Italian paint giant San Marco eyes East Africa for growth

Basco Paints has signed a deal with Italy-based texture paint giant San Marco for manufacture of the Italian firm’s paint range under license.

The deal makes Kenya the first country to receive a license to manufacture the San Marco range outside of its own nine production facilities in Europe.

It follows a successful two year distributorship where Basco imported San Marco textured finishes from Italy and was its sole distributor in East Africa.

Speaking while announcing the partnership, Basco Paints managing director Kamlesh Shah said the deal will help the company to address the perennial need for a larger variety of exciting external finishes especially for large developments such as shopping malls, hotels and commercial buildings.

“San Marco had identified an enormous potential for textured paints in Eastern Africa region which would be tapped into through the partnership with Basco Paints. The partnership will entail Basco manufacturing the San Marco range locally alongside technological support, service back up, marketing as well as regular training of Kenyan artisans to encourage ease of use of the products,” he said.

San Marco international sales director, Pietro Geremia expressed his satisfaction on the signing of the deal.

“San Marco is for the first time licensing a partner to manufacture under license, a major milestone for the Italian market leader in paint,” he said, adding that the deal will significantly lower the costs of the San Marco range.

The new partnership represents two family owned paint giants coming together to achieve a similar and mutually beneficial objective of selling the San Marco range in East Africa.

The rapid construction of homes, office blocks and shopping malls in Kenya and other East African countries has escalated the need for decorative paint and coatings in the region, thereby creating a huge market for the products.

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