Adrian Group is steadily losing its brand equity and credit rating, while its list of clients continues to thin. This has forced its founder to use unorthodox means to stay afloat.
After I sent a message containing a set of questions to Adrian Group in December 2024, it took down its website. This website, alongside its former Adrian Kenya website, has remained offline ever since. Adrian Group grew out of Adrian Kenya Limited (AKL or Adrian Kenya), and it misrepresented itself as a public company, though it is not found in the list of publicly traded companies that is maintained by the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE). To be sure, I asked NSE if Adrian Group or AKL is a listed company that did its IPO in Kenya, or if it was listed in a foreign stock exchange and later cross-listed in NSE.
Adrian Kenya
Adrian Kenya describes itself as a pan-African engineering company with presence in Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Zambia, Malawi, Ghana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Africa. It is this multinational presence that informed the change of name from AKL to Adrian Group.
Its stated areas of specialties are telecommunications, energy, and information communication technology (ICT). Among its clients are Safaricom PLC, Telkom, Airtel, Wananchi Online, Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC), Obelisk, KenGen, Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Corporation (REREC), and Astonfield Solesa Solar Kenya Limited.
Adrian Kenya has been described by the African Outlook Magazine as a leading provider of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) solutions in the region. The company states that its project prize capability is US$ 30 million, which means that it is capable of engaging in medium-scale infrastructure projects that tallies with its visions. It expresses its vision as “Transforming Africa by connecting businesses and communities through sustainable technologies”.
In its now defunct website, Adrian Kenya stated that they have completed over 30 energy projects and built over 1,000 cell towers. These are impressive statistics.
So, what happened that led to this company engaging in unprofessional practices that resulted in loss of a credit facility and lucrative contracts with corporate clients? What caused this company to lose its contracts with KPLC and Safaricom PLC?
Trouble Beckons
As will be explained later, Adrian Kenya had good relations with Safaricom PLC, and it had won bids to build base transmission stations (BTS), as well as maintain selected Safaricom cell towers. Moreover, it had partnered with Safaricom PLC to offer Adrian CPE (4G) routers to Safaricom subscribers. However, this relationship seems to have faltered within months of Adrian Kenya having problems with Citibank (which had accorded it a credit facility).
