Troubled Bata Kenya embark on an expansion drive to resuscitate shrinking market share

A regional footwear maker, Bata Shoe Company PLC yesterday launched a new outlet along Mombasa Road in Nairobi as the chain embarks on an expansion drive to resuscitate their ever shrinking market share to boost revenue.

The company through its countrywide manager Jedidah Thotho together with Bata global Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sandeep Kataria affirmed the firm’s commitment to growing even further to meet the public demand by ensuing enhanced service delivery.

“This is our first store we have opened in three years,” stated Kataria.

This was the 112 retail store countrywide for the company with major focus in shoes meant for international and local markets.

The Bata Imaara outlet will be based on Mombasa road and is expected to serve residents from the area and beyond.

The global shoemaker is not new to controversy.

In 2019, Bata Kenya was on the receiving end as it grappled to refute claims of a possible shutdown anytime soon saying it has no plans of closing its operations.

The denial is after someone took to social media and wondered if the Limuru head quartered company was shutting down.

This year, the footwear maker sued an employment agency demanding a refund of Sh32.5 million claiming that the company inflated workers’ wages through exaggerated invoices.

The shoemaker alleges that H.R. Strategic Partners Ltd inflated the wages between January 2017 and February 2019 and wants the money refunded.

Court documents indicate that Bata Shoe procured the services of the employment recruitment agency, for the provision of manpower.

In the deal, the shoemaker would pay a standard fee of Sh417,000 on a monthly basis, irrespective of the number of workers engaged at the company. The invoices were to be raised every fortnight and no payment was to be made until the labour costs had been approved.

Bata, however, says that an internal audit carried out in February 2019 revealed that it had overpaid Sh32.5 million through exaggerated invoices. The company is now demanding a refund of the amount plus interest.

“The plaintiff further claims the right to trace the said sum of Kshs32,595,981 to the hands of the defendants, jointly and severally,” Bata says in the case filed at the High Court in Nairobi.

Bata has sued the employment agency together with its directors, Moses Kinuthia and Teresia Wanjiru Njuguna and the agency’s human resource assistant and finance managers. The agency was required to have not less than two qualified supervisors to manage and supervise the workers at its factory.

The shoemaker is accusing the recruitment agency of inflating the invoices for employees engaged, contrary to an agreement the companies entered.

Further, the Limuru-based company accuses the agency of concealing the matter and failing to document the manpower supplied.