New Investments are converting Kenya into a regional hub for investment. During his first visit to Kenya in July 2015 as President of the United States of America, Barrack Obama acknowledged that“new investment is making Kenya a hub for regional trade,"
The US president told delegates at the 1st Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Sub-Saharan Africa that Africa, “…needs to be a future hub of global growth, not just African growth.” According to Obama, who was accompanied to the summit by over 150 incredible entrepreneurs and business leaders, “Kenya is already leading the way.”
Steady growth on the continent
As Africa economic growth scores high, investors from across the world continue to see the continent’s promise for steady growth, and the potential of Kenya holds as a hub for regional and global trade.
Former Jumia executives recently left the company to produce Africa-oriented products to tap into the growing Africa Market, under their newly established company, the Mutalo Group.
Tomasz Nowowiesjski is the Chief Executive Officer of the Polish Mutalo Group Company whose product – an energy drink with a Swahili name “KABISA” is premiering in Kenya before the end of the year 2016. He says an existing product gap which has rendered consumers with limited alternatives for energy drinks is what his company had come to bridge, “When I was in Kenya I noticed that there is a growing number of people who are eager to spend a little bit more for basic products to avoid low-quality beverages. They have to choose between the cheapest and the most expensive ones.
Our target is somewhere in between.”
Product creating a buzz ahead of entry into the Kenya market.
The announcement of Kabisa energy drink’s arrival in Africa is already creating a buzz. Mutalo Group’s CEO is happy about the reception the drink is receiving, “Most of our clients want to introduce KABISA Energy drink into their motherlandsbecause it has a huge potential to fill the gap in the beverage market.
Nowowiesjski says Africa finally has an energy drink it can identify with, and that his company is fully committed to ensuring that the Kabisa Energy drink remains a ‘tailor made’ brand for the African market which has previously been served with products custom made for other markets.
At the beginning of his company’s existence in Kenya, Mutalo Group will invest in supporting local communities and its development.
The approach,accordingto the CEO, is going to be “beneficial both for us [Mutalo] and Kenyans.”
Customers who want value for their money our target.
On the company’s target market are customers in Africa who want to get proper value for money and that is why the company’s first brand to enter the African market has its price tagged at an average of 70%-80% of the price of other energy drinks in the market. Other brands that Mutalo Group is looking forward to introducing progressively into the African Market are; the Blessings London Style whiskey, Kabisa Cola, Kabisa Lemonte, Juisi Orange Juice, Razzle (Rum+coke), and Kabisa Orangite.
The Company’s investment in the African market is premised on global economic projections currently displaying the Sub-Saharan Africa as the fastest-growing economic zone in the world. In 2016 the zone’s GDP is expected to grow at 4.5%, with her share of the global GDP expected to rise to 4% from 1.4% in the next five years.
