LG Electronicshas kicked off a campaign to empower 1,000 entrepreneurs eyeing the fast-growing on-demand laundry market in the next five years.
This follows a new partnership between the consumer appliances manufacturer and home appliances distributors Hotpoint.
The partnership seeks to create jobs for more Kenyans while offering laundry solutions to an increasingly affluent middle-income market with limited time to do laundry but with a desire to have their laundry done professionally and at an affordable rate.
Commenting on the partnership, LG Electronics Home Appliances product manager Eden Seo said “LG’s commitment is to ensure that our customers live the better life that they deserve. Therefore, our role in this partnership is to offer the latest state of the art LG washing machines with top technology and innovative features to deliver clean, gentle clothing care. Each washing machine incorporates effective hygiene technology”.
The commercial dryer, for instance, uses high-temperature air to sanitize clothes of germs and bacteria. The LG Styler units steam coats, suits and scarves that cannot be cleaned directly using water.
LG’s laundromat technology also comes with a digital app that allows customers to remotely monitor progress with their laundry. The shop operators can also manage their business off-site in real-time and promptly track and resolve technical issues.
Through Hotpoint, monthly workshops will be carried out to train and advise the entrepreneurs on the best locations to set up the laundromats and how to leverage the high-level LG washing machines to attain maximum value. Additionally, the entrepreneurs will be trained on using the right detergents courtesy of Soilex Prosolve which offers cleaning solutions.
In his remarks, Hotpoint Appliances Ltd B2B Regional Head, Ravi Kanani said that “As distributors working closely with LG Electronics, we shall offer technical support in terms of equipment installation and servicing, and training the entrepreneurs on the right detergents to use”.
With less than 20 per cent of Kenyan homes owning a washing machine or dryer, commercial laundromats, popularly known as dry cleaners, laundromats are set to offer investors and clients a smarter, safer way of doing laundry while serving both single individuals and working couples with families.
Research from Hotpoint shows that it takes approximately Ksh 1.5 million to Ksh 2 million to establish a complete laundromat. This amount is inclusive of costs of about 2-3 sets of washing and dryer machines. The distributor has, from experience proved that Laundromats are a viable and profitable business in Kenya having opened and operated one in Buruburu about 2 years ago and a smart laundry one in Thika Road Mall (TRM) last year. The latter one is a smart laundry store unveiled last year in partnership with LG under its commercial machine reference stores concept.
The concept involved partnering with small laundry businesses to roll out smart laundry stores in strategic locations across the country.