SGS Kenya operated a government import certification programme covering all goods entering the country. In a four-player market we held a 67% share. This is the story of one operational change that increased revenue by 10%.

The Situation

For years, Certificates of Conformity (CoC) were issued on security paper and collected in person.

Reception at our Nairobi office was packed. On average we received about 150 visitors a day — 99% of them messengers collecting certificates. Each visitor had to register, present an ID (photocopied and filed), and sign a logbook before leaving. The process required four staff members plus the cost and complexity of managing security paper.

Despite the security features, certificates could still be forged. Collection in congested Nairobi often cost customers half a day or more. Everyone accepted this as normal.

The real constraint was that information existed only on paper.

The Insight

Most people, including ourselves, believed the certificate was the product. It wasn’t.

The regulator did not need our paper. They needed our certification decision — data that already existed in our system and could not be forged. The paper was only a vehicle for transporting that decision.

The question became: what happens if we stop moving paper and start moving decisions?

The Challenge

The obstacle was not technical. The regulator already had access to our system and had trusted our decisions for years. The real barriers were psychological and procedural. Government processes had been built around physical certificates. Removing paper overnight would have created resistance.

We needed a low-risk way to prove the concept.

Our Approach

We designed a transitional model rather than an abrupt switch:

• Certification decisions were issued digitally.
• A PDF was printed on ordinary paper and signed by a local SGS representative.
• The regulator’s airport office used that document for cargo clearance.
• Original hard copies continued to move through traditional channels under SGS control.

We launched a pilot at Nairobi airport, which handled ~30% of consignments and where most clearing agents were based. The goal was simple: show that decisions could move digitally while keeping the regulatory process familiar and comfortable.

Results

Customer Impact

Clearing agents gained almost a full day. For businesses under constant time pressure, this was a major improvement.

Operational Impact

Daily visitors dropped from ~150 to roughly 10. We achieved:

• Approximately $110,000 in annual savings
• Elimination of three administrative positions
• One-day reduction in certificate turnaround time

Commercial Impact

We were the only provider offering this service. As a result we captured almost all airport volume and increased revenue by approximately 10%. Customers actively preferred us because the process was faster and simpler.

Governance Impact

The regulator could verify certificate status electronically in real time. This increased transparency and reduced opportunities for circumvention. The pilot later became the foundation for integrating our data into Kenya’s National Single Window system used by Customs and other agencies.

Key Lesson

This project is often called a digital transformation. It wasn’t. The technology already existed.

The real achievement was building enough trust for a regulator to act on data instead of paper. Once that trust was established, everything else followed.

The broader lesson applies far beyond certificates:

Sometimes the biggest constraint is not technology, procedure, or cost. Sometimes it is simply the belief that things must continue to be done the way they have always been done.