Africa’s largest fire-suppression solutions company, Fire and Security Techniques (FST), will expand its continental footprint as it establishes its first franchise in Tanzania this month.

The Gauteng-based manufacturer and supplier expects the first batch of equipment to be shipped out within the next two weeks, which could take up to eight weeks to reach Dar es Salaam. During that time, FST will train employees of the Tanzania-based supplier, which will be rebranded as FST Tanzania, to manage and handle the company’s specialised high-pressure equipment.

“By the time we head down to Tanzania to set up the new plant, we’ll be able to market the product before moving on to our next Africa-based site, which will be in Angola,” says FST CEO Neil Hughes.

He adds that FST is considering Zambia and Mauritius as locations for future franchise opportunities. Currently, however, the company is cutting its teeth on the pilot franchise in Tanzania, which will soon be followed by the upcoming Angola project, which has been formalised through a contractual agreement.

“These franchises will offer the services that we currently offer in Gauteng, such as filling cylinders and designing fire-suppression systems for specific applications. We will, therefore, impart our intellectual property to them to support FST’s manufacturing division through increasing our quantities and expanding the business,” says Hughes.

The family-owned business, which initially imported fire-protection equipment from the US and the UK since its founding in 1994, decided to outsource the manufacture of its branded Eckoshield equipment in 2001.

“I realised that we had to take complete control of our product. When we started servicing companies in the rest of Africa, we were still importing our product, but there was nothing stopping our supplier at the time from supplying our products directly – so we really had no protection,” explains Hughes.

Subsequently, FST started to develop and manufacture its own product, ultimately establishing its own manufacturing plant in 2010, which trades under Advanced Pressure Concepts, to manufacture the cylinders used in FST applications according to South African National Standards (Sans).

“We took control of our product and streamlined our business, bringing our stock costs down through the introduction of the manufacturing division. We are the only manufacturers in the country making this particular fire-protection cylinder for this application,” says Hughes.
In addition, the company acquired engineering components manufacturer Safety Hi-Tech South Africa in 2012 to manufacture valves and other supporting equipment to further develop a full range of products for FST, which currently services increasing demand on the continent.

Hughes tells Engineering News that FST fulfils about 50% of its monthly orders for key distribution partners across Africa, including Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda, among others.

However, as a result of increased demand in Africa, one of the primary challenges facing FST in terms of delivery is logistics, which will be mitigated as the company rolls out additional franchises on the continent.