as they were defined in time for the company´s 25-year celebration, earlier this year.
”We´re are growing rapidly, and it was time to think through what we stand for,” says CEO Pierre Bengtsson. ”We needed to be able to easily communicate a consistent message both to our customers and partners, as to our employees.”The chosen core values were the result of many interviews with MAFI´s customers, partners, employees and board.
”We asked questions like: How do you experience MAFI? What does MAFI signify? What does MAFI do that you appreciate?” Pierre continues. ”And from all the answers we eventually distilled responsive, reliable and exploratory.”
As this work progressed and through SWOT-analyses, the management also felt it was time for a rebranding. And a brand promise that concisely describes MAFI´s intention and purpose.
”We phrased ”Your direction – Our goal”, which we feel is the essence of our company”, Pierre says.
Customer´s ”direction” involve anything from difficult technical solutions and bringing down lead times, to finding solutions that decrease working capital.
As to rebranding, it resulted in a new, modern logo and a remade homepage.
”The reactions from our customers has been very positive”, Pierre notes. ”They appreciate seeing that MAFI, after 25 years, still is moving forward, exploring new opportunities and that we strive to give our clients less to worry about.”
It´s time for MAFI´s yearly customer survey.
Join in, and you might be the happy winner of a unique handcrafted wooden Dalecarlian horse!
MAFI is continually striving towards being better, more
efficient and raising its level of service.
To succeed in this task, it is crucial that as many as possible let us know their opinion on how we are performing.
Therefore, our survey is an essential channel for us,
where we catch up on what our customers think of us
and what we can improve.
Recent weeks we sent the survey to some of our customers and partners, and this is a friendly reminder that we need your help.
Regardless of your relation to MAFI, we sincerely value your input.
So please take a few minutes of your time and answer our questions.
If you would like to do the survey, please click HERE.We’re raffling off some exclusive wooden, handcrafted Dalecarlian horses among those who answer. These horses are very popular both in Sweden and with visitors since they have become a symbol of our country. The ones we give away will be uniquely painted.
(The horse in the photo has a ”standard” design.)>