Corporate News
Workers at Bidco’s Thika plant. Edible oils giant has set in motion plans to diversify to the soft drinks market. Photo/FILE
By MUGAMBI MUTEGI, pmutegi@ke.nationmedia.com
In Summary
- Bidco Oil has secured a piece of land off the Thika-Garissa highway on which it plans to build a production and bottling facility for non-carbonated still drinks, carbonated soft drinks and water.
- Bidco’s beverages factory will have two processing lines — each with a capacity to produce 24,000 bottles per hour.
- A separate plant will produce about 100 million plastic bottles per year.
Businessman Vimal Shah has trained his guns on
the lucrative soft drinks market with a Sh1.7 billion beverage plant
that promises to upset the industry’s domination by multinationals such
as Coca Cola and Del Monte.
Mr Shah says in regulatory filings that Bidco Oil,
the family firm he runs, has secured a piece of land off the
Thika-Garissa highway on which it plans to build a production and
bottling facility for non-carbonated still drinks, carbonated soft
drinks and water.
Bidco manufactures edible oils, cooking fats, soaps, baking powder, animal feeds and detergents.
Going into the soft drinks market means Mr Shah is ready to do battle with seasoned players such as Coca Cola, EABL, Pepsi, and Del Monte who have over the years cemented their positions locally with international backing.
Bidco’s entry into the soft drinks market also
turns it into a competitor of local ready-to-drink juice makers such as
Kevian Kenya (of Peek n’ Peel and Afia brands) and hundreds of water
bottlers, including Crown Beverages (Keringet).
Mr Shah, who Forbes Africa magazine recently
ranked as Africa’s 18th wealthiest man, said the decision to diversify
into soft drinks market is informed by a “growing market demand.”
“The move is in line with our expansion plan to
play in even more categories of fast-moving consumer goods other than
those we are already in,” said Mr Shah.
“I will not comment in detail about the competition but let me just say that there are enough customers for all of us.”
Bidco’s beverages factory will have two processing
lines — each with a capacity to produce 24,000 bottles per hour. A
separate plant will produce about 100 million plastic bottles per year.
The estimated annual production capacity of the
soft drinks plant is 50 million litres to be split among the different
product lines such as energy and sports drinks, smoothies (without and
without milk), and non-carbonated soft drinks with fruit as well as
carbonated soft drinks.
Other products are non-carbonated still drinks, iced tea and coffees as well as bottled water.
Coca-Cola is first on the list of several
competitors that Bidco will come up against when its factory is up and
running. Mr Shah says that will happen in two years upon receiving the
necessary approvals.
Coca-Cola is Kenya’s biggest producer of
carbonated drinks, followed by competitors such as PepsiCo, Mirinda
Fruity and Mirinda Orange and Kuguru Foods (Softa).
Bidco will also do battle with Coca-Cola in the
fresh juices market where the soft drinks giant is present with Minute
Maid and in the bottled water market where it has Dasani
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