Njeri Njori enjoys working with rural women.
After completing her master's degree at Birmingham City University in the UK in 2003, she decided to work with women in the dairy industry.
The food science specialist will teach the women how to package and label dairy products to increase productivity and competitiveness.
After being in the industry for several years, Ms Njori decided to create a probiotic yoghurt with the Cool Fresh Yoghurt brand.
Through her company known as Orchards Limited, she would supply the product to several supermarkets, including Uchumi and Nakumatt – now-fallen retail giants.
When the French company Majid Al Futtaim Hypermarkets Limited, which operates under the name Carrefour, came in, I found its products on the shelves of the Nakumatt, Karen store in Nairobi.
The supermarket chain approached it, and they signed a deal to stock its products in a commercial arrangement that lasted between 2015 and 2018.
The deal seemed good until she allegedly discovered she had been scammed.
Ms Njori then wrote to the Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) and the Kenya Suppliers Association, accusing the retail chain of abusing buyer power.
Among the complaints to the regulator were that the supermarket unilaterally removed its products from the list by blocking its supplier code without warning and leaving it with dead stock.
Furthermore, Ms Njori said the supermarket demanded various discounts including a listing fee of Sh50,000, 10 percent on every second delivery and 1.25 percent on all annual sales.
She said the supermarket offered incremental rebates calculated from her company's annual sales or turnover which were deducted on one side of invoices.
When it asked Carrefour to account for the payments, the supermarket would allegedly refuse, making its settlements difficult and raising problems with the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA).
“They were also returning products that were close to the expiry date and refusing delivery at various branches,” she said, adding that she recalled an incident when she was asked to deliver yoghurt at night, but they refused to open the store for delivery. The retail chain also rejected a new price list.
Ms Njori further said that the supermarket had asked her to deploy her staff to the retail stores, thus passing on labor costs to her. “They would also ask for free samples, which they would then sell,” she added.
After hearing its case, CAK made a decision in February 2020, agreeing with Njori that Carrefour had breached competition law, by abusing its superior negotiating power over the yoghurt company.
Carrefour appealed the decision, but the Competition Authority Tribunal upheld the decision and ordered the retailer to return the rebates amounting to Sh289,482 deducted from the supplier's invoices as well as a fine of Sh124,768.
Unsatisfied, the retail chain moved to the High Court arguing that it had not received a fair hearing, as it was not allowed to call witnesses and adequate time to respond to the accusations.
During the hearing in the Supreme Court, the authority confirmed that Carrefour violated Section 24(2A) of the Act by applying and collecting rebates, unilaterally delisting the supplier, transferring commercial risks by returning goods that were close to their expiration date, and refusing to accept delivery. And transportation. Costs by requiring Ngori Company to hire employees in supermarkets.
CAK also informed the court that on 22 February 2021, shortly before the Competition Court's decision, the Paris Commercial Court fined the Carrefour franchise in France €1.75 million for the same behavior towards its suppliers, just like it. He worked for Orchards Ltd.
The regulator said that abuse of buyer power by one player weakens the bargaining position of buyers who lack that power and are forced to pay higher prices due to their smaller sales volumes.
In a decision last week, the Supreme Court upheld the court's findings and ruled that CAK had the authority to investigate complaints of abuse of buyer power.
Carrefour partially won the ruling after Judge Anne Ongejo faulted the court for directing Carrefour to amend contracts with 699 other suppliers, without joining them in the case.
The mother of two previously worked for The Coca-Cola Company and Reckitt Benckiser, where she served as director of Sub-Saharan Africa.
She is also a founding member of the Kenya Suppliers Association and credits herself with revolutionizing milk packaging in Kenya, which she started with the collapsed Uchumi Supermarket.
When asked how she decided to take over the retail chain, Ms Njori said she could not sit back and look beautiful when she was being persecuted. She said many Kenyans do not come out to speak out when they are persecuted.
“They are afraid to come out and choose to suffer in silence. For me, I am not afraid. I am speaking out,” she said.
However, she had to quit the business because she had pumped in too much money and the returns were too low.
It was frustrating. “I lost my job, but I didn’t lose myself,” she said, adding that she decided to venture into dairy farming.
Njori said she bought a plot of land in Maragua, Murang'a District, invested in dairy farming, and delivers about half a ton of milk daily to the processor.
She says she doesn't want to go back to therapy, saying the cost of doing business is too high.
“Some supermarkets may refuse to pay. Business is not an easy task, especially if you own a large establishment,” she said, citing the numerous licenses required in the project and harassment by provincial government authorities.
She regrets the collapse of her project because she had to fire the ten people she directly employed and cut her relationships with dozens of farmers with whom she contracted to supply her with milk.
Ms Njori entered politics in 2017 as a deputy governorship candidate in Nyeri State but lost. She tried her luck in 2022 this time as a Nyeri Woman actress but she also lost.
She is now happy managing her own dairy farm and taking care of her granddaughter.