Bidco Enters Kenya Animal Feeds Market With $5.7m Investment

 

VENTURES AFRICA – One of Kenya’s largest consumer goods manufacturers, Bidco has entered into the animal feeds market after building a Sh500 million ($5.7 million) plant that can produce 100 tonnes daily, as part of its plan to invest about $200 million in new products by 2017.
“We are producing mainly for the Kenyan market, but as the product grows we will penetrate into the region,” Business Daily quoted Vimal Shah, Bidco Oil Refineries’s chief executive officer as saying.
Bidco has Unga Group Limited, one of Kenya’s biggest animals feeds producers, to compete with, but the new brand has the success of Bidco group in other markets to leverage on, especially in terms of quality assurance. A large demand for the products in rural areas, according to Shah, is also expected to drive growth of the new brand.

90 workers have been employed already in four months by the new venture. The company has also secured the service of 30,000 farmers in East Africa for raw materials supply.
Bidco, which produces detergents, edible oils, soaps, cooking fats and baking powder has also disclosed plans to build a Sh1.7 billion ($19.4 million) beverage plant.
The company currently exports its products to 14 countries as it seeks to expand by 400 percent in the next four years.