Dominic Mureithi Mathenge is the founder of Polucon Services. This is a testing, inspection and verification company founded in 1990. According to Business Daily Africa, the company’s turnover went from Ksh50 million to a billion. The founder believes that even without loans it is possible to grow a business just as they have. He believes funds can be created as the business grows.
Here is his story as told by WoK.
Working in Europe
The CEO studied and worked in Europe. He started as a laboratory analyst and rose to a laboratory manager.
Working abroad, he realized Europeans were good at creating jobs for themselves in different sectors.
With the invaluable lessons he had learnt, he wanted to replicate the same back home where he would create employment to his countrymen.
“I realized that in Europe, they create their own jobs, especially for the scientists because scientists control many things in the world, be it agriculture, manufacturing, production and development,” he said.
When he returned to Kenya, he decided to venture into the food testing industry, a business dominated by foreigners.
He realized one of the things limiting Africans is their lack of belief in local capacity. Instead of believing in our capacity and professions, Africans rely on other foreign countries.
Starting the business
Speaking to BD, Mureithi said they started the company in 1990 but had to raise funds until 1997. At the time, financial institutions were unwilling to lend them money as they didn’t fully understand their business and they had no collateral.
This made him to purchase only the things that would impact the business and stayed away from things that did not add any value to the company.
Rather than buy a bed for his apartment, he bought a chair, desk, computer and fax machine.
What they do and growth
The business’ checks the quality and safety of drinking water and food safety analysis. While it was not easy at first, with proper planning, he was good to go. He developed trust with his customers through ethical practices.
By the end of the 90s, he sought for ISO 9001 Quality Management Systems Certification in order to meet global standards.
Today, the business employs about 100 people. They also export their services by receiving samples from all around Africa. In 2022, Polucon was ranked among the top 100 fast growing mid-sized companies by KPMG.
