BUSINESS STRATEGY

Rwandan food manufacturer set for expansion into Ethiopian market

By our African Marketing Confederation News Team | 2024

Africa Improved Foods plans to invest US$40-million in a new manufacturing plant, as it plans a wider African expansion.

Africa Improved Foods, the Rwandan-based food manufacturer, is to invest US$40-million in a new manufacturing plant in Ethiopia.

Photo: Africa Improved Foods

This will be the company’s second facility in Africa, with the first being situated in the Kigali Economic zone in Rwanda.

Processed food products from Africa Improved Foods (AIF) facilities are distributed through normal commercial distribution channels, as well as via relief programmes such as the World Food Program, UNICEF, and the Red Cross.

Countries which receive AIF products through food relief programmes include Kenya, Uganda, Somalia, South Sudan and Ethiopia.

AIF says its products serve 1.6-million people in Africa daily. Its institutional (food relief) products include Super Cereal Plus, while its consumer products include Shisha Kibondo Infants and Shisha Kibondo Mothers. Shisha Kibondo flour is used to make a nutritious complementary porridge for young children and for mothers.

New facilities planned for Nigeria and Zambia

The new Ethiopian plant will initially support distribution in Ethiopia only. However, AIF plans to expand by opening facilities in Nigeria and Zambia by 2030.

“AIF’s plant in Ethiopia will improve supply in a country where food security remains an issue,” comments Trendtype, the London-based emerging markets consultancy.

“The new facility is predicted to impart the same economic gains to the Ethiopian market as in Rwanda,” reports the publication Food Business Africa.

“According to AIF, the Rwandan facility has contributed 5-10% increase in exports and earned the country more than US$24 million in foreign exchange.

“It has also helped improve the agribusiness value chain in Rwanda by working closely with smallholder farmers,” Food Business Africa adds.

You can watch an interview on YouTube with Ramesh Moochikal, AIF’s CEO, here.

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