Here’s the latest in ESM’s regular series, Notes From Africa, which brings you the latest retail, consumer goods, and food-and-beverage stories from across the African continent. Past editions can be found here.
Angola: Newaco Opens New Fresmart Store
Newaco Group, Angola’s largest distributor of fresh and frozen food, has invested about K180 million ($420,000) in the opening of a new Fresmart supermarket outlet in Lubango, the country’s second-most populous city. The opening of the new store has brought Fresmart’s store count to 28. Covering some 500 square metres, the new outlet has created over 40 direct jobs and will offer business opportunities to the local meat, fish, fruit and vegetable producers in the area, as 60% of its products are locally sourced.
Nigeria: Psaltry International Launches First Cassava-Based Sorbitol Plant
A new cassava-based sorbitol-manufacturing unit has been launched in the town of Iseyin, in Oyo State. The plant has a production capacity of 24 tonnes of sorbitol per day and represents the first facility of its kind built in Africa. It is the result of a collaboration between Psaltry International Limited (PIL), a company specialising in cassava processing, and Unilever Nigeria. This initiative will generate 25,000 direct and indirect jobs and provide additional sources of income to nearly 10,000 farmers and rural households in the region.
Angola: Candy Factory Invests $34.9 Million In New Confectionery Plant
In Angola, a new $35 million confectionery factory is set to open by the end of 2022, in the Luanda-Bengo Special Economic Zone (ZEE). Constructed at a cost of 15 billion kwanzas ($34.9 million), the new, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility is set to have a processing capacity of 6,700 tonnes of sweets per year. With three production lines, it will manufacture gum, sugar confectionery, and lollipops (known as sambapitos locally) under the Oko brand name. Once fully operational, Candy Factory is set to create over 350 direct and indirect jobs by the end of the year.
Uganda: Kamp Group Receives $2.6 Million For Feed Expansion
Kamp Group Limited, a Ugandan-based animal feed-processing, -marketing and distribution company, has received $2 million in blended equity and debt funding. The investment aims to provide the feed processor with long-term capital to execute its comprehensive and integrated growth and expansion strategy. The proposed strategy will address the challenges of sourcing raw materials, establishing a new factory line and warehouse, and purchasing large-capacity automated milling equipment. Incorporated in 2013 and trading as Kamp Feed, the company specialises in the production, marketing, and distribution of quality pelleted animal feeds that are sold on to smallholder farmers through agents across Uganda.
Egypt: OneOrder Raises $6.5 Million To Spur Growth
OneOrder, an Egyptian online one-stop shop that provides food supplies to hotels, restaurants and cafes, has secured EGP 125 million ($6.5 million) in working capital from Contact Factoring, a subsidiary of Contact Financial Holding, a non-banking financial services company. The start-up’s platform enables Egyptian restaurants to buy all that they need from one application. OneOrder aspires, in the long run, to expand its proposition geographically across the MENA region.
Ghana: Farmerline Receives Financial Boost
In Ghana, the agro-tech firm Farmerline has obtained a $6.4 million investment from a consortium of investors. The funding will strengthen the business’s supply chain, reduce the cost of farming, and increase yield for farmers on the continent through the deployment of AI technology and local infrastructure. Farmerline’s marketplace combines digital tools, logistics, field agents, farm resources, and agribusiness partnerships to support African farmers with access to high-quality fertiliser and seeds, free education on climate-smart farming practices, and connections to international markets. The company employs over 200 people in Ghana.
© 2022 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest A-brand news. Article by Espoir Olodo. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
