Food Business Africa - Sept/Oct 2021

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F O O D ,

B E V E R A G E

&

M I L L I N G

I N D U S T R Y

M A G A Z I N E

COCOA IN AFRICA

FAIRAFRIC GHANA Ghana’s organic chocolate producer WWW.FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

GREEK YOGHURT TRENDS IN COFFEE AND TEA DRINKS BURTON & BAMBER YEAR 9 | ISSUE NO. 48 SEP/OCT 2021

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THE CONTENT OF THIS PROMOTION CAMPAIGN REPRESENTS THE VIEWS OF THE AUTHOR ONLY AND IS HIS/HER SOLE RESPONSIBILITY. THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION DOES NOT ACCEPT ANY RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY USE THAT MAY BE MADE OF THE INFORMATION IT CONTAINS.

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CONTENTS

50

Food Startups Africa:

YEAR 9 | ISSUE NO. 48 SEP/OCT 2021

36 My Company Profile: FairAfric Fairafric produces world class chocolate while wildly increasing Africa's share of the value chain in the chocolate industry. By not only sourcing the cocoa in Ghana but by producing the chocolate from bean to (wrapped) bar in Ghana, fairafric has a tremendous social impact, with every bar.

Interview: Equipment 43 Executive Leasing Antony Mutwiri – Area Sales Manager, Bühler & Benard Odote – Director, Strategy and Partnership at RentCo Africa Burton and Bamber: Out of necessity Burton and Bamber invents delectable treats from locally sourced fresh produce

ON THE COVER Michael Marmon-Halm, Managing Director, Fairafric Ghana 4

SEP/OCT 2021 | FOOD BUSINESS AFRICA

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CONTENTS

YEAR 9 | ISSUE NO. 48 | SEP/OCT 2021 REGULARS 10 Editorial 12 Events Calendar

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News Updates: • Tiger Brands sales minority stake in Nigeria based UAC Foods • Serengeti Breweries heightens competitive edge with launch of US$6.7m spirits processing plant • Kenyan food processor SimpliFine enters baked goods market following acquisition of Ennsvalley Bakery • CCBA’s Ghanaian unit Voltic Limited names Flora Jika as new Managing Director • Unga Group taps into expertise of Premier Foods’ CEO Joseph Choge to be its new MD • Nigeria’s premium dried fruit snacks company ReelFruit secures US$3m funding • European Union approves Grasshopper as novel food for human consumption • Planet health upstages plant-based foods in Innova Market Insights’ Top Ten Trends for 2022 • Condiment maker GBfoods attains full ownership of Africa’s operations • Chi Limited taps into expertise of dairy industry veteran Eelco Weber to lead company • Ferrero breaks ground on its first North American chocolate plant • SA’s Pioneer Foods recalls LiquiFruit, Ceres apple juice brands due to mould contamination

28

Supplier News & Innovations: Mettler-Toledo debuts metal detection system to enhance food inspection systems among SMEs | Endress +Hauser introduces new interface components for reliable and power supply | Bühler launch new data-driven milling technology to support high quality flour production | IFF debuts flavor for cleanlabel mayonnaise product | Siemens debuts new servomotors for food and beverage | Tate & Lyle, Barry Callebaut open new innovation centers in Dubai | SEALPAC’s introduces new FlatMap packaging for modified atmosphere products

New Product Innovations: Premier Foods: Recharge Dawa |In2food: seafood sausages | Brookside Dairy: Lactose Free milk | Coca-Cola Beverages Africa in Uganda: Ades Nutri-Bushera | Distell Group: Vegan Amarula | Royal Brekkers: Mohawk Kombucha

MARKET TRENDS 32 Rapid adoption of E-commerce in Egypt’s food, retail sector DAIRY BUSINESS AFRICA 54 Getting the consumer excited as Greek Yogurt becomes mainstream BEVERAGE TECH AFRICA 57 Convenience And New Trends Boost Tea And Coffee Drinks Innovation MILLING & BAKING AFRICA 65 South Africa's success with GM white maize INDUSTRY REPORT 67 Cocoa industry in Africa tainted with a myriad of challenges but sector soldiers on FOOD NUTRITION & HEALTH 73 Eating fruit and veg associated with children's mental well-being FOOD INGREDIENTS 76 Emulsifiers: Getting right the oil-water relationship in foods

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JUSTIN ARCHER

COO East Africa & Group Head of Sustainability, Sucafina SA

ESSAM EL-MADDAH

ROZY RANA

Managing Director, Dormans Coffee

BRETT THOMPSON

Co-Founder & CEO, Mzansi Meat

MERIJN GORIS

HR & General Secretary Director, Danone Egypt & North East Africa

CEO, Holland Dairy, Ethiopia

NICO ROOZEN

OLUGBEMINIYI (BEMI) IDOWU

Honorary President, Solidaridad Network

Managing Director, Talking Drum Communications

EDITORIAL

Value addition key to unlocking Africa’s agricultural produce potential

Year 9 | Issue 5 | No.48 • ISSN2307-3535

FOUNDER & PUBLISHER Francis Juma EDITORIAL Catherine Wanjiku | Paul Ongeto ADVERTISING & SUBSCRIPTION Jonah Sambai | Hellen Mucheru DESIGN & LAYOUT Clare Ngode PUBLISHED BY: FW Africa P.O. Box 1874-00621, Nairobi Kenya Tel: +254 20 8155022, +254725 343932 Email: info@fwafrica.net Company Website: www.fwafrica.net

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O

ver 100 million Africans were facing crisis, emergency, or catastrophic levels of food insecurity in 2020, according to the Africa Center for Strategic Studies. In stark contrast, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that food losses in sub-Saharan Africa add up to US$4 billion annually.

The vast majority of food loss happens between harvest and the point of sale - very little is wasted by consumers after purchase. Some of the leading causes of food loss in Africa are a lack of cold chain facilities especially for perishables, unreliable and inadequate storage facilities, and insufficient agro-processing skills among smallholder farming communities. A gap clearly exists in the food supply chains in Africa which entrepreneurs can take advantage of to create business whilst ensuring we are food secure.

However, all is not lost. Across the continent, entrepreneurs are rising to put a stop to food waste. On the pages of this magazine, you will hear stories of two enterprising businesses -

WWW.HEALTHCAREAFRICA.INFO

Food Business Africa (ISSN 2307-3535) is published 6 times a year by FW Africa.

Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission from the editor is prohibited. All information is published in good faith. While care is taken to prevent inaccuracies, the publishers accept no liability for any errors or omissions or for the consequences of any action taken on the basis of information published.

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SEP/OCT 2021 | FOOD BUSINESS AFRICA

Burton and Bamber (p.g 50) in East Africa and Fairafric (p.g 36) in West Africa. For Burton and Bamber it was the desire to prevent food spoilage but for fairafric, the motivation was local value addition of cocoa to give better returns to farmers.

We must agree that starting a food enterprise is no mean feat. It’s

a capital-intensive process that most would-be entrepreneurs chicken out from when they realize their pockets cannot foot the bill. This is arguably one of the greatest impediments to food manufacturing in Africa. On p.g 43 we discuss with finance service provider Rentco Africa and food equipment supplier Buhler some of the financing structures that businesses can tap into to start or expand their business operations.

You don’t have to bear the burden alone, equipment leasing, and other structures can help reduce the hassle of starting a business.

Lest we forget, we are still in the middle of a pandemic that is changing consumer behaviors and inevitably how we do business. In this issue, we explore how the shift towards online buying is changing the retail landscape in Egypt. We also explore the status of Ethiopia’s coffee industry and the recent developments in Africa’s cocoa industry. The new products corner is also awash with new products from Distell’s vegan Amarula to in2food’s seafood sausages. As always, we also feature the most trending news in the food industry gleaned from our website foodbusinessafrica.com.

This is certainly a magazine worth opening every page!

We wish you a good read.

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REGISTER NOW www.foodbusinessafrica.com/webinars-husky-2021

DATE: NOVEMBER 25, 2021 TIME: 15.00 EAT | 14.00 CAT | 13.00 WAT | 12.00 GMT

A Different Look at PET Packaging for Food and Edible Oil KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Competing in today’s evolving African market means adopting manufacturing solutions that will contribute to the long-term growth of your business. This means investing in flexible, adaptable, intelligent solutions that will help you expand production, diversify your product line and introduce new applications to market – while reducing costs and improving uptime.

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Best practices for food and edible oil PET packaging around the world How two-step molding can drive growth and improved part cost for higher output volumes Real-world case studies demonstrating the value of two-step PET packaging production

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EVENTS CALENDAR

September 1-3, 2021 Food & Beverage West Africa Lagos, Nigeria Focus: Food & Beverages https://fab-westafrica.com/ September 8-9, 2021 Dutch Poultry Expo Hardenberg, Netherlands Focus: Poultry https://www.dutchpoultryexpo.nl/en/ September 9-12, 2021 WorldFood Istanbul Istanbul, Turkey Focus: Food & Beverage https://worldfood-istanbul.com/Home September 14 – 16, 2021 Halal Expo Nigeria Abuja, Nigeria Focus: Food & Beverages www.accinigeria.com/event/halalexpo-nigeria-2020 September 22-24, 2021 Petfood Forum Hybrid, Missouri-USA Focus: Animals & Pets www.petfoodforumevents.com October 09-13, 2021 Anuga Food & Beverage Fair Cologne, Germany Focus: Food & Beverage www.anuga.com October 11 – 14, 2021 Sipsa-Filaha & Agrofood Mohammadia, Algeria Focus: Food, Beverage & Agriculture https://sipsa-filaha.com/?lang=en October 14-16, 2021 Bakery China Shanghai, China

Focus: Bakery and Baked goods https://www.bakerychina.com/en October 20-22,2021 Graintech Africa Nairobi, Kenya Focus: Grain & Milling https://www.graintechafrica.com/ October 26-28, 2021 Grocery Innovations Canada Online Focus: Food & Beverages https://virtual.groceryinnovations.com/ October 27-29, 2021 China Fisheries & Seafood Expo Qingdao, China Focus: Fisheries & Seafood https://chinaseafoodexpo.com/ October 28-30,2021 African Livestock Exhibition and Congress Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Focus: Livestock https://africanlivestock.net/ November 07-09, 2021 Gulfood Manufacturing Dubai, United Arab Emirates Focus: Food & Beverage www.gulfoodmanufacturing.com

November 24-27, 2021 SIAB EXPO MAROC Casablanca, Morocco Focus: Food & Beverage http://siabexpo.com/en/ home/?lang=en December 2-4, 2021 AFMASS Food Expo Nairobi, Kenya Focus: Food, Beverage & Milling www.afmass.com December 3, 2021 Africa Food Industry Excellence Awards Nairobi, Kenya Focus: Food, Beverage & Milling www.awards.foodbusinessafrica.com December 2–4, 2021 Drink Technology India Gujarat, India Focus: Beverage https://www.drinktechnology-india. com/en/ December 3-5, 2021 Tanzfood Arusha, Tanzania Focus: Food & Agriculture https://www.tanzfood.com/

November 10-13, 2021 World Food Expo Hybrid, Mandaluyong-Philippines Focus: Food & Beverage https://wofex.com/wofex-manila

December 7-8, 2021 The Africa Sugar Conference Kampala, Uganda Focus: Sugar https://informaconnect.com/africasugar/

November 24-26, 2021 Addis Inter Food Machinery Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Focus: Process & Pack http://addisinterfood.com/

December 12-14, 2021 Food Africa Cairo Cairo, Egypt Focus: Food & Beverage http://www.foodafrica-expo.com/

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NEW FOOD PRODUCT INNOVATIONS

Premier Foods Recharge Dawa

Premier Foods’s Recharge Dawa is a better-for-you beverage that was inspired by homemade 'dawa', a herbal drink Kenyans enjoy and use to treat common flu. Available in 500ml plastic bottles, recharge Dawa drink contains all the ingredients used by locals; ginger a natural antioxidant, lemon rich in Vitamin C and great for detoxing, and honey.

www.peptang.com

In2food seafood sausages

South African premium prepared food and beverage business in2food has introduced first to market, seafood sausages.

Ready to cook flavour options are Trout & Herb, Hake and Haddock Cheese. The Traditional Hake Sausage launched features flavours of fresh lemon, garlic and parsley. The Trout Sausage, on the other hand, has been flavoured with lemon and fresh dill while the Haddock Cheese Sausage variant includes paprika and spring onion.

www.in2food.co.za

Brookside Dairy Lactose Free milk Brookside dairy has launched lactose-free milk. The new product, suitable for lactose intolerant people, is available in 1000ml laminated box packaging. The dairy has also expanded its milk powder range and its now available in 2.5kg, 900g,400g, and 250g tin packaging.

www.brookside.co.ke

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SEP/OCT 2021 | FOOD BUSINESS AFRICA

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Coca-Cola Beverages Africa in Uganda Ades Nutri-Bushera Ades NutriBushera is a nutritious plant-based beverage made from locally procured sorghum and millet that was launched to market by Coca-Cola Beverages Africa in Uganda (CCBA).

Coming to market in a 400ml contour bottle, the product is a great tasting modification of the traditional drink made in Ugandan households and traditionally consumed at social gatherings such as weddings, child naming ceremonies and traditional gatherings.

www.coca-cola.co.ug

Distell Group Vegan Amarula Amarula, the world’s second-biggest selling cream liqueur, has launched a vegan version named Amarula Marula Gold in South Africa. The vegan amarula uses the same doubledistilled and oak-matured recipe as original Amarula, but with the omission of cream. Packaged in a 700ml bottle, Amarula Marula Gold will be available for around 20% more than Amarula original.

www.distell.co.za

Royal Brekkers Mohawk Kombucha Still on route to creating a name for itself in the Kenyan better-for-you beverage market is Mohawk Kombucha, a perfectly balanced priobiotic drink with a fizz that excites your tastebuds. Mohawk Kombucha comes in six different flavours: Man-Go wild, Spiced, Berriciou, peach, classic, & limeade.

Classic is unflavoured. Available in 500ml plastic bottles, the drink can be enjoyed alone or mixed with fresh juice.

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SEP/OCT 2021 | FOOD BUSINESS AFRICA

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NEWS UPDATES

NEWS UPDATES by www.FoodBusinessAfrica.com MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS

Tiger Brands sales minority stake in Nigeria based UAC Foods cementing its majority ownership of the unit.

The South African food manufacturer bought 49% of UAC’s food business in 2010 following a joint venture agreement with the Nigerian firm to manufacture and distribute some sausage, ice cream and water brands.

NIGERIA – Tiger Brands, one of Africa’s largest food producers, has exited Nigeria- Africa’s most populous nation and largest economy- after selling its minority stake in UAC Foods.

UAC with interests in Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) and livestock feed sector, will take over Tiger Brands’ stake in the company, further

UAC WITH INTERESTS IN QSR AND LIVESTOCK FEED SECTOR, WILL TAKE OVER TIGER BRANDS’ STAKE IN THE COMPANY.

Massmart.

Economic weakness last year curbed consumer demand while skyrocketing input costs have cut into margins, and currency volatility has further eroded profits, making operations in the country untenable, particularly for foreign companies.

With the move, Tiger Brands joins the likes of Shoprite, Massmart and Woolworths who have walked away from the country.

This was when Nigeria was touted as the next growth spot for retailers, attracting many South African retail giants including Shoprite and

NEW SPIRITS LINE

Serengeti Breweries heightens competitive edge with launch of US$6.7m spirits processing plant also seeks to boost beer production at all its three breweries located in Dar es Salaam, Mwanza and Moshi.

“This expansion will create increased demand for cereals that SBL sources from local growers of maize, barley and sorghum for beer production. It will create more direct and indirect job opportunities and expand the firm’s product distribution footprint nationally,” SBL Managing Director Mark Ocitti.

TANZANIA – Serengeti Breweries Limited (SBL), Tanzanian subsidiary of East Africa Breweries Limited, has commissioned its first spirits production plant worth Tsh15.6 billion (US$6.7m) at its facility in Moshi.

The move is aimed to shift Tanzania from being a net importer of spirit drinks to a local producer.

Marking its debut, the company 16

SEP/OCT 2021 | FOOD BUSINESS AFRICA

has started by production of a local brand known as Bongo Don, which SBL describes as being a truly local product of world-class quality.

The new facility is part of the alcohol manufacturer’s three-year expansion journey which commenced in 2019.

Under the plan, with an aggregate value of Tsh 166 billion (US$71m), SBL

THE NEW FACILITY IS PART OF SBL'S THREE-YEAR EXPANSION JOURNEY WHICH COMMENCED IN 2019.

The expansion will also generate more revenue for Treasury in terms of taxes, fees and levies.

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MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS

African Capital Alliance acquires minority stake in Nigerian fast food restaurant owner Food Concepts NIGERIA – Food Concepts, a leading Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) operator in West Africa has welcomed a new partner in its business to steer it to future growth.

Development Partners International (DPI), the main investor of the company has sold 31% stake of the fast-food chain to African Capital Alliance (ACA), a leading pan-African alternative investment firm.

Following the deal, ACA and DPI will work together to support Food Concepts on its next phase of growth and help drive the business’ regional expansion strategy.

“DPI has been there for us every step of the way as we have turned Food Concepts into a business Nigeria can be proud of, building our brands and tripling our store footprint since 2015.

“I am excited to welcome ACA as a new strategic partner alongside DPI

and look forward to benefiting from their shared operational expertise and industry knowledge in the next chapter of our growth,” said David Butler, Managing Director at Food Concepts.

Established in 2001, Food Concepts currently boasts of owning 200 stores across Nigeria and Ghana trading under the Chicken Republic, PieXpress and Chop Box brands.

Led by a best-in-class and experienced management team, and with support from DPI, Food Concepts has grown rapidly from 58 stores in 2015, disrupting the Nigerian QSR sector with an affordable value proposition and demonstrating exceptional financial and operational performance across economic cycles.

The business also operates an online delivery business, growing at over 140% year on year and serves

around 15 million customers per year, in addition to employing over 4,000 people.

Food Concepts demonstrates the tremendous growth the Nigerian mass market can offer for companies that are able to capture the opportunity, as its sales have grown at over 40% every year since 2015.

MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS

Kenyan food processor SimpliFine enters baked goods market following acquisition of Ennsvalley Bakery

KENYA – SimpliFine, a food production company offering fresh, locally-sourced meat, vegetables, baked goods, and other foods to restaurants, hotels, and retailers across East Africa has completed the acquisition of Kenyan based Ennsvalley Bakery.

SimpliFine has taken full FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

ownership of the premium baked goods manufacturer Ennsvalley, from Kenya’s leading milling company, Unga Group, in a deal that was entered through its cold chain logistic firm BigCold.

With the acquisition, SimpliFine is set to inject US$500,000 worth of investment in the next six months into the operations.

The investment is earmarked to boost its processing capacity and product innovations, enabling it to avail to retail and B2B customers products that are currently available through imports.

The food processor has vowed to continue honouring the Ennsvalley brand, by availing products under the famous identity that has resonated with families across the nation for generations, and further introduce a new SimpliFine brand.

The brand is set to market with a range products arriving on include bread, buns, cakes.

launch in the of 21 baked shelves that muffins and

SIMPLIFINE IS SET TO INJECT US$500,000 WORTH OF INVESTMENT IN THE NEXT SIX MONTHS INTO THE OPERATIONS. In addition to the acquisition of Ennsvalley, SimpliFine will take over the production of baked goods at Chandarana Foodplus supermarkets.

The recent announcement follows the recent acquisition of Alpha Fine Foods, a Kenyan producer of premium meat products, by SimpliFine’s parent company, BlackIvy and the purchase of French fries and potato production company based in Naivasha.

SEP/OCT 2021 | FOOD BUSINESS AFRICA

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NEWS UPDATES

BRIEFS Unga Group taps into expertise of Premier Foods’ CEO Joseph Choge to be its new MD

Unga Group Limited, a major grain miller in Kenya, has announced the retirement of its long serving Managing Director Nicholas Hutchinson, effective December 31 2021.

The holding company with investments in flour milling and manufacturing of human nutrition products and animal feeds, has appointed Premier Foods’ CEO Joseph Malel Choge, to take over from Mr Hutchinson from December 1.

The Nairobi Securities Exchangelisted company said in a notice that Hutchinson would continue to serve the company in an advisory capacity for a while to ensure a smooth transition.

The newly appointed boss is a senior executive with vast experience within manufacturing in the fastmoving consumer goods, telecoms, banking, insurance and finance sectors.

Prior to joining the condiments and juice processing company, Choge worked with Industrial Promotion Services (IPS), Airtel Gabon, Unilever, among others, during which he held various senior positions.

KENYA –

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APPOINTMENT

CCBA’s Ghanaian unit Voltic Limited names Flora Jika as new Managing Director GHANA – Voltic Ghana, a subsidiary of Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA) has appointed Flora Jika, as its new Managing Director.

Flora will take up the leadership position at the end of December 2021, succeeding Simon Everest who’ll be retiring in December after 20 years with The Coca-Cola Company family.

She joins Voltic Ghana from CocaCola Beverages South Africa (CCBSA) where she is the current Logistics Director.

Flora hails from a mining engineering background, but changed track in 2008, when she joined the Coca-Cola system.

“Her career since then has been marked by pioneering achievements.

Flora has risen through the ranks and has made an invaluable contribution to CCBSA’s Logistics strategy,” stated CCBA. The logistics expert is hailed for

spearheading several projects for CCBSA, including the implementation of the first 30 metre truck/trailer combination in the FMCG industry in South Africa.

Most recently, she has been working on a project aimed at reducing freight on the roads and moving it to rail. Once completed, the project will result in reduced trucks on the road and improved safety.

FOOD SAFETY

European Union approves Grasshopper as novel food for human consumption

EUROPE - Member States of the European Union have approved Grasshopper Locusta migratoria as novel food for human consumption.

The decision follows the positive opinion by the European Food Safety Association (EFSA) issued earlier in July for an application submitted by Fair Insects, a Protix company.

In the opinion, EFSA concluded that Grasshoppers, as a novel food was safe for human consumption,

creating the way towards the wider EU commercialization of insects as food.

The adoption of the draft Implementing Regulation by the EU Members States marks one of the very last legal steps towards the final authorization procedure of insects as a novel food.

EFSA CONCLUDED THAT GRASSHOPPERS, AS A NOVEL FOOD WAS SAFE FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION Earlier this year, the EFSA approved yellow mealworms as safe for consumption, making the yellow mealworms the first insect to be identified as safe for consumption.

FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

FUNDING

Nigeria’s premium dried fruit snacks company ReelFruit secures US$3m funding

NIGERIA – Nigeria’s leading dried fruit snack brand, ReelFruit, has raised a Series A investment of US$3 million to expand its production fivefold, increase its product offerings and double down on exports to the US and other international markets.

The funding round was led by Alitheia IDF which invested US$2 million into the business. Other investors including Samata Capital and Flying Doctor Healthcare Investment Company also took part in the round.

Founded in 2012, ReelFruit pioneered the dried fruit snack industry in Nigeria and remains its

market leader.

The company operates a factory in Yaba, Lagos, and retails in over 450 outlets in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt.

The premium nutritious snacks maker plans to acquire a new factory in Ogun State to increase its monthly dried fruit production from 6 MT to 30 MT. THE FUNDING ROUND WAS LED BY ALITHEIA IDF WHICH INVESTED US$2 MILLION INTO THE BUSINESS. The factory will hire over 200 people in its first year. With its greater supply of dried fruit, ReelFruit will continue to innovate new products for the local and international markets.

As part of its expansion plan, ReelFruit will scale its dried fruit production, develop new products, and increase exports by 10 x to 15 MT in the first year.

“This investment takes ReelFruit to

the next level. We can meet increased demand for our products and tackle one of our biggest challenges – raw material supply,” Affiong Williams, ReelFruit CEO/Founder.

As part of its efforts to secure high quality raw materials, ReelFruit plans to deepen its existing work with Nigerian fruit farmers by forming an agro-extension services program for 250 registered mango and pineapple producers.

ReelFruit also plans to launch an e-commerce channel for direct US sales by 4Q21. The company further seeks to unlock more B2B opportunities including white labelling and co-packing to support the national drive toward import substitution.

MARKET TRENDS

Planet health upstages plant-based foods in Innova Market Insights’ Top Ten Trends for 2022

GLOBAL Consumers now rank planetary health as their number one concern, overtaking personal health, which has been the top priority in Innova Market Insights’ Top Ten Trends in recent years.

According to Innova, “Shared Planet” topping the Top Ten Trends for 2022 reflects a reality where FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

today’s consumers are more ethically and environmentally conscious.

“One of the biggest shifts we are seeing is that the health of the planet is now the top concern of consumers,” says Innova’s global insights director, Lu Ann Williams.

“Personal health has been the big concern for the past few years, but consumers now tell us that this has been surpassed by global issues.”

Meanwhile, the Plant-based caravan is still journeying on, clinching the second position in the Top 10 trends for 2022.

According to Innova, this trend is mainly buoyed by increased consumer focus on personal health and global sustainability.

Third on the Innova list is “Tech

to Table” where the market research firm notes that while innovators ONE OF THE BIGGEST SHIFTS WE ARE SEEING IS THAT THE HEALTH OF THE PLANET IS NOW THE TOP CONCERN OF CONSUMERS embrace new production methods, consumers are turning to apps and AI for guidance on personalized nutrition and a greater understanding of how to successfully fulfil their needs.

Others in the top 10 trends for 2022 include Shifting Occasions, Voice of the Consumer, Gut Glory, back to the Roots, Amplified Experiences, Upcycling Redefined, and My Food, My Brand.

SEP/OCT 2021 | FOOD BUSINESS AFRICA

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NEWS UPDATES

MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS

Condiment maker GBfoods attains full ownership of Africa’s operations

AFRICA – Global culinary products manufacturer GBfoods has undertaken a share buy-back at its African unit from private equity investment firm Helios Investment Partners.

Established in 2017, GBfoods Africa was a joint venture created

by Helios and GBfoods through the combination of GBfoods’ existing bouillon cubes business in Africa and the acquisition of brands Gino, Pomo, Jago, and Bama.

Under the new deal, Helios has sold its 49% stake in the company to its partner and co-shareholder, after successful execution of its value creation strategy which has resulted in strong financial, social and environmental performance.

According to the Africa-focused investor, during its ownership, annual operating profit growth was consistently in the mid-teens, driven by both revenue growth and margin expansion.

The combined platform is reported to have generated 70% of gross profit from core brands and established a strong presence in over 30 African markets.

The local production initiatives had a particularly significant social and environmental impact, with the investments in West Africa enabling the company to reduce carbon emissions and retain high-value jobs and skills in-country.

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MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS

UK retailer Morrisons sold to CD&R for US$9.4bn in frenzied bidding war UK - U.S private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) is th new owner of Britain’s fourth-biggest supermarket group Morrisons after winning the auction for the retailer that was scheduled in October this year.

CD&R’s 287 pence per share bid narrowly beat the one made by a consortium led by Softbank (9434.T) owned Fortress Investment Group which had made an offer worth just a penny less per share at 286 pence.

Morrisons’ board recommended that shareholders vote in favor of MORRISONS, AS IT IS KNOWN BY BRITISH SHOPPERS, OPERATES 497 SUPERMARKETS the 287 pence per share offer at a meeting slated for Oct. 19, saying the private equity group had confirmed its previously stated intentions towards Morrisons remained unchanged.

Morrisons, as it is known by British shoppers, operates 497 supermarkets along with a network of cafes, and gas stations and convenience-store outlets.

BRIEFS Zambian potato producing giant Buya Bamba invests US$7m in new frozen chips processing factory

ZAMBIA – Zambia’s leading potato

producer, Buya Bamba has vertically expanded its operations with an investment of US$7 million in a new processing factory for production of frozen chips.

The company specializes in supply of superior seeds, growing, harvesting, cleaning, sizing and packaging, as well as the storage of fresh potatoes to provide the Zambian customers with a dependable source of local produce on a year-round basis.

The new facility located in Lusaka has been under construction for the past three years and is set for commissioning.

THE COMPANY SPECIALIZES IN SUPPLY OF SUPERIOR SEEDS, GROWING, HARVESTING, CLEANING, SIZING AND PACKAGING OF POTATOES The retailer also has a wholesale operation that includes supplying groceries to Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime Now and other online delivery services available in Britain.

Earlier, German retailer Aldi announced that it will invest 1.3 billion pounds ($1.8 billion) in its British and Irish business over the next two years as it attempts to accelerate its growth in market share.

Being a first of its kind in the country, the plant is aimed to cut importation of frozen chips mostly from South Africa, leading to forex saving in the economy.

It will be able to supply fast food chains such as Hungry Lion that are driving demand of potatoes in the market but require them in ready-tocook format.

FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

BEVERAGES

Varun Beverages Zimbabwe rumps up production with launch of new US$12m production line

ZIMBABWE – Varun Beverages Zimbabwe (Pvt) Limited, the franchise bottler of PepsiCo in Zimbabwe, has commissioned a new US$12m water bottling line, with a production capacity of 15 million bottles per month.

The new 400 bottle per minute line is part of the third phase of the company’s expansion project, which will bring total production capacity to 66 million bottles of sparkling

beverages, cans and bottled water per month.

Varun Beverages Zimbabwe officially commissioned its first plant in the Southern African country in February 2018 with an initial production capacity of 15 million bottles per month.

By 2019, the company had added three more production lines, enhancing the capacity to 51 million bottles per month of carbonated

beverage.

As part of the second phase of expansion, the fast-growing beverage maker added 3 Husky production lines to produce 510 million pieces of preforms a year from virgin resin as backward integration.

Bringing the firm’s cumulative investment in Zimbabwe to US$66 million, the new line earmarked for production of its Aquaclear bottled mineral water brand, lays the foundation stone of its fourth phase of investment in a new plastic closure plant with an annual production capacity of 500 million pieces.

In addition to the closure project, a new carbonated beverage production line will be installed with an additional capacity of 18 million bottles per month which will be in operation by May 2022.

APPOINTMENT

Chi Limited taps into expertise of dairy industry veteran Eelco Weber to lead company

NIGERIA – Chi Limited, Nigeria’s leading fruit juice, drinking yoghurt, evaporated milk, and snacks manufacturing company, has appointed Eelco Weber as its new Managing Director.

Eelco has had a long and illustrious career in the food industry and mostly in the dairy sector, serving companies such as Nutricia, Danone, Nutricima, Bio Food Products and Ma Cuisine Limited.

At Nutricia, a division of Danone that specialises in therapeutic food FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

and clinical nutrition, Eelco held different senior position roles, serving as Project Manager, General Manager of Sales and Commercial Director both in Middle East and Europe.

He later moved to Danone’s GCC operations, as its General Manager, where he led the turned around and restructuring of the organisation from a stand-alone Saudi Arabia unit, which was making significant losses while losing market share, to an energetic regional GCC team growing the business profitably.

In 2010, Eelco shifted to serving as General Manager of the French multinational dairy company’s newly set up base in Kenya, serving key African markets i.e., Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, and Ethiopia.

After his stint at Danone, he joined Nutricima, the then Joint Venture between PZ Cussons PLC and Glanbia from Ireland, as the Chief Executive

Officer.

In 2017 he embarked on a new professional adventure and took up the role of Managing Director at Kenya’s leading specialty dairy company Bio Food Products.

Under his leadership, Bio Foods tripled its sales and he oversaw EELCO HAS HAD A LONG AND ILLUSTRIOUS CAREER IN THE FOOD INDUSTRY, MOSTLY IN THE DAIRY SECTOR the acquisition of a small fine foods business ‘Ma Cuisine’ in 2020 which grew tenfold in the first year after take over.

Now as the new head of The CocaCola Company owned business, Eelco is set to lead the major producer of juice brands in Nigeria into future growth.

SEP/OCT 2021 | FOOD BUSINESS AFRICA

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SEP/OCT 2021 | FOOD BUSINESS AFRICA

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SEP/OCT 2021 | FOOD BUSINESS AFRICA

23

NEWS UPDATES

BRIEFS Massmart eyes majority stake in OneCart to bolster E-commerce capabilities

SOUTH AFRICA – Walmart-owned South African retailer, Massmart has reached agreement to acquire 87.5% of the issued shares in OneCart.

This is in line with its strategy to invest in and accelerate its e-commerce presence and compete with the likes of Shoprite’s highly successful Checkers Sixty60 on-demand delivery service and Pick n Pay’s Bottles service, now dubbed Pick n Pay ASAP! As a fast-moving consumer goods marketplace and logistics platform, OneCart partners with leading retailers in South Africa to enable fast, flexible and efficient online sales and home delivery to consumers across the country.

This transaction adds another dimension to Massmart’s omni-channel retail offering and enhances their strategy of meeting customers where they want to be met.

ONECART PARTNERS WITH RETAILERS TO ENABLE FAST, FLEXIBLE AND EFFICIENT ONLINE SALES The company is eyeing an eCommerce growth potential of 1726x current online sales through a seamlessly integrated retail and wholesale multichannel proposition.

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REGULATORY

Guinness Ghana more than doubles its processing capacity with launch of new US$23.9m Brewhouse GHANA – Guinness Ghana Breweries PLC, has commissioned a state-ofthe-art Brewhouse worth GHS 145 million (US$23.9m).

The new facility will boost its current production capacity by more than 150% of the old Brewhouse.

With the beefed-up capacity, Ghana’s leading drink company will increase its local raw material sourcing, propelling it towards its ambitions goal of acquiring 70% of its raw material requirements from Ghanaian farmers by 2024.

THE NEW FACILITY WILL BOOST ITS CURRENT PRODUCTION CAPACITY BY MORE THAN 150% Currently, the company sources 61% of local raw materials i.e., maize, sorghum and cassava used to produce its premium beverages, from 30,000 farmers in 11 of the 16 regions in Ghana.

“Since 2003, Guinness Ghana has been using sorghum as an ingredient for the brewing of some of our brands

such as Guinness Foreign Extra Stout and Malta Guinness.

“We have year on year made significant investments in the cultivation of sorghum and reengineering our brands to use more local materials.

“This new investment will allow us to source more than 40,000 tonnes of sorghum a year since the primary raw materials for production at the new facility would be soghurm,” Helene Weesie, Managing Director for Guinness Ghana, said.

FUNDING

Nigerian spice exporter Agricorp raises US$17.5m in Series A funding round NIGERIA – Agricorp International, Nigerian based spices producing, processing, and exporting startup has raised US$17.5 million in Series A funding led by Vami Nigeria with US$11.5 million in equity.

The fundraising round also attracted the participation of Nigeria’s leading commodity trader – AFEX, alongside One Capital LLC, who provided working capital financing for the company.

The investment will be channelled towards expanding its processing capacity to 7,000 metric tonnes, set up regional sales operations in

South Africa and East Africa, acquire certifications for food safety and hygiene, increase staff strength to meet growing demand, and improve marketing efforts.

Founded in 2018, Agricorp is contributing to meeting the growing demand of spices as an export material.

The company has so far supported over 5,000 smallholder farmers with inputs and training on good agronomic practices, and built a 0.5MT/hour spice processing plant in Kaduna that produces value-added products for the export market.

FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

PLANT-BASED FOODS

Burger King SA becomes first African fast-food restaurant to serve plant-based meat SOUTH AFRICA – In a bid to cater to the growing demand for meatfree food options, Burger King South Africa has introduced an array of plant-based offerings in its menu, all made with 100% plant-based ingredients.

Deemed to be the first fast-food chain to offer vegan-certified meat in all of Africa, Burger King created the new delicacies in partnership with Unilever Food Solutions and The Vegetarian Butcher.

The new menu items include Whopper, Vegan Royale (a vegan chicken sandwich), and Vegan Nuggets.

In addition to the three new menu items, meals can also be accompanied by two dip pots for nuggets, fries and

Pepsi – all vegan choices have been endorsed by V-Label.

Meanwhile, the South African Competition Tribunal has approved the sale of Burger King South Africa and Grand Foods Meat Plant by Grand Parade Investments to international private equity fund Emerging Capital Partners (ECP) Africa.

The approval comes with a host of conditions attached and requirements to be met within a period of five years.

This comes after the deal hit a speedbump earlier this year due to concerns around a lack of BEE (Black Economic Empowerment) shareholding in the acquiring firm.

INVESTMENTS

Ferrero breaks ground on its first North American chocolate plant

USA - Italian manufacturer of branded chocolate and confectionery products Ferrero Group has broken ground on a new US$75 million, 70,000-squarefoot chocolate processing facility in Bloomington, Illinois.

The plant under the group’s North America division will be Ferrero’s third facility that processes chocolate, and it’s first outside of Europe.

The new facility is an expansion of Ferrero’s existing Bloomington manufacturing center and will FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

produce chocolate for brands such as Crunch, 100 Grand, Raisinets, and other Ferrero products for the North American market.

Ferrero North America President and Chief Business Officer Todd Siwak said it's more efficient to make the chocolate in Bloomington instead of shipping it from Europe.

“By investing in the capability and technology and the talent to process that chocolate here in Bloomington, central in Illinois, provides for us

real vertical integration of a critical component of our supply chain,” Siwak said.

With the North American market being an important growth driver for Ferrero, the company has made several investments in the region over the past few years.

These include the expansion of its North American headquarters in New Jersey and the opening of new distribution centers in Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Georgia.

The company’s footprint in the market now totals 8 offices and 10 THE NEW FACILITY WILL PRODUCE CHOCOLATE FOR BRANDS SUCH AS CRUNCH, 100 GRAND, RAISINETS, AND OTHER FERRERO PRODUCTS FOR THE NORTH AMERICAN MARKET. plants and warehouses in North America, including a cocoa processing plant in Brantford, Ont. SEP/OCT 2021 | FOOD BUSINESS AFRICA

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FOOD SAFETY

SA’s Pioneer Foods recalls LiquiFruit, Ceres apple juice brands due to mould contamination

SOUTH AFRICA – Pioneer Foods, one of the largest food and beverage manufacturer in South Africa (SA) owned by PepsiCo, has announced a recall of several LiquiFruit brands and Ceres apple juice products sold outside the homeland country, following detection of elevated levels of mould toxins in them.

“The health and wellbeing of our consumers is of absolute importance to us, and hence when we identified the potential of a food safety issue, after in-house standard testing and engagement with one of our local suppliers, we immediately launched an internal investigation into all our

100% apple juice products,” said CEO Tertius Carstens.

The company’s investigation has confirmed that a limited quantity of apple juice concentrate supplied to them contained elevated levels of patulin, a mould toxin mainly found in rotting apples.

The recall is based on the presence of patulin in a concentration of more than 50 parts per billion (ppb), which is the regulatory threshold.

THE RECALL IS BASED ON THE PRESENCE OF PATULIN IN A CONCENTRATION OF MORE THAN 50PPM, WHICH IS THE RECALL THRESHOLD. The World Health Organization highlights the risk of consuming patulin exceeding 50μg/l may lead to vomiting, nausea and gastrointestinal symptoms.

Other jurisdictions affected by the recall include Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Seychelles and Mauritius.

REGULATORY

SA’s Rooibos becomes first African commodity to receive EU’s Protected Designations of Origin certification

SOUTH AFRICA – The South African rooibos industry has officially received the certificate of registration for Protection Designation of Origin (PDO) in the European Union (EU).

A PDO identifies and links a product to a region, associating its quality and reputation to that area.

Rooibos also known as bush tea or red tea, is a caffein free herbal tea and antioxidant food ingredient 26

SEP/OCT 2021 | FOOD BUSINESS AFRICA

originating from the endemic South African fynbos plant, aspalathus linearis, that has become popular on the global markets.

With the certification, Rooibos will now receive the same protection as Champagne, Irish whiskey, Porto, Queso Manchego and other iconic products already registered, creating greater product recognition and demand.

Further to that, the South African product has become the first African commodity to receive PDO status from the EU, which would afford it greater access to the industry.

BRIEFS Unilever seeks to divest from Kenya’s Limuru Tea

KENYA – Multinational consumer goods company, Unilever is seeking to divest from its Kenyan tea subsidiary, Limuru Tea, to a new owner Holdco UK Limited (TeaCo).

The move follows a decision by its parent firm Unilever Group to separate its global tea business including tea plantations to become a separate entity and divest in most markets.

The maker of the popular Lipton, Brooke Bond and PG Tips brands, had initially indicated that it will retain LIMURU TEA HAS OVER 16,000 ACRES OF LAND, 2O TEA ESTATES, AND EIGHT FACTORIES PRODUCING 32M KGS OF TEA ANNUALLY. the tea businesses in Kenya, India and Indonesia and the partnership interests in the ready-to-drink tea joint ventures with PepsiCo. However, in a notice to shareholders of Limuru Tea, the Unilever Kenya board indicated that assets including land and factories will be transferred to TeaCo. Limuru Tea has over 16,000 acres of land, 20 tea estates and eight factories producing 32 million kilogrammes of tea annually.

By virtue of the transfer of shares, Unilever Tea Kenya Limited’s indirect interest in Limuru Tea Plc will also transfer to TeaCo. FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

APPOINTMENTS

INNOVATION

Nestle revamp's geographic structure, makes new board appointments

SWITZERLAND The Nestlé Board of Directors has approved the creation of new geographic Zones to strengthen the company’s market-led approach and further its ability to win in a rapidly changing environment.

As from the beginning of next year, the company will be organized into five Zones as follows: North America (NA), Latin America (LATAM), Asia, Oceania and Africa (AOA), Europe (EUR), and Greater China (GC).

The maker of Nescafe instant coffee and KitKat chocolate bars also said it was changing its executive board to align with the new structure, which takes effect from January.

Company veteran Chris Johnson, now head of Nestle's Asia, Oceania and sub-Saharan Africa zone (AOA), will retire from the executive board and be replaced by Remy Ejel, current head of Nestle's Middle East and North Africa business.

Steve Presley, chairman and CEO Nestlé USA, will join the executive board as CEO Zone North America, Nestle's biggest market with annual sales of 24.7 billion Swiss francs ($26.59 billion).

David Zhang, CEO of Nestle's food seasoning business Totole and business executive officer for food in Greater China, will join the board as the head of the Greater China business.

"With the new zone structure, we will significantly sharpen our geographic focus to drive sustained profitable growth everywhere we operate," Nestle CEO Mark Schneider said in a statement.

MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS

Givaudan acquires DDW to bolster growth in natural colors arena USA - Seeking to capitalize on growing demand for natural ingredients, the Swiss flavor and fragrance maker Givaudan has announced plans to acquire DDW, a Kentucky firm that produces natural food coloring.

Headquartered in Kentucky, US, DDW is a privately held company specializing in natural colors, with 12 global manufacturing facilities.

The company has developed a crucial market position from its origins in the brewing industry through its capabilities in caramel colors.

Louie D’Amico, president of Givaudan’s taste and well-being business, says the acquisition will make Givaudan the world’s secondlargest provider of natural colors.

“With health and wellness top of mind for consumers over the last FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

18 months, interest in natural food formulation and recognizable, cleanlabel ingredients has continued to rise,” D’Amico says. “This long-term trend is driving increased demand for natural colors.”

DDW'S BUSINESS WOULD HAVE REPRESENTED AROUND US$140M OF INCREMENTAL SALES TO GIVAUDAN IN 2020 The transaction is expected to close in Q4 2021. No financial details of the deal have been disclosed.

However, Givaudan plans to debt fund the transaction.

DDW’s business would have represented around US$140 million of incremental sales to Givaudan’s results in 2020 on a proforma basis.

Symrise partners Freddy Hirsch Nigeria to develop flavours, ingredients for West African market

NIGERIA – Germany-based fragrances, care, flavourings, and nutrition manufacturer, Symrise AG has entered a strategic partnership with Freddy Hirsch Nigeria aimed at boosting food innovation and nutrition in West Africa.

The innovative partnership will harness the flavour technology platform of the two companies to deliver authentic regional and AFRICA'S UNIQUE FLAVOUR MARKET IS FORECASTED TO REACH US$36 BILLION IN 2020 hyperlocal African flavours and ingredients.

Under the new partnership, the companies will mainly focus on the development, launch, and commercialization of transformational food products.

Some of the products that the two companies plan to work on include ingredients for general seasoning, bouillon meat, snacks, and instant noodles.

Symrise’s foray into West Africa comes amid growing interest for unique flavours tailored for the African consumer which is forecasted to reach US$36 billion in 2022.

Freddy Hirsch Nigeria having already established itself as a reputable manufacturer of savoury flavours, seasonings for the bouillon and noodle market in West Africa, renders itself a key ally to Symrise in its foray into Africa.

SEP/OCT 2021 | FOOD BUSINESS AFRICA

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SUPPLIER NEWS & INNOVATIONS

INNOVATION

Mettler-Toledo debuts metal detection system to enhance food inspection systems among SMEs Mettler-Toledo Product USA Inspection has launched M30 R-series GC, a new a series of metal detection systems aimed at enhancing food inspection operations of small and medium-size manufacturers and/or co-packers.

The new metal detection systems feature a Sense software-powered digital platform and advanced algorithms which makes it possible to deliver high sensitivity to all metal contaminant types with minimal false rejects.

Dynamic stability control innovations which are incorporated into the system stabilize the core sensor of the metal detector to help protect against environmental noise and vibration interference for increased reliability.

The M30 R-Series consists of four metal detector models matched to different production and compliance needs, and budget considerations.

Mettler-Toledo notes that these entry-level metal detection systems are designed on a modular platform concept with streamlined features availed as standard to all of them.

The metal detector and conveyor can be upgraded as compliance or production requirements change, helping manufacturers achieve a lower overall cost of ownership and extend the useful life of their equipment, supporting sustainability aims.

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SEP/OCT 2021 | FOOD BUSINESS AFRICA

INNOVATION

Endress +Hauser introduces new interface components for reliable and power supply

SWITZERLAND – Switzerlandheadquartered instrumentation and automation company Endress +Hauser has introduced new interface components for reliable power supply, switching and signal doubling in safety systems.

The new RN Series are comprised of RN22: (RN42): Active/passive barrier; signal doubler, RLN22: (RLN42): NAMUR isolating amplifier, RNO22: Output isolating amplifier, RNB22: System power supply (single or redundant), and RNF22: Feed-in and error message module.

intrinsically safe signal processing and conditioning devices that ensure reliable power supply and safe operations in hazardous areas, establishing a trusted signal link between field instruments and the process control level.

THE INTERFACE COMPONENTS ARE EQUIPPED WITH INTRISICALLY SAFE SIGNAL PROCESSING AND CONDITIONING DEVICES

Smart functions such as NAMUR signal conversion, line fault monitoring, galvanic signal isolation, signal doubling, output signal amplification with bidirectional HART transparency are also put in place to give operators control and flexibility in systems of any scale, protecting assets and safeguarding data signal integrity in the process.

All RN Series interface modules perfectly integrate with Endress+Hauser instruments and work equally seamlessly with instruments from other vendors.

Endress notes that the RN Series interface modules power the foundation of measurement instrument loops and safety instrumented systems built on the widely used analog process control infrastructure.

Additionally, the interface components are equipped with

ALL RN SERIES INTERFACE MODULES PERFECTLY INTEGRATE WITH ENDRESS+HAUSER INSTRUMENTS AND WORK SEAMLESSLY WITH INSTRUMENTS FROM OTHER VENDORS.

FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

TECHNOLOGY

Bühler launch new datadriven milling technology to support high quality flour production

SWITZERLAND – Swiss technology

group Bühler has launched a new high-tech data-driven mill with the potential to produce the highest quality flour possible.

Dubbed Mill E3, the new technologically advanced mill is said to be equipped with more than 15,000 data points collecting information on all aspects of the production process.

According to Bühler, the volume of data being analyzed, along with the cutting-edge application of blockchain technology, will enable the mill to produce the most efficient, transparent, and consistent production possible, and therefore the highest quality product.

“What is most exciting about the technology is that it provides the operator with data in real-time, which enables the miller to take key and well-informed decisions about the plant,” explains Mike Peters, Managing Director of Whitworth Bros.

The Mill E3 also comes equipped with the Arrius fully integrated grinding system, which is said to provide lower energy consumption, faster installation, along with the highest food safety standards, reliability, and optimum grinding performance.

Sensors are also put in place to feed data every few seconds to Bühler Mercury Manufacturing Execution System (MES) to facilitate control of every aspect of the mill’s internal workings.

FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

NEW PRODUCT

IFF debuts flavor for cleanlabel mayonnaise product USA – American producer of flavors

and fragrances IFF has launched Guardian Chelox 30C, a natural flavor that offers antioxidant, texturizing and moisture retention properties for mayonnaise and mayonnaise-based dressings.

According to the food ingredients supplier, the new flavor is a plant-based blend that enables manufacturers to formulate without the addition of synthetic antioxidant ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA).

The carrier-free, easy-to-use powder may be added to other dry ingredients without changing processing conditions, according to the company.

Its launch is in response to a need in the market for a product that can enable reformulation of mayonnaisebased products to meet clean label objectives while maintaining freshness and sensory quality throughout shelf life.

Caroline de Lamarlière, global food protection product manager at IFF says customer trials have validated the impact of Guardian Chelox 30C on flavor and freshness.

“The effectiveness of this novel blend means it is a perfect ingredient for creating label friendly products with shorter ingredient lists when compared to the industry standard formulations,” she added.

INNOVATION

Siemens debuts new servomotors for food and beverage GERMANY – Siemens is launching a

new line of servomotors, designed for the clean condition requirements of the food, beverage, sterile packaging, pharmaceutical, and other process industries.

The SIMOTICS S-1FS2 servomotors are available in a range of power ratings, from 0.45–2kW (0.60–2.68 hp) with torque from 3.1–14 Nm (2.28– 10.32 ft-lbs.).

SIMOTICS S-1FS2 FAMILY OF MOTORS IS SUITABLE FOR CIP PROCESSES AND FOR USE WITH ALL WASHDOWN MOTOR CLEANING AGENTS. Made with housings of 1.4404 (AISI 316/316L) stainless steel, EPDM seals, and bearing grease with NSF H1 approval, the company said the new servomotors are resistant to corrosion and acidic chemicals found in the process industries.

This degree of protection is in accordance with IP66/67 standards on the entire motor, with IP69k (30bar) protection provided on the motor housing.

The servomotors also feature high dynamics due to low inherent inertia plus high overload capacity for use in pick-and-place applications, as well as the precise movement of heavy loads.

Siemens says that the SIMOTICS S-1FS2 family of motors is suitable for clean-in-place (CIP) processes and for use with all commercially available cleaning agents used with washdown motors.

The motors are especially designed for the 3-A (U.S.) and EHEDG (Euro) requirements of the food and beverage industries.

SEP/OCT 2021 | FOOD BUSINESS AFRICA

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SUPPLIER NEWS & INNOVATIONS

INNOVATION CENTRE

Tate & Lyle, Barry Callebaut open new innovation centers in Dubai

UAE – Global food ingredients supplier Tate & Lyle and Swissbased processor of chocolate and cocoa products Barry Callebaut have opened new innovation centers in Dubai to support food innovations in the Middle East and Africa region.

Tate & Lyle says its US$2 million state-of-the-art application center will support manufacturers across the region to deliver successful food formulation, from ingredients and

recipes to the application and sensory experience.

The center’s highly trained experts will also work with food and beverage customers to address the growing demand for solutions that lower sugar, fat, and calories, and add fiber, in consumer products.

Tate & Lyle will also be running a newly launched initiative by UAE Food & Beverage Manufacturers Group, The Middle East Sugar & Calorie

Reduction Knowledge Building Programme, from the new Centre.

Barry, on the other hand, recently inaugurated its relocated Chocolate Academy Center which is now at the foot of the iconic Burj Khalifa.

The chocolate manufacturer said that the new center will serve as a creative platform where chefs and artisans can showcase and develop their talent and skills.

The center’s dedicated team of chefs is also expected to continue inspiring and educating the chocolate industry and introducing new techniques to artisans, pastry chefs, confectioners, bakers and caterers.

This, according to Barry, would play an important role in driving innovation as consumption patterns shift towards premiumization and new concepts in terms of design, color and flavors.

NEW PACKAGING

SEALPAC’s introduces new FlatMap packaging for modified atmosphere products

GERMANY - SEALPAC has released its new FlatMap packaging system, which it says offers a sustainable solution for sliced products under a modified atmosphere.

According to SEALPAC, its new 30

SEP/OCT 2021 | FOOD BUSINESS AFRICA

FlatMap packaging system places sliced meat, dairy, and seafood products on a flat cardboard carrier made from bleached or unbleached fibre.

The carrier is then coated with a thin protective layer, which reportedly provides stability, as well as a barrier against fat, moisture, and oxygen.

The company says that the products are then securely sealed under a modified atmosphere by a thin lidding film, which it claims prolongs shelf life. It adds that the lidding film and protective layer are both polyolefin-based, apparently making the packaging fully recyclable.

SEALPAC claims that up to 75% of the plastic from its FlatMap range can be saved, compared to common modified atmosphere packaging.

In addition, SEALPAC says that opening the pack is made consumerfriendly by its peel tab. The flat design of the pack, it adds, means that the product can be resealed and stored in the consumer’s refrigerator without the need for re-packing.

SEALPAC CLAIMS THAT UP TO 75% OF THE PLASTIC FROM ITS FLATMAP RANGE CAN BE SAVED, COMPARED TO COMMON MODIFIED ATMOSPHERE PACKAGING The company says the “striking and innovative look” of the FlatMap range will appeal to customers whether it is presented horizontally or vertically on shelves.

FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

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31

Market Trends Rapid adoption of E-commerce in Egypt’s food, retail sector COVID-19 pandemic leads to a surge in e-commerce, accelerates digital transformation.

By Catherine Wanjiku

A

s lockdowns became the new normal across the World, businesses and consumers increasingly “went digital”, providing and purchasing more goods and services online.

Egypt is Africa’s third largest country in terms of population with over 102 million people. Online commerce growth is skyrocketing in the North African 32

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country, as more and more customers adopt new ways to access their shopping needs in a changing environment.

According to Wamda and MIT’s Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship, the value of the Middle East & Northern Africa (MENA) region’s e-commerce sector surged 52% to reach US$22 billion by the end of 2020, 80% of which came from Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

IN ALIGNMENT WITH EGYPT'S VISION 2030, THE GOVERNMENT IS EMBARKING ON A DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION STRATEGY, WITH THE GOAL TO TRANSITION THE NATION TO A KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY .

UAE, with Egypt setting itself as a strong contender in the digital driven revolution as it boasts of having the largest population of internet users in the region.

A recent report from DataReportal, puts Internet penetration in Egypt at 57.3% of the population in January 2021, with almost 92% of those users connecting to the Internet via mobile. In the third quarter of 2020, 56.6 percent of internet users in the country purchased something online. Although these figures are below the global average, which stood at roughly 77%, online shopping penetration in Egypt is on the rise.

In alignment with Egypt’s Vision 2030, the government is embarking on a digital transformation strategy, with the goal to transition the nation to a knowledge economy characterized by a highly skilled workforce and the creation of intellectual property, goods and services based on information-intensive activities under three main pillars: digital transformation, digital skills and jobs, and digital innovation.

AMAZON AND JUMIA SET BASE On this backdrop, global players such as Amazon who had been operating in the local market since 2017 via its acquisition of regional e-commerce player Souq.com, recently availed a new website Amazon.eg, featuring millions of items from both local and international brands.

This is Amazon’s first operation in an African state, with investments worth nearly US$63.6m. Egypt is also the third country in the Arab world that the American ecommerce giant has tapped into after the UAE and Saudi Arabia, where Souq became amazon.ae in 2019 and amazon.sa in 2020, respectively.

Meanwhile, in pursuit for a larger market share, Africa’s leading online shopping platform, Jumia launched its flagship tech centre in Cairo. The tech center aims to adapt technology to be available for all users as a contribution to achieve Egypt’s Vision 2030.

“Egyptian efforts are the main reason for this investment. From the first day of laying the foundation of the technology center, Jumia has established Egypt as a center for launching entrepreneurship in the electronic payment and digital technology fields in Africa.

“Therefore, expertise will be shared among the rest of the surrounding countries, in addition to electronic payment methods that customers can use easily, conveniently and safely, as Jumia works side by side with the vision and direction of the Egyptian state that maximize the importance of digital transformation and financial inclusion,” Eng. Hesham Safwat, CEO of Jumia Egypt, said.

FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

FOOD AND GROCERY DELIVERY CHANGES One of the key drivers of e-commerce in Egypt is the food and grocery delivery segment, which is projected to reach US$85m in 2021, according to Statista.

This is further expected to show an annual growth rate (CAGR 2021-2025) of 4.9%, resulting in a projected market volume of US$102m by 2025, with the largest segment Restaurant-to-Consumer Delivery projected to grow from market volume of US$62m in 2021 to US$75m by 2025, with a CAGR of 4.72%.

This arena has been graced by players such as Ordera, an e-commerce startup that allows users to order food online and then pick up from restaurants and cafes, without having to wait in any queue, fostering a convenient and fast process. The food ordering platform recently secured a six-figure US dollar investment in a seed funding round.

Positioning itself as one of the fastest growing food

delivery platforms in the country is Elmenus, which recently raised US$10 million in pre-Series C funding round lead by Egyptian payments firm Fawry. This came after it had clinched US$1.5 million Series A investment in 2017, and US$8 million Series B funding round in 2020.

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MARKET TRENDS: E-COMMERCE IN EGYPT

KEY NUMBERS

US$22BILLION ESTIMATED VALUE OF MENA REGION'S E-COMMERCE SECTOR IN 2020

over 12,000 restaurants in the country. Its unique offering captured the attention of former Chief Executive Officer of Just Eat, David Buttress who invested in the company in early 2021.

Spoilt for choice, the Egyptian market is also served by Talabat, one of the leading food and grocery delivery apps in the Middle East. Showcasing the future of online food and grocery delivery and smart mobility, Talabat in partnership with China's Terminus Group, piloted the use of robots to deliver food to customers at the Expo 2020 Dubai, seeking to provide sustainable last-mile delivery in all the markets it operates in, including Egypt.

The company has announced the expansion of its outsourcing services in the North African country with a regional customer service center located in Cairo. “Egypt was our first choice to establish Talabat’s regional service center given its large pool of young talents with mastery of different languages and eagerness to build their capacities as we train our employees on the latest and best technologies.

“Additionally, the presence of a solid infrastructure allows Egypt to manage the largest workload possible, as being positioned in the middle of the world offers a decent time lag that gives good access to most global communications lines,” said Hadeer Shalaby, Managing Director of Talabat Egypt.

Africa’s ecommerce giant Jumia has also not been left behind, as it tapped into Egypt’s food delivery market with launch of Jumia Foods in the first quarter of 2021. That was a strategic move for Jumia following the cessation of Uber 34

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Eats services in the North African country in May 2020.

However, all will not be rosy as it will face stiff competition from the likes of Talabat and Elmenus.

Other than the players partnering with restaurants, the sector has expanded its breath to enable Egyptians’ relish on home-made meals, delivered by food-tech start-up, Mumm.

Shifting focus to grocery delivery, GoodsMart has perfectly put into perspective the true definition of safe and convenient mode of shopping. The company may look like any other grocery delivery start-up, but the overall user experience and operating model is completely different. Its grocery delivery service is contactless as the users receive their orders in pre-installed GoodsMart box outside their homes, which the company sets up after the user signs up on the platform. All the orders are delivered between midnight and 6am so the users find the groceries in the box when they wake up in the morning. How cool?

GoodsMart operates alongside players such as Appetito and fresh bread and groceries delivery start-up, Breadfast.

FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

RETAILERS JOIN THE DIGITIZATION BANDWAGON The e-commerce space in Egypt is also attracting several local start-ups in the retail sector, with the supermarket operators looking at shopping experience through a new lens of providing their customers with an additional online retail platform to augment their revenues.

For instance, Carrefour and Lulu Group, two of the largest retailers in the Middle East have launched online shopping portals. According to Oxford Business Group, Egypt’s e-commerce penetration of total retail sales is 2.5% and the segment is expected to grow at a rate of 33% annually, to approximately US$3 billion by 2022.

“We’re witnessing a great shift in where consumers are spending, with a dramatic shift towards eCommerce.

We can say that eCommerce sales have doubled for Egyptian merchants since March 11; the day the World Health Organization announced that COVID-19 is a global pandemic,” Said Ahmed Nagy, the managing director of eMarketing Egypt, the leading digital consulting agency in the Middle East.

New markets are also emerging, and existing markets also have the potential for further development. The suppliers to the informal retailers have caught up with the ecommerce trend. Most of Egyptian consumers buy staples from small grocery stores and mom-and-pop retailers found in every neighbourhood.

Sighting a lucrative business venture, MaxAB is one of the start-ups targeting the country’s promising US$45 billion FMCG market. It is deemed to be the first company to develop a B2B ecommerce platform in the country, managing procurement and delivery to the traditional shops.

To accelerate its growth, MaxAB has acquired Moroccan counterpart WaystoCap. The company also received an additional US$15 million investment from existing investors, as it closed its Series A funding round, bringing the total capital raised by the ecommerce leader to more FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

than US$60 million.

The launch of MaxAB in the country paved way for players such as Cartona, Fatura, Teegara.com, Capiter, Talabeyah, among others. These verticals have gotten support from both local and international players.

“Egypt has more than 5,000 wholesalers, investing heavily to build another one will not solve the existing inefficiencies at scale. Alternatively, we are on a mission to digitally transform the way they work and enable them to collectively lead the FMCG distribution business nationally.

EGYPT'S E-COMMERCE PENETRATION OF TOTAL RETAIL SALES IS 2.5% AND IS EXPECTED TO GROW AT A RATE OF 33% ANNUALLY TO APPROXIMATELY US$3 BILLION BY 2022.

The digital B2B players in the FMCG space capture less than five per cent of the market, thus there is a long way to go,” said Hossam Ali, Fatura’s co-founder and CEO. Other than digitizing the informal retail stores, the platforms offer working capital to retailers. The B2B ecommerce players use data from the transaction history to get a better grasp of the behaviour of retailers and the extent to which they are suitable and eligible to receive financial credit. Also, execution using data and analytics, FMCGs and suppliers can optimize their go-to-market.

Cartona tops it off by providing embedded finance and access to credit to retailers and suppliers. The start-up provides small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with a single platform that allows retailers to order a wide range of inventory, obtain delivery, and access financing. Using machine learning, the apps help manufacturers gain critical insights into the markets they serve, the products they sell and how they fare with competition. FBA

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Fairafric Ghana: Producing Ghana’s finest, sustainable and organic chocolate products FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

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MY COMPANY PROFILE: FAIRAFRIC GHANA

By Paul Ongeto

THE FAIRAFRIC FACTORY HAS AN INSTALLED CAPACITY OF 10,000 BARS OF CHOCOLATE, AN HOUR

N

ot many food companies can boast of starting operations 6-months after they began construction of their factory premises or achieving the highly stringent FSSC 22000 food safety management system within a year of their operation.

Even fewer can say they have managed to export over 2 million bars of chocolate to Europe within a year of their operation.

But Ghana-based chocolate manufacturing startup fairafric can.

The company is also the only one, or among the few in Africa, that had a country’s main airport temporarily opened for a small team of expatriates to jet in and help with setting up its production facility, at a time when international travel was closed to contain the Covid-19 pandemic – on the orders of the president of the country, none other than President Nana Akufo-Addo.

From its humble location in Suhum, a rural community within the Eastern corridor of 38

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Ghana, fairafric is creating waves in the world chocolate industry. Its chocolates are today enjoyed in Germany, France, Austria, and Belgium. Even Switzerland with its positioning as the home of high-quality chocolate is also developing a liking for fairafric’s chocolate.

AN IDEA THAT TURNED INTO BARS OF CHOCOLATE Although the company’s operations are just over one year old, the idea isn’t.

Hendrik Reimers, fairafric’s founder and CEO, had always toyed with the idea of adding value to Africa’s agricultural produce, instead of just shipping it to Europe. He tried coffee in the East of Africa, but it didn’t work.

Not a man to be cowed by failure, Hendrik turned west and in cocoa he found success. In 2016, after a successful crowdfunding round, Hendrik succeeded in making his first batch of chocolate in Ghana. Hendrik was to later to meet with Yayra Glover, a Switzerland-trained Ghanian lawyer who turned to organic cocoa

From its location in rural Ghana, fairafric creates the finest chocolates in the world currently enjoyed in Germany, France, Austria, Belgium, and even Switzerland.

FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

as a way of providing better livelihoods for Ghanaian farmers. Their meeting created a partnership that led to the production of Ghana’s first organic chocolate products.

The idea for organic chocolate was solid, and the market was there in Europe, but fairafric had no production capabilities.

Getting hands on financing was also not easy.

Not many financial institutions were willing to lend a company that had no track record of operations. Contract manufacturing seemed a viable trade off and the fairafric brand was ready to launch.

“Anyone who knows fairafric knows about our “luxury problem.” Due to the high demand and our current, comparatively small production facility, individual varieties are often sold out. Sometimes our warehouse in Germany has been swept completely empty.”

Capacity had become a new problem that fairafric had to find a solution for. “We would love to not only meet the demand that reaches us, but also create more. Because every bar means additional income in Ghana and additional jobs in the processing of the raw material cocoa.”

Given manufacturing was contracted, there was only so much the company could do, and regrettably it's production partner was unwilling to make additional investment.

Taking charge of the entire production process by setting up its own facility became the only solution if fairafric was to grow to its fullest potential.

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FINANCING MAKES MANUFACTURING A REALITY Hendrik, having previously crowdsourced his financing, pretty much knew what to do to get support for fairafric’s expansion - sell his story well to potential investors.

“This is all we have been doing, to tell people of all our plans, the beautiful things that we can do with their money, of all the lives that can be transformed with their money, and so far, this is what has been helping us to do the things that we do,” says Michael MarmonHalm, the Managing Director of Fairafric Ghana Limited.

In 2019, plans of raising funds had started taking shape and in April, over €1.2 million (US$1.4 million) had been raised in a crowdfunding round led by German chocolatier Ludwig Weinrich GmbH & Co KG. Another breakthrough came in January 2020 when German development finance institution DEG granted US$2.2 million to fairafric to set up its own chocolate processing factory.

With fundings from investors in place, the chocolate maker was now ready to start its own greenfield project, only that the project commencement coincided with targeted lockdowns in Ghana aimed at curtailing the spread of the corona virus.

A PRESIDENTIAL INTERVENTION The pandemic brought new challenges to the project’s progress, explains Michael.

Lockdowns were instituted in Accra and most of the initial work had to be completed at home by his team.

Luckily for Fairafric, Suhum, being just outside Accra was exempted from the targeted lockdowns, so construction activities could go on, but that too was met with challenges when the Ghanaian airspace was closed and expatriates who had been contracted for installation of various chocolate manufacturing equipment could not jet into the country.

“We could not readjust the schedules as suppliers also had engagements elsewhere.

To circumvent this red tape, I had to write to the presidency and even went to meet the president to ask him to intervene and help fairafric continue with its plans as scheduled,” Michael explains.

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MY COMPANY PROFILE: FAIRAFRIC GHANA

bring in expats, to the surprise of the youthful fairfric MD. “A whole international airport was opened for 5 people!” To Michael, his request’s approval showed that indeed the government of Ghana understands the value that the fairafric project was bringing into the nation and was willing to give the upcoming startup all the support it could, even if that support meant adjusting the laws that it had put in place.

“So, we brought in the expats and within five and a half months were had gone from installation to commercial production!”

SUSTAINABILITY RIGHT FROM THE START At a time when consumers are increasingly environmentally conscious, you can never go wrong with sustainability.

Michael explains that Fairafric has taken pride in being a carbon neutral company right from the start of its operations in 2018. When it did not have control of most of its production processes, the company partnered with the natureoffice to compensate for negative footprints arising from among other things, the operating resources, the mobility of chocolate, business mobility, and the use of materials and packing materials.

As of 2019, the company had offset a 40

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total of 61,272 tons of CO2 emissions in their partnership with natureoffice. Part of the carbon offsetting projects that fairafric has participated in includes Project Togo, which aims to reforest natural forests in Togo and Toyola clean cookstoves project, which offers Ghanaian households with Toyola Coalpots, stoves that can reduce fuel consumption by around 30%.

Being a business that appreciates sustainability, fairafric was also careful to continue the environment conscious trend in the establishment of its chocolate facility.

Michael reveals that fairafric is the only factory in Ghana that uses renewable energy. “Our roofs are totally covered with solar panels generating about 275kVA of electricity and this accounts for 88% of our energy needs,” he says. The company also has a sustainable way of managing its waste with 100% of decomposable waste being directed to a waste processing plant where it’s converted to organic manure for use by farmers.

“As an environmental conscious company, we have completely stopped the use of aluminium foil as the primary packaging material. Our chocolates are wrapped in biodegradable material called natureflex made from wood pulp and our secondary packaging

Fairafric is the third chocolate processing facility in Ghana and the only one that produces certified organic chocolates for both the local and export market .

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KEY NUMBERS

2 MILLION NUMBER OF BARS OF CHOCOLATE THAT FAIRAFRIC EXPORTED TO EUROPE IN ITS FIRST YEAR

is also paper, which is also biodegradable.”

At the repeated request of customers to buy fairafric chocolate without packaging, the company has also decided to join the zerowaste movement and to supply zero waste stores. fairafric now packages bulk quantities of chocolates, usually 5 kgs, and transports it to designated zero-waste stores where it is then dispensed to customers, saving them from packaging material that normally comes with the conventional chocolate bar.

SOURCING ORGANIC INGREDIENTS “Our storyline tries to harness the strength of Africa as a continent,” says Michael. As an organic chocolate manufacturer, getting the right quality of organic ingredients has however not been a mean feat.

“It would have been our wish to be able to get all these ingredients from the continent, if not in Ghana but from Africa,” he adds.

Organic cocoa beans are however not difficult to come by, in fact they are in plenty in Ghana.

Fairafric’s organic cocoa beans can be traced to some 5,000 organic farmers who are enrolled in Yayra Glover’s sustainable cocoa farming program.

Chocolate is however not made from cocoa beans alone, other ingredients such as milk, sugar, and nuts must be incorporated to achieve the desired quality of chocolate.

Sourcing these other raw materials, however, is a significant challenge for fairafric. Michael notes that the lack of awareness on organic farming in Africa has contributed to little investment in the sector. Poor knowledge also misleads many farmers into thinking that any produce that is grown without chemicals qualifies as organic.

“For a product to be truly organic there should be a system that monitors the entire farming process, which should also be supported by a third-party assurance and certification. This is something that is missing FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

FAIRAFRIC MD MICHAEL HOLDING SOME OF THE CHOCOLATE BRANDS THAT FAIRAFRIC PRODUCES

on the continent,” he observes.

The search of truly organic ingredients landed fairafric in Mozambique where it now sources its sugar from. “Unfortunately, we are still importing milk powder from Germany, which is kind of sad because this is an industry that should be local,” adds Michael ABOVE AND BEYOND IN COMMUNITY IMPACT Fairafric would have been located at a prime location in Ghana’s capital Accra, where it would have had easy access to market, Michael observes.

As a social impact company, fairafric however chose a remote village in Suhum as its location. Suhum is a town known for its significant production in Ghana. Despite its contribution to Ghana’s cocoa revenues, the town has enjoyed little development, reveals Michael. Fairafric wanted to change this narrative.

For the short period of time that fairafric has been in Suhum, notable developments have happened, putting the little town on the map of Ghana. “Ever since we set up our factory here, Suhum has started to gain some

Fairafric's organic cocoa beans can be traced to some 5,000 organic farmers who are enrolled in Yayra Glover's sustainable cocoa farming program.

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MY COMPANY PROFILE: FAIRAFRIC GHANA

COMPANY PROFILE

Sector: Confectionery Country: Ghana Main Contact: Michael MarmonHalm Website: www. fairafric.com Email Address: info@fairafric.com Telephone: +49 89 9974377 20 Address: Suhum, Ghana

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recognition. More people are coming to the community. Our 10,000 bars an hour chocolate factory has already created direct 80 jobs and over 1,500 others indirectly. We are bringing change. Some cocoa farmers only produce the crop and have no idea what it is used for, but today they can see for themselves that all their hard work pays off.”

A study conducted by Tamara Kaschek a master's student at the University of Bochum revealed the true extent of fairafric’s social impact on communities. In her study, Tamara found out that as far as the non-monetary dimensions of poverty are concerned, the fairafric organic farming initiative implemented with partner Yayra makes a significant contribution to empowering the farmers.

“It leads to an increase in general life satisfaction and an improvement in the general standard of living of the farmers, especially with regard to sanitation and housing,” the study revealed. The study further noted that the program makes a significant contribution to reducing illiteracy among farmers children and increasing the farmers' awareness that education is affordable. Going into the study, Tamara says that she had expected to see that the expenses for certified farm workers would be higher. “Since there are fewer pesticides used there, there are more weeds and therefore you actually need more farm workers, but that was not the case - the farmers who work conventionally had just as much expenditure on farm workers, which surprised me.”

Few companies can boast of the transformational impact that fairafric has had on farmers. But the company still wants to give even more to farmers who are a critical part of their operations. “That is why we spoke to tax and legal experts to find a way to let cocoa farmers participate in the success of fairafric.”

Those deliberations proposed a foundation that will acquire and hold shares on behalf of the farmers with future dividends being distributed to the farmers by the foundation, broken down according to the amount of beans that they have harvested for fairafric. “The step of giving our cocoa farmers shares in fairafric will motivate us as a team in our daily activities and encourage us to further spread the history of Made in Africa chocolate.”

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LEAVING NOTHING TO CHANCE Having made great strides so far, the company believes it still has a lot to do to create more impact in Ghana’s cocoa value chain.

Currently, the company outsources the initial steps of chocolate production to a third-party company, that means beans first arrive in another manufacturer where they are processed into liquer, butter, and powder before being shipped to fairafric for final processing.

As the organic chocolate market rapidly expands and consumer tastes and preferences continue to change, Michael believes that there is a need for fairafric to be in full control of its entire processing line, by installing a primary processing plant, with plans afoot to invest in this new facility in a few years. “It will create more jobs and put us at a better position in terms of control and giving us an opportunity to tweak our recipe to respond to changing consumer demand.”

As a social impact project fairafric is also looking at ways to continue transforming the lives of farmers. “We are looking at it in two areas: biodiversity and agroforestry. We want to create a system that creates an alternative livelihood for these farmers so that they can have regular income all year round while also protecting and preserving the environment.”

Achieving all these plans would require significant financial investment of which Michael tells us that the company is open to discuss with investors about how they can contribute to the beautiful story of transforming African lives, one bar at a time.

FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW: ANTONY MUTWIRI & BENARD ODOTE

Opportunities For Equipment Financing In Food Manufacturing How entrepreneurs can take advantage of new financing models to start enterprises that would add value to Africa’s agricultural produce, cut food losses, and promote food security.

By Paul Ongeto

FBA: Gentlemen, welcome to Food Business Africa Connect. I would like to request each of you to introduce yourselves, the company you work for, and what it does.

BENARD ODOTE: My name is Benard Odote, the Director, Strategy and Partnership at RentCo Africa, a structured finance and an independent leasing company. We work with organizations to help them acquire assets without any upfront capital outlay so that the assets can work for them, and they can preserve liquidity.

We offer 100% financing and have other financing structures such as FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

trade finance and working capital financing to help organizations to acquire their capital-intensive inputs such as raw and packaging materials. RentCo Africa also offers other off-balance sheet solutions, such as retailer financing and logistic solutions financing, that are completely off-balance sheet to customers. We basically help organizations to be able to acquire all their needs now and pay overtime while they are making money out of their inventories or out of their equipment.

ANTONY MUTWIRI: My name is Anthony Mutwiri, the Area Sales

Manager at Bühler, a leading food, animal feed and advanced materials company. Every day within Africa you must encounter products that are manufactured on our equipment.

They could be maize meal, porridges or even biscuits and coffee. We are active in various value chains in Africa but are mainly involved in the production of food and feed. It's nice that we can have this conversation about the opportunities that lie in manufacturing, industrialization, and retooling of factories within Africa and how we can be able to grow the continent in terms of food and other related items.

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EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW: ANTONY MUTWIRI & BENARD ODOTE

capital. The traditional financing that is available from the banks in Africa requires businesses to have track record in terms of being able to meet the requirements for funding.

When you are trying to meet an increase in demand for your products or are trying to bring in new technology to let's say introduce a new product, this kind of financing requirement usually ends up being problematic for a lot of the players.

A lot of our customers and even new players come to us and always keep saying that financing is a problem. This is what informed us to look at leasing as a model that can be used to meet this financing gap.

If we have a player who is willing to own the asset and manufacturers who are coming into the industry can use the tool to add value to their commodities, then it would be a win-win. We approached Rentco and they bought the idea. That is basically the foundation of the kind of MoU we formed: closing the financing gap in manufacturing and making sure that we are be able to spur availability of this solutions in the market.

ANTONY MUTWIRI – Area Sales Manager, Bühler FBA: You recently signed an MoU to work together. Could you give us some details on the kind of partnership that you signed?

BENARD ODOTE: Agriculture is the dominant sector in Africa and even during Covid-19, it is the only sector that did not go down - people continued eating and probably ate even more.

As we seek to grow agriculture, we need to be able to carry out value addition of our produce and to achieve that we need more equipment. But if you look at the economic situation in African continent, the upfront capital outlay is a constraint not only for the small companies but also large organizations.

This makes it very difficult for companies to invest in new equipment, retool their factories or get new technology like new software for automation. Partnering with Bühler gives us access to provide financial solutions to the industry from the small to the large player.

The beauty of food products is that they always have market. You see a mill starting today and in three years it is a mega establishment. Because of the future guaranteed cashflows out of the food industry, it is easy to put financing for equipment access for organizations because we know the equipment will repay itself.

ANTONY MUTWIRI: Going into food processing is not a small enterprise. It is capital intensive, and we realized a lot of people are not able to grow because of the lack of 44

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FBA: You have talked about working capital and offbalance sheet financing. Can you elaborate on these two concepts?

BENARD ODOTE: To give you an example, any raw material that you are importing, you must pay for it in advance, either fully or partially. Then you have pay for logistics and taxes before the product even gets to your factory. You the process it and have a conversion period before you are paid by your customers. So, you have 120 days where you will incur processing expenses before you are paid for the first bale of your processed good.

AS WE SEEK TO GROW AGRICULTURE, WE NEED TO BE ABLE TO CARRY OUT VALUE ADDITION TO OUR PRODUCE AND TO ACHIEVE THAT WE NEED MORE EQUIPMENT. To address this problem, most companies import in bulk and end up having 6-months' worth of raw materials on their balance sheet, which puts a strain on their finances.

So, we step in and purchase for them. The processor identifies the supplier, does all the procurement and quality parameters while we - working with a collateral manager - finance the purchase and keep the raw materials either in our warehouse or the processor’s warehouse depending on storage options we have, and only hand over the stock to the processor as per their production schedule.

So most likely if you produced today and sell it in 3 days and you pay us in another 30 or 60 days, we will have extended your liquidity, made your balance sheet lighter, and most importantly, we have assured the processor of 100% fulfillment.

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the food manufacturing space in Africa?

BENARD ODOTE – Director, Strategy and Partnership at RentCo Africa With our solution, your customers are happy, you are missing no orders, you are missing no revenues, and you not going out of pocket before you get paid.

FBA: This sounds like a very good concept. Do you think processors have adequate knowledge of this kind of financing and are there challenges that you experience as a provider of such solutions?

BENARD ODOTE: I think information is still very scarce on these finance structures and the benefit they offer, since traditional financiers like the banks are focused on the more common financing products and have probably not gone out of their way to push these other solutions.

Most organizations opt to rather have 6 months of raw materials supply, which exposes them to supply chain risks - almost 80% of businesses that collapse, it’s a supply chain problem - either inventory that is too much and there is no cash to pay suppliers or there is no cash to import new materials or pay statutory duties. When cash disappears, a divergence between a physical and financial supply chain occurs. The information that we need to pass out there is that there must be a convergence of the physical and financial supply chains. If the convergence is well mixed, you get to extend your liquidity and are then able to always meet market needs and fulfill your customers’ orders.

FBA: Expanding the conversation a bit, what has been the impact of Covid-19 on supply chains and what opportunities do we see coming out of the pandemic in FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

BENARD ODOTE: I see Covid-19 as a blessing in disguise.

Companies are now starting to consider sourcing and manufacturing their products either locally, or regionally, or near shore.

Even in financing and logistics management, if you are sourcing from outside the country, you start thinking if you can repatriate capacity back into the region, so that you can now supply East Africa out of Kenya instead of out of Egypt or out of China.

We must finance locally and come up with new financing solutions to support local value chains and further, reorganize logistics to ensure that fulfillment is met, and inbound cargo is also not distracted. The pandemic is a wakeup call to any country and to all the continents.

I believe because it has been a harmful experience, we should take the positives out of it and implement as we go forward.

I believe value addition should go hand in hand with the general economic development. I know a lot of people want us to add value to locally grown coffee but then I ask you, who will consume it? That is also an important mix that we must get right.

We should do quite a bit of mechanization. We should increase exports and ensure that we are not importing anything that is being produced locally. That’s where I see these opportunities. We should create some sort of a consortium led by financiers and anchor corporates to create a significant movement of value within countries and the continent.

I am a champion for diversity and inclusion. Anchor corporates can support a program of diversity and inclusion within value chain programs by backing KEY NUMBERS the SMEs that supply them with inputs.

With an anchor corporate, SMEs can access capital at the rate of the NUMBER OF DAYS BETWEEN anchor corporate, RAW NATERIAL RECEIPT AND which makes PAYMENT FOR FINISHED credit cheaper for GOODS them. Looking at both inbound and outbound value chains, anchor corporates can unlock quite a bit of financing for SMEs without them having the liability or the obligations of repayment risks.

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ANTONY MUTWIRI: Covid-19 was an eye opener for a lot of African governments in terms of the need to value add locally grown products. I'd say that it is one of the most positive events for the African continent - countries like Ghana and Ivory Coast have started looking at the value SEP/OCT 2021 | FOOD BUSINESS AFRICA

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EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW: ANTONY MUTWIRI & BENARD ODOTE

commodity. This is a disaster in waiting because business is always the commodity. It's very important from the onset when they are doing the business plans, not only to focus on the equipment but everything else that will surround the process of getting the raw materials converted into the finished products.

FBA: How do we prevent these investment disasters from occurring?

addition of cocoa within their countries. I think it’s a trend that we will continue. If you’ve got coffee, for example, growing locally in your country, value add it before you ship it out. There are immense opportunities within the entire African continent to go into manufacturing of food products at the end of this pandemic.

The role of government is in policy development and in developing the right economic environment for African entrepreneurs and manufacturers to firstly do business in a conducive environment and be able to add value to products therein. That said, we work within a global environment. If Africans must compete on the same standards of quality as all other global players, governments need to make sure that they create an environment for local manufacturers to acquire these world-class facilities to produce world-class products.

FBA: Are there other considerations around setting up a food processing plant that people should also consider before embarking on manufacturing?

ANTONY MUTWIRI: That’s a very good question - we have seen a lot of disaster projects because typically, a lot of investors only consider the cost of the equipment.

A lot of entrepreneurs fail to consider the supporting infrastructure, especially when you consider investing in food manufacturing, because the food sector is quite stringent in terms of what you require to start production.

There are certain standards that you need to adhere to when starting out and at times the cost of setting up this infrastructure, labor, and the cost of raw materials will be higher than the cost of the core equipment.

We have seen projects where an investor has money to buy equipment but doesn’t have the money to finance the 46

SEP/OCT 2021 | FOOD BUSINESS AFRICA

BENARD ODOTE: The biggest cause of investment failures is lack of planning and planning is basically data.

What business are you getting into? What is the market saying? What do we need in terms of the raw materials and packaging? What are the volumes looking like? What capacity is needed? Where is the location? Etc. Once you plan properly you can prepare adequately for the needs ahead. The planning part is always the most important place to start. Before you go to any sourcing activity, whether you are sourcing for financing or for equipment or the whole infrastructure, you need to have enough data for each of those verticals. It doesn’t go wrong, it starts wrong.

FBA: Are there parts of an investment that can be leased, apart from the equipment?

BENARD ODOTE: There can be parts that can be leased.

For example, we can look at a maize mill and unbundle the cost from the equipment to the infrastructure to identify what can be leased.

IF AFRICANS MUST COMPETE ON THE SAME STANDARDS OF QUALITY AS ALL OTHER PLAYERS, GOVERNMENTS NEED TO MAKE SURE THEY CAN CREATE AN ENVINMENT FOR LOCAL MANUFACTURERS TO ACQUIRE WORLD CLASS FACILITIES. That is why it’s important at the planning stage to determine how to source financing and if you go the leasing route, we can have discussions on how to structure your finance model by looking at your cashflows and making sure you comfortable to repay.

ANTHONY MUTWIRI: To add on that, smaller companies need to take time to get good advice. There are certain concepts like vehicle leasing that they are beginning to be understood – many investors now know that with asset financing, they can get 90% asset finance of the truck and they do not have to spend 100% upfront to get the asset.

This is the conversation we are trying to move, to say that if they understand on how to do that during their planning phase with the trucks, why not also acquire equipment through leasing and pay over a duration of time. FBA FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA

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The Summit, which is held annually, is shaping up to be the best platform to learn new ways to tackle the unique food safety, quality, compliance and regulatory challenges that affect Africa from leading experts, consultants, researchers and thought leaders.

With a wide scope that transcends agricultural production, food and animal feed processing, the hospitality, retail and food service industry, to institutional and other critical food and agro supply chains, the Africa Food Safety & Quality Summit is the most critical event for the public, private, academic, research and non-profit stakeholders in Africa and beyond.

Start planning your journey to the second edition - as economies easen from the ravages of the Covid-19. It is never too early to begin preparations on how you can participate. . .

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SEP/OCT 2021 | FOOD BUSINESS AFRICA

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TheNest AFRICA

AT THE NEST AFRICA OUR AIM IS TO CONNECT START-UPS WITH BIG CORPORATES & FUNDERS 48

SEP/OCT 2021 | FOOD BUSINESS AFRICA

Start-ups and young businesses in sub-Saharan Africa face a myriad of challenges, including lack of access to technology, expertise and networks to grow.

At The Nest Africa, we are creating a collaborative facility with new product development labs, production and packaging kitchens and office space for use by start-ups and young companies to facilitate their innovations and growth towards becoming the next big thing.

AND WE BELIEVE THAT CONNECTING THEM TO BIG CORPORATES AND FUNDERS IS KEY TO THEIR SUCCESS Visit the website and sign up to partner with us today

www.thenest.fwafrica.net FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

SPONSORED BY THE NEST AFRICA

COMPANY PROFILE

BURTON & BAMBER FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

SEP/OCT 2021 | FOOD BUSINESS AFRICA

49

FOOD STARTUPS AFRICA: BURTON AND BAMBER

Out of necessity Burton and Bamber invents delectable treats from locally sourced fresh produce

By Catherine Wanjiku

O

ver 640 million Africans have no access to energy, corresponding to an electricity access rate for the region at just over 40 percent, the lowest in the World according to the Africa Development Bank (AfDB). Africa’s energy potential, especially renewable energy, is enormous, yet only a fraction of it is being currently employed. Leveraging on the yearlong supply of ample sunshine which makes it easy to operate both small-scale and large-scale solar power systems, one Jonathan Bamber and Ofelia Burton, embarked on a sustainability project in Kenya in 2014. The duo introduced novel solar power energy generation technologies suitable for households. However, the project did not suffice as the products introduced were unaffordable for the targeted market, comprising majorly of small-holder farmers residing in the rural areas.

This called for a change of tactic by the two entrepreneurs who shifted their focus from distribution of solar energy 50

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products to the purchase of excess agricultural produce from the farmers. The deviation from the original plan was triggered

by Ofelia’s encounter with the farmers who, “Were loading my car with all their excess agriculture produce to sell on their behalf and use the proceeds to pay for the solar power system in instalments. That was really touching,” she said during an interview with the Food Business Africa team, as she told us on how they ventured into agro-processing six years ago.

The realization that more than 50% of Kenya’s local fresh produce do not reach the market due to post-harvest handling, disease, transport issues, among other factors, led Jonathan and Ofelia to co-partner in the founding of Burton and Bamber Limited in 2015. Their focus was to add value to fresh produce and fetch higher income while extending the shelf life of the products. To this end, the partners embarked on the production of dried fruits under its flagship brand Sweetunda from locally sourced fruits, mainly mango, banana, pineapple, strawberries, FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

billion in 2025, according to Research and Markets.

raspberries and tomatoes.

The move has been a game changer, as it broke the monotony of the commonly marketed snacks such as biscuits, confectionery, and crisps, tapping into the fast-growing healthy snack segment with guilt free enjoyment. Dried fruits featuring as one of the to go to healthy snacks, is expected to register a CAGR of 7.8% across the globe, from a value of US$6.34 billion in 2020 to US$9.50 FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

PARTNERING WITH SMALLHOLDER FARMERS TO AVAIL MOUTH-WATERING HEALTHY SNACKS Other than tapping into the blossoming market, Burton and Bamber’s biggest gain has been availing a ready market for the fruit farmers from Machakos, Embu, Murang’a, Kitui, Makueni, Meru counties and some parts of the Coast region, who no longer let their harvest rot in farms or sell it at throw-away prices to middlemen.

Currently, the company works with over 500 farmer suppliers, whom the company not only buys fruits directly from, but also trains on improved agronomy practices. “We train small holder farmers in crop management through Global GAP certification to deliver top quality products meeting international standards. We’re building sustainable supply chains and paying premium prices for high quality inputs,” revealed Ofelia, the Production and Supply Director at Burton and Bamber.

All the locally sourced raw materials are currently processed at the company’s factory in Machakos County, Eastern Kenya. Prior to commencing operations at the Yatta Horticultural Crops Directorate

(HCD) Packhouse in 2018, Burton and Bamber had already kick-started its dried fruits processing operations under a sub-contractual agreement in 2015 with Kenyan nut processor and exporter, Jungle Nuts Limited, based in Thika industrial town.

With the twin processing facilities, the agro processor currently boasts of a monthly production capacity of over 144 tonnes of fresh fruits. To ensure the consumer gains the utmost satisfaction from relishing on its chewable succulent

KEY NUMBERS

144,000 AMOUNT OF FRESH FRUITS IN KILOGRAMS THAT BURTON& BAMBER IS ABLE TO PROCESS IN A MONTH

treats, Burton and Bamber creatively avails the products in a wide range of natural fruit options including mango, banana, pineapple, raspberry and strawberry, with no added sugar. The ultimate party in a pouch is the mixed fruit comprising all the fruits! Yummy!!

To reach the targeted consumers, SEP/OCT 2021 | FOOD BUSINESS AFRICA

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FOOD STARTUPS AFRICA: BURTON AND BAMBER

OUR MAJOR COMPETITOR IN THE DRIED FRUIT LOCAL MARKET IS THE FRESH FRUIT. YOU CANNOT CONVINCE KENYANS TO EAT DRIED FRUITS WHEN FRESH FRUITS ARE READILY AVAILABLE

COMPANY PROFILE

Sector: Fresh Produce Country: Kenya Main Contact: Jonathan Bamber & Ofelia Burton Email Address: sweetunda@ burtonandbamber. com Telephone: +254 729 828 820 Address: Thika,Kenya

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Burton and Bamber first commenced by availing the Sweetunda product line through independent retailers and leading grocery outlets in the capital Nairobi such as Chandarana Food Plus Supermarkets, On the Way and Zucchini.

In no time, the colourful and eyeing catching brand started to prominently feature in the confectionery aisle of leading supermarket chains such as Carrefour and Naivas, with the company securing over 40% of dried fruit sales through the retail outlets.

Competing alongside its imported counterparts, Sweetunda has managed to cut out a substantial chunk of the local market share through constantly introducing health snacks to consumers via instore promotions, social media, farmers markets and educational programs in schools, as its largest targeted market are kids. The Sweetunda products are also sold in neighbouring countries such as South Sudan, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda.

However, Ofelia notes that, “Our major competitor in the dried fruits local market is the fresh fruit. It is very difficult to convince Kenyans to eat dried fruits when the fresh fruits are readily available. So, we decided the largest potential for this business is in the international export markets such as the Philippines, whose local production of mangoes is 10 times lower compared to Kenya, adds Ofelia. The company’s bulk exports also reach Italy, Czech Republic, and Holland with more global destinations in the pipeline.

SAFETY FIRST TO WIN INTERNATIONAL MARKETS Venturing abroad required Burton and Bamber to align its processes with the internationally accredited food safety and quality standards from the farm to the factory.

At the farm level, the company collaboratively works with farmers to attain the Global GAP certification and as of this year, 5 of its partnering farmer groups have been Global GAP certified. Another great milestone attained by the company is that its Yatta factory got the FSSC 2000 certification in early 2021, delivering

SEP/OCT 2021 | FOOD BUSINESS AFRICA

ultimate food safe assurance to its local, regional and international customers.

“The FSSC certification required a significant investment in capacity building for safe food production. Since the commencement of the project in 2015, we have received support from several organizations such as SNV, the Micro Enterprises Support Program Trust funded by DANIDA, and the USAID Feed the Future program in Kenya by RTI International, in form of financial and equipment support which has enabled us to gain the international certifications,” Ofelia gratefully noted.

MORE TREATS IN THE BAG WITH NUTRITIOUS EDGE Other than the dried fruits, the Machakos townbased company, which is in its growth phase, has also launched other products, including granola coming in three different variants: classic, chocolate and tropical granola.

In addition, the food processor is set to debut healthy and nutritious products made from the orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) coming in form of a puree, before the end of the year.

“This is a nutrition project done in partnership with the International Potato Center (CIP) and the RTI international, for delivery of high-nutrition FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

to mangoes which are highly seasonal and only harvestable once a year. The sweet potato is also seen as a suitable substitute to the imported wheat used in production of baked goods such as cakes and formulation of breakfast cereals dish such as porridge. “Through our research and development efforts, we have also developed sweet potato crackers, a crispy snack option to be launched in the market soon,” said Ofelia.

food items to address childhood stunting and malnutrition,” said Ofelia.

As of 2019, 234 million sub-Saharan Africans were chronically undernourished, according to statistics by World Vision.

In the whole of Africa, 250 million people were experiencing hunger, which is nearly 20% of the population. Conditions are deteriorating across East Africa, where 7 million people are at risk of starvation and another 33.8 million face acute food insecurity. At least 12.8 million children are acutely malnourished in the region.

In pursuit to offset the escalating horrific trend, the CIP in partnership with USAID, undertook research on how this humble crop, the sweet potato, could be positioned as a nutritious alternative given that they are naturally packed with vitamin B5, riboflavin, niacin, thiamin, and carotenoids.

The parties later chose Burton and Bamber as their private sector partner to leverage on its innovative processing ideas for the commercialization and industrialization of the crop. “Production of the orange fleshed sweet potato puree is through a special equipment FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

that has been provided by CIP, developed by US based Synovatech company in partnership with the North Carolina Univeristy,” revealed Ofelia. The technology utilizes aseptic processing with microwave technology which delivers a shelf stable product, without the need for refrigeration for two years.

Ofelia informs us that the introduction of the OFSP product is set to bring more economic value to the smallholder farmers as it is a short-term crop, taking 3 months to mature and BURTON & BAMBER LARGEST MARKET IS OUTSIDE KENYA AND THE COMPANY EXPORTS TO THE PHILIPPINES, ITALY, CZECH REPUBLIC, AND HOLLAND WITH MORE GLOBAL DESTINATIONS IN THE PIPELINE.

with proper crop rotation, a farmer can have a full year of harvest, providing a regular income stream as opposed

BURTON AND BAMBER EYES FUTURE GROWTH Looking into the near future, Burton and Bamber aims to be a key player in the global snacks market currently worth US$493.4 billion and global ingredients market worth an estimated US$98 billion, by incorporating more fruits, vegetables, nuts and other food products.

“As a supplier of high nutritional value snacks and food ingredients, Burton and Bamber is well positioned to gain traction in local and international markets where the demand for these products is experiencing strong growth. Food safety and quality assurance, traceability and authenticity are increasingly important to consumers across geographical regions; our certifications, supply chain and corporate social goals align directly with these market drivers,” said Ofelia.

While focusing on the growth of its operations, the food processor aims to ensure its operations are sustainably driven. Currently, distribution of its products delivers net-zero environmental impact as it utilizes existing distribution networks. As part of its plan, the company is seeking to shift to the use of green energy at its facility by installation of solar energy solutions. Also, as the operations expand the company will engage more of the local talent from the current 26 staff workforce.

“Burton and Bamber will continue to develop new products, aligned with the market demand of safe, affordable, readily available, delicious and healthy products for both the local and international markets, as we continue supporting the small-holder farmers,” concluded Ofelia.

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Dairy

BUSINESS

TRENDS IN FORMULATING, PROCESSING, PACKAGING & CONSUMPTION OF DAIRY PRODUCTS

Getting the consumer excited as Greek Yogurt becomes mainstream

By Paul Ongeto

Greek yoghurt has come of age, but new innovations continue to thrive around the world

F

ood innovations today are driven by two things: health and sustainability. From the not so healthy carbonated soft beverages to healthier alternatives such as yogurts and morning cereals, the mission is the same: to create healthier alternatives from sustainable ingredients.

The trend is not any different even in niche products like Greek yogurt. Also known as yogurt cheese or sack yogurt, Greek yogurt is differentiated from the normal yogurts -

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that most of us enjoy - through its mode of preparation, which involves straining of curd and separating it from the excess watery whey.

The straining process makes the yogurt thicker and creamier as compared to regular curd. It also punches in more protein than standard yogurt, giving it a healthier profile compared to what regular yogurt drinkers enjoy.

Greek yogurt producers don’t make it a bland product.

It usually comes in a variety of flavors and toppings FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

such as blueberry, vanilla, honey, chocolate, etc. Apart from enjoying it from the cup, consumer also find it handy in the kitchen. It’s especially handy when making various sauces or when marinating cheese and meat.

As a result of its popularity both as a drink and as an ingredient in many other foods, the global Greek yogurt market has been expanding and was valued at US$8.57 Billion in 2020 by Allied Market Research. The market research firm projects the global market to reach US$11.2 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 10.9% from 2020 to 2027.

THE GLOBAL GREEK YOGURT MARKET HAS BEEN EXPANDING AND IS PROJECTED TO REACH US$11.2 BILLION IN 2027, GROWING AT A CAGR OF 10.9% DURING THE FORECAST PERIOD In this issue we explore some of the latest trends driving this double-digit growth.

A CRAZE FOR HIGH PROTEIN GREEK YOGURT Research and Markets notes that one of the key factors driving the global Greek yogurt market is the increase in health consciousness among consumers and change in dietary preference towards healthy and nutrient-rich food products.

Greek yogurt, being naturally high in protein, has been in demand especially among athletes and older adults who demand more protein to maintain their body muscles.

But seemingly the high protein-ranging 16g per 6-ounce (170gram) serving is not enough for protein-seeking consumers.

This has made bands such as Super Spoon from Greece FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

and Fage Greek from the US to develop and market high protein Greek yogurts. Fage-Greek for instance packs about 20g per 7-ounze cup (207ml) while Super Spoon gives consumers 8.8 grams of protein per 100g serving.

Stathoula Chatzi of Kri Kri explains the product launch: “Greek yogurt is a really big trend around the world due to the high protein content that it contains. We have combined very authentic Greek yogurt with superfruits and superfoods in order to have yogurt that can help you meet the demands of a demanding life. It is good for the immune system and for muscles when you are getting exercise. It can also function as snack at work or after having exercise.”

REMOVING DAIRY FROM GREEK YOGURT Dairy production has a considerable effect on the environment due to emissions of greenhouse gases such as methane, nitrous oxide, and carbon dioxide.

According to WWF, the greatest sources of these emissions in milk production include feed production, enteric fermentation and manure management. In the United States alone, dairy cattle rearing is responsible for 83.5 Mt of CO2e, or 1.3% of the US total greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), according to a report by Science Direct. The situation is dire in New Zealand, a major dairy production country, where dairy is said to be responsible for 17% of the country’s GHGs. The impact of dairy on the environment has had many consumers switching to plantbased alternatives and the trend has even extended to Greek yogurts.

Previously unknown to the consumer world, plant-based Greek yogurt is becoming mainstream with several product launches coming to market with commendable success.

Some of the major product launches in the plant-based Greek yogurt scene include Kate Hill High Protein Greek SEP/OCT 2021 | FOOD BUSINESS AFRICA

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DAIRY BUSINESS AFRICA: GREEK YOGHURT

yogurt, Alpro’s Greek-style vegan yogurt, and Danone’s Silk Greek style yogurt. Lia Stierwalt, senior director of marketing for Silk plant-based yogurt alternatives, thinks the plant-based Greek yogurt will be a game-changer.

"We believe that it will explode the plant-based yogurt segment, similar to what Greek did for dairy yogurt back in 2008," Stierwalt said. As innovations help manufacturer conquer the top barriers in developing plant-based yogurt, which is taste and texture, more players are expected to come on board to cater for consumers switching to plantbased Greek yogurts either for sustainability or desire to maintain a vegan lifestyle.

ZERO-SUGAR DISRUPTS GREEK CATEGORY Sugar is an important flavour enhancer and has been used for decades to enhance the flavor profile of foods. Its direct association with obesity and diabetes – two of the most prevalent chronic diseases in the world today - has had many consumers avoid it like the plague.

Yogurt companies have responded in kind by launching products with zero added sugar. In the Greek category, brands from Danone to General Mills all have low-sugar varieties that are already appealing to health-conscious consumers.

These varieties do not contain any added sugars and only boast limited amounts of lactose - a type of sugar that is naturally found in milk. Some consumers, however, do not want even an ounce of sugar in their Greek yogurts and that’s where the next innovation comes in - Greek yogurt with absolutely no sugar. The pioneer in this field is US 56

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KEY NUMBERS

US$8.6 BILLION ESTIMATED MARKET VALUE OF GLOBAL GREEK YOGURT IN 2020 leader in Greek-style yogurt manufacturing, Chobani.

The strained yogurt expert has developed what it considers an “industry first” and potentially game-changing innovation with novel sugar reformulation at its core. To make its new product, Chobani uses natural fermentation methods that allow yogurt cultures to consume the sugar.

Once the sugar has been exhausted, natural sweeteners such as allulose and monk fruit are added to the Greek yogurt for taste. Chobani says adding monk fruit and allulose also helps with the taste profile and helps keep the product to just 60 calories.

Chobani Zero Sugar, available from August 2021, has already created a niche for itself as an alternative to other low-fat and low-calorie yogurts. Innova Market Insights’ analysis reveals that 91 percent of consumers are “at least a little” influenced by sugar reduction claims. More products like Chobani’s Zero Sugar Greek yogurt can therefore be expected in the market as producers clamor to gain the attention of a consumer that is becoming increasingly picky about the products he or she picks from the shelves.

A TRENDY PRODUCT WITH POSITIVE OUTLOOK When we talk about Greek yogurt, a premium dairy product with superior health benefits comes into mind. As consumers increasingly become health conscious, more are likely to switch to Greek instead of the standard sugar spiked highly flavoured variants.

With Greek yogurt, they are promised of improved digestibility and improved immune systems, as bacteria present in the product help to suppress certain pathogens through its antibacterial property. Greek yogurt is also considered to have anti-carcinogenic effect and may protect against certain cancers, making it an attractive drink for people from all walks of life.

For dairy players, this segment certainly provides an attractive avenue to grow revenues. A double-digit growth certainly has the potential to positively impact the bottom line of even the largest dairy. But to stake a claim for market share, dairy companies will require to innovate and introduce products that are attractive enough to convince consumers to pick them from the multitude.

Looking for ways to add more protein, working to eliminate dairy, or simply going zero sugar would be a good place to start. FBA FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

BeverageTECH TRENDS IN FORMULATING, PROCESSING, PACKAGING & CONSUMPTION OF BEVERAGE PRODUCTS

Convenience And New Trends Boost Tea And Coffee Drinks Innovation Younger consumers and changing consumer taste up the game in the sector

By Paul Ongeto

T

ea and coffee are the arguably the most drank hot beverages in the world. For centuries, little if any changes were made in how these beverages were drank. A cup of hot water, a tablespoon or two of sugar, and some lose black leaves of tea or ground coffee is what consumers .

Honestly, it’s the caffeine in them that made them survive all these years. However, there is more to coffee and tea than just mixing it with hot water and sugar.

FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

New trends ranging from molecular nitrogenation to more sustainable sourcing practices are adding a fresh new twist to both tea and coffee, stimulating new demand and handing a new lease of life to these previously outfashioned hot beverages.

According to Business Wire’s “Coffee and Tea Global Market Report, 2020-30: COVID-19 Impact and Recovery” coffee and tea are yet to lose their favour among consumers and recent innovations are expected to drive this market, SEP/OCT 2021 | FOOD BUSINESS AFRICA

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BEVERAGE TECH AFRICA: TRENDS IN COFFEE AND TEA DRINKS

ADDING NITROGEN TO TEA OR COFFEE DELIVERS A SMOOTHER, CREAMIER MOUTHFEEL TO TEAS AND COFFEES WITHOUT ADDING EMPTY CALORIES which was valued at US$148.5 billion in 2020 to US$191.1 billion in 2023.

These are some of the top trends that are driving the tea and coffee market in 2021 and beyond.

UNIQUE BLENDS OF HEALTHY COFFEES AND TEAS Although coffee and tea already have several inherent health benefits, an increasingly health consumer has pushed coffee and tea brands into incorporating other functional ingredients into products for an even bigger health boost.

Brands are for instance helping consumers improve brain function by incorporating nootropic ingredients which are suggested to promote focus, motivation and productivity.

Kenyan-based tea brand Kericho Gold has a range of health and wellness teas that promise tea lovers a range of benefits from detoxification to improved sexual function.

Its Detox tea for instance features a unique combination of ingredients such as cardamon, fennel, nettle, lemon grass, aniseed, coriander mint leaves and fresh ginger which the brand say not only detoxify the body but also enhance hydration as well as boost the immune system.

Coffee being mostly consumed in cafes and restaurants has also not been left behind. Baristas in many coffee joints are now coming up with unique blends that reportedly increase gut health, boost metabolism, and/or support the immune system. According to webrestarantstore. com, blends like mushroom coffee and matcha lattes have 58

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become common as a result.

London Nootropics launched in January 2020 is one brand seeking to take the health claims to the retail market. The company has three coffee blends – mojo, zen and grind – each supposedly offering something different.

Mojo is said to support strength and endurance, zen combats stress and grind claims to aid focus.

NITROGENATION - CREATING NEW TASTE EXPERIENCES Amplifying sensory experiences in beverages by adding textural complexity is a trend that’s grown significantly over the last few years. When it comes to tea and coffee, no way does it better than nitrogenation.

Adding nitrogen to tea or coffee delivers a smoother,

creamier mouthfeel to teas and coffees without adding empty calories. The velvety, luxurious texture that nitrogen infusions provide is simply irresistible to many consumers, especially millennials and gen Z consumers who are always ready to embrace any beverage that offers new taste experiences.

Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts are some of the brands that already offer nitro-coffees in their establishments.

As the trend picks up among consumers, Grand View Research estimates that the nitrogenated coffee market will grow at a CAGR of 26.6% to reach US$51.1 million by 2025. The transition of the trend to teas has been made possible with inventions such as Nitrobrew which allows consumers to infuse nitrogen into their teas at the comfort of their homes.

Food Beverage Insider notes that adding cheese to tea has also become a popular way of creating new taste experiences to the centuries-old beverages. According to authors, the trend that started in Asia is spreading across the globe and has created quite a fuss in the United States.

The sweet and savory beverage is created by combining brewed or bubble tea topped a with fluffy, sweet and salty topping made of soft cream cheese, condensed or FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

KEY NUMBERS

US$148.5 BILLION ESTIMATED VALUE OF GLOBAL TEA AND COFFEE MARKET IN 2020 evaporated milk and whipped cream.

SNAPCHILLING - NEW WAY OF PREPARING COLD BREW COFFEE The popularity of cold brew coffee has surged in recent years, with the US cold brew coffee market growing 580% from 2011 to 2016.

According to research agency Mintel, more than half (56%) of new RTD coffee launches in the US in 2017 were cold brew products. The trend has even stepped foot in Africa with Kericho Gold recently launching its line of coldbrew tea range, which includes flavours such as mango, strawberry, and orange. Even with the trend gathering momentum globally, cold-brewing, particularly in coffee can be tedious as it takes as long as 24 hours and requires special equipment.

At a time when convenience is king, this process was bound to be made obsolete by more efficient and faster processes: and that is what happened with the introduction of SnapChill Technology by US-based Elemental Beverage Company.

The process, which takes freshly brewed coffee and cools it rapidly, extracts more flavor and more appealing aromas than the cold brewing process. There is also no waste of unused cold-brewed coffee. A number of coffee brands such as Coffee Bros have already warmed up to the technology. The US based coffee brand already has two limited-edition Coffee Bros Snapchill coffees - Light Roast Snapchill and Kenya Microlot Snapchill- which have seen quite a lot of interest from consumers. Given its efficiency in making coffee colder than ice without using ice and in preserving the delicate coffee flavors and aromas, its only a matter of time before coffee houses around the globe adopt snapchill as a way of preparing specialty coffee.

RTD TEAS AND COFFEES CONTINUE TO GATHER MOMENTUM In a society that’s always on the go, ready-to-drink teas are becoming a staple to many consumers.

As a result, Packaged Fact projects that RTD coffee market will reach a market value of US$18 billion by 2023. The report further notes that RTD tea market is also gaining its fair share of consumer spending, with the market expecting to hit US$9 billion in the same period.

FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

Innovations such as Fuze Tea, which offers a delicious blend of juice and tea extracts and Coca-Cola's blend of original cola with coffee are some of the products propelling this market growth. Sparkling bottled iced tea beverages like Lipton Sparkling Tea, Sound Sparkling Tea, and Kombucha Wonder Drink Sparkling Fermented Tea are other innovations that are drawing more consumers to tea and coffee.

These innovations have really made tea and coffee more fashionable drinks, making it a drink to be enjoyed even by the adventure seeking millenials. According to foodtruckempire.com, about half of U.K. tea brands are purchased by millennials in the 24- to 35-year-old demographic group. This just shows what innovation and convenience can do to a nearly obsolete drink.

As health concerns have steadily grown in recent years, food ingredients company Synergy projects ready-to-drink teas to continue getting health-upgrades with a move toward all-natural ingredients and sugar reduction at the forefront of category innovation. According to Synergy Primary Research, 64% of consumers report their ideal RTD tea contains no artificial flavors; 60% seek no artificial

colors; 54% seek no artificial sweeteners, and 51% seek low/no sugar.

TEA COCKTAILS AND HARD COFFEE: THE VOGUE WAY OF ENJOYING ALCOHOL Featured in drinks from the Irish Coffee to the Espresso Martini, coffee has been for a while now a popular way for mixologists to add flavor and a caffeinated kick to cocktails.

A growing number of spirits and liqueurs are however switching things up a notch higher by capturing the bean’s aromas and flavors, making them ready to mix into drinks or pour neat alongside a favorite dessert.

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Super-concentrated cold-brew coffee has become a favorite for many master distillers, providing inspiration for many boozy bottles while at the same time cutting back on sugar. Galliano Ristretto Liqueur, Jägermeister Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur, and Ron Colón Salvadoreño Coffee Infused Rum are good examples of coffee infused alcohols that are popular among consumers. Synergy notes that as consumers look for more approachable ways to find their caffeine and for healthier alcoholic beverage options, many brands will continue to innovate around coffee and alcohol.

Tea as an ingredient of alcoholic beverages has never been really explored until now when consumers are in thirst of healthy indulgences away from alcohol. As it is at the moment, about 43 percent of the public doesn’t drink, and many people choose not to drink alcohol on every social occasion. So, what sober way to blend in with the crowd than to try tea-infused cocktails!

According to ikedamatcha.com, tea beverages are becoming a staple of trendy bars worldwide and much of this demand can be traced to shift away from high alcohol drinks.

From boozy sweet teas to fancy little tea martinis, consumers have found the perfect way to combine cocktail hour with teatime. In the RTD market, a blend of vodka and iced tea is the most popular trend today, with a number of brands including Brookvale, Boardroom, and Betty’s all having a respectable range of drinks in this category.

SUSTAINABILITY BECOMES CENTER FOCUS OF BRANDS Consumers are no longer satisfied with a good quality cup of coffee or tea - concerns about how their favorite beverage was produced also affect their purchasing decisions.

To keep customers, brands are now working hard to ensure that their teas and coffees are sustainably sourced.

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and coffees that are certified as organic, fair trade, or those approved by the rain-forest alliance.

Additionally, commodity trading companies like Olam continue to train farmers on sustainable agricultural practices and to pay premiums for sustainably sourced coffees and teas to encourage adoption. Demand for transparency and tracebility has also led to an explosion of new products with single-origin claims, including coffees from Colombia, Brazil and Ethiopia. Synergy notes that single-origin tea and coffee is particularly appealing to millennials, especially if brands can highlight sustainability efforts being made in products country of origin.

As sustainability becomes a major concern, brands have also began substituting milk with dairy alternatives which have a better sustainability score. Starbucks, the leader in the coffee chain franchising business, and its rival Dunkin’ Donuts have all introduced alternative diary products from soy, to almond, and now oat. As activism grows around animal dairy and consumers switch to vegan diets to avoid hurting the climate, more coffee houses across the globe are expected to add more alternative dairies to their menus AS SUSTAINABILITY INCREASES IN POPULARITY, BRANDS HAVE ALSO BEGAN SUBSTITUTING MILK IN TEA AND COFFEE DRINKS WITH DAIRY ALTERNATIVES. if they haven't already.

As long as tea and coffee production require clearing of land, it can never be 100% sustainable. It is for this reason that the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) successfully produced coffee cells in a bioreactor through cellular agriculture.

By removing the requirement for more land, the researchers hope that their innovation can help make coffee production more sustainable. Given that innovation in coffee and tea go hand in hand, may been soon we will have tea that is also grown in the lab. Innovations from cell-based meat to lately coffee, show that any food can be made without the requirement of land and tea will certainly not be an exception.

PARTING SHOT The popularity of coffee and tea is hardly a secret. The beverages have been useful to humans for centuries and still never seem to fall out of fashion. The current trends ranging from nitrogenation to snapchilling only bring up new ways of enjoying the same old hot beverages.

With a consumption of more than 280 billion liters annually tea is certainly not going away anytime soon and so is coffee, with annual consumption of 337 billion liters.

To stay ahead, coffee and tea brands will however need to continuously innovate and create products that meet evolving consumer trends. FBA

FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

Coffee in Ethiopia: Rejuvenating the natural home of coffee into new markets as sustainability calls increase Liberalization, greater marketing promises to take Ethiopia’s coffee Industry to new heights

By Paul Ongeto

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thiopia is the largest producer of coffee in Africa and has reputation of producing some of the world’s finest coffees.

This comes as no surprise as the country is regarded as the natural home of coffee. It is in her highlands that the beans were first discovered in the 16th century. The word "coffee" comes from the name Kaffa - one of the many parts of Ethiopia where coffee is grown.

Despite being the birthplace of coffee, Ethiopia’s contribution in the international coffee market is less than 10%. This has been largely due to the sector largely remaining as a state monopoly for a long time and lack of a bold marketing strategy to take the rich Ethiopian coffee FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

to the tables of global consumers.

Times are however changing, with some degree of liberalization allowing greater participation by the private sector. This, combined with great strides in marketing the crop abroad, promises a new impetus for growth.

Ethiopia’s coffee however must overcome challenges of climate change, volatile coffee prices, and most recently instability in some of the major coffee growing zones in the country, even as it works to claim its rightful place in the world coffee market.

COFFEE PRODUCTION IN NUMBERS Coffee production in Ethiopia has grown steadily over the past three years and, with suitable growing conditions, is SEP/OCT 2021 | FOOD BUSINESS AFRICA

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forecasted to reach to 7.62 million bags (457,200 MT) in 2021/22, according to recent projections by the Foreign Agricultural Service of the United States Department of Agriculture.

With 50-55% of Ethiopia’s production consumed domestically, and the rest exported to various destinations globally, the country is unique in Africa, where the rest of the major producers in East Africa like Kenya and Uganda rely on export markets for their coffee, with little quantities consumed locally.

THE TOP-SCORING COFFEE IN THE 2020 CUP OF EXCELLENCE COMPETITION SOLD AT US$407 PER KILOGRAM WHICH THE ALLIANCE FOR COFFEE EXCELLENCE SAYS IS THE HIGHEST PRICE EVER RECORD FOR ETHIOPIAN COFFEE According to the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority, Ethiopia’s coffee exports netted US$854.21m in 2020, with the US, Japan, Germany, Belgium, and Saudi Arabia being among the top importers. Germany used to be the largest buyer of Ethiopian coffee, but this year Saudi Arabia overtook the European nation, importing 21,000 tonnes of coffee during the first 6 months of the current fiscal, close to double the 12,000 tonnes that Germany imported during the same period. During this period, a total of 91,000 tonnes were exported, earning the country about US$304 million, equivalent to a third of the country’s income from exports.

Putting labor to the picture, coffee in Ethiopia is grown by more than four million smallholder farmers and makes up 5% of the country's GDP. It also employs more than 15 62

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million people in coffee production and marketing, making coffee the most important agricultural commodity for the East African nation.

EXPANDING SHARE OF GLOBAL COFFEE MARKET Ethiopia is no longer comfortable with being the top producer of Arabica coffee in Africa.

Gezahegn Mamo, CEO of Wild Coffee Ethiopia, said that as Ethiopia being the birthplace of coffee, the country should get what it deserves: a bigger share of the global coffee market. He states that while most Ethiopians think Ethiopian coffee is well known in the the world, the reality on his experience is that most people across the world think that Brazil was the birthplace of coffee. "Therefore", he suggests "In addition to promoting it is the origin of coffee beans, Ethiopia should increase its quality and quantity of the exported coffee items to be more competent and predominant."

The government seems to have heard Mamo’s call and recently through the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority (ECTA) revealed a new initiative to uplift the current close to 600,000 tonnes of annual coffee production to 1.8 million tonnes within the coming five years period.

Several strategies have been deployed by the ECTA to spur growth of Ethiopia’s most import agricultural crop.

One of the initiatives is liberalization of the coffee sector, allowing coffee farmers to directly sell their products to buyers without having to deliver them to the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX). Ethiopia hopes that this initiative, known as vertical integration, will enable farmers earn more from their produce and thus be enticed to produce even more coffee. According to a report by the Addis Fortune, vertical integration was vital in raising FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

Ethiopia’s income from coffee to a record US$907 million in 2020.

Another strategy to improve production has been through the annual Cup of Excellence (COE), where farmers showcase their coffee, and the winners get a chance to sell their coffee at an international auction. The aim of the competition is to encourage farmers to grow better quality coffees with an assurance that they will be equally rewarded for their efforts. The top-scoring coffee in the 2020 COE competition sold at US$185.10 per pound, or US$407 per kilogram.

The Alliance for Coffee Excellence (ACE) says this is the highest price ever recorded for an Ethiopian coffee.

“It’s a powerful lesson and beyond what we could have had imagined. We sell our coffee for less than a dollar at times and it’s been discouraging for growers. Now we see there is a market we can tap into if we can guarantee the quality,” says Ato Bogale Woledehana, General Manager

of Rumudamo Coffee – a local coffee exporter that participated in the COE. One of the greatest impediments to growth of the coffee industry in Ethiopia is lack of access to financing.

According to the IFC, Ethiopian banks are often unwilling to lend to coffee farmers because they lack collateral.

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KEY NUMBERS

1.8 MILLION AMOUNT IN TONNES OF COFFEE THAT ETHIOPIA TARGETS TO PRODUCE BY 2025

Without funding, farmers cannot acquire the necessary inputs to improve their production levels.

To support continued growth, IFC has extended a risk-sharing facility worth up to US$10 million to Nib International Bank. The Ethiopian bank will now be empowered to advance loans to local cooperatives, helping them increase the volume of coffee they process from about 460 to 4,000 metric tonnes, generating about US$17 million in export revenues and creating 2,000 jobs.

Production is however one part of the equation.

Marketing is the other. On this front, the Ethiopian government has been doubling down on its efforts to market the Ethiopian coffee brand abroad and to seek additional markets for its crop.

According to Adugna Debela, Director General of the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority, the East African nation is seeking to increase trade with Asian countries, such as China and South Korea, where coffee consumption continues to grow. In June 2021, Ethiopia launched an initiative to attract Chinese investors into the country.

The investors are to join hands with local coffee roasters to add value to their products and increase direct coffee exports to China. Significant progress has been made on this front, with Ethiopia more than doubling the amount of coffee it exports to the second largest economy in the world in just under one year. For the month of July 2021, Ethiopia exported 31,145 tonnes of coffee to China, a figure is close to triple the 11,889 tons that were exported to the Asian country during the same period in 2020.

The Authority also plans to participate in international coffee exhibitions to market Ethiopian specialty coffees.

With the vertical integration policy already in place, the authority has also been encouraging Ethiopian coffee exporters and other stakeholders to also partake in these exhibitions to develop new trade ties that will further grow Ethiopia’s share of the international coffee market.

Leveraging the power of e-commerce, Ethiopian government has entered a strategic partnership with Chinese based e-commerce giant Alibaba to promote Ethiopian products on its platform. Wild Coffee Ethiopia also recently secured a partnership with US retail giant Walmart, allowing the home-grown company to sell its coffee on Walmart’s online platform. These avenues promise to bring Ethiopian coffee to consumers who SEP/OCT 2021 | FOOD BUSINESS AFRICA

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based training that aims to enhance the sustainability and value chain of the country's coffee sector. Located on the premises of ECTA in Addis Ababa, the center comprises of coffee laboratories, including green coffee evaluation, sensorial lab, industrial processing lab and brewing lab, cafes, classrooms as well as rooms for coffee shop, conference and other services.

Training programs on the fundamentals of coffee; processing, drying and storage; trade and maintenance of equipment, will be provided at the center, all with the aim of improving the sustainability and inclusiveness of Ethiopia's coffee value chain. previously had no idea such kind of coffee even existed.

ADDING SUSTAINABILITY TO COFFEE PRODUCTION As Ethiopia doubles down on efforts to increase productivity, sustainability has also become a key focus for many stakeholders.

TechnoServe, an international non-profit organization has been at the for front of the sustainable coffee agenda for a while now and has created a model that promises to improve coffee yields while protecting Ethiopian forests from deforestation.

According to a World Bank report, almost 80% of Ethiopia’s 1 million hectares of coffee trees are underproductive because the trees are not trimmed often enough. Lower productivity creates an incentive for farmers to clear more land which is a threat to forests. To counter this, TechnoServe has been running an innovative ‘Coffee Farm College' across the country to show farmers how to boost yields using various sustainable farming techniques, including the seemingly counter-productive practice of stumping.

Stumping involves pruning older and less productive trees down to just a stump. This stimulates the growth of new sprouts that develop into new branches within a few months. It’s a proven technique that results in a 2- to 3-fold increase in yields and a potential tripling of income within three years.

The World Bank has also joined the sustainable coffee production initiative, launching its BioCarbon Fund Initiative for Sustainable Forest Landscapes (ISFL) in the Oromia region. The initiative includes funding to support coffee stumping training and income compensation for farmers who adopt stamping practices. This is expected to bolster initiatives already implemented by TechnoServe which are aimed at improving coffee farm productivity.

In April, ECTA announced that it is working in collaboration with foreign NGOs to replace old coffee varieties with improved ones. This would further improve productivity, boosting Ethiopia’s total coffee production.

Ethiopia has also recently launched a state-of-the-art coffee training center to deliver modular and practice64

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HARNESSING CURRENT GAINS KEY TO FUTURE Ethiopian coffee under the current administration has made great strides, particularly in claiming its birth right as the original home of the most drank beverage in the world.

To get to 1.8 million tonnes in annual coffee production target, coffee stakeholders in Ethiopia need to work together to ensure gains achieved by the policy changes made thus far are not lost. Activities like the Cup of Excellence competition need to continue being part of Ethiopia’s coffee industry as they give farmers more incentive to produce great quality coffee.

COFFEE STUMPING IS A PROVEN TECHNIQUE THAT RESULTS IN A 2-TO-3 FOLD INCREASE IN YIELDS AND A POTENTIAL FOR TRIPLING INCOME WITHIN THREE YEARS Works at the ECTA coffee labs aimed at improving coffee varieties also needs to continue to ensure that the country has the best crop possible that can withstand the changing climate while at the same time guaranteeing high quality coffee.

Ethiopia’s great efforts at marketing its coffee abroad is happening at a time when specialty coffee is increasing in popularity. Global specialty coffee market, which was valued at a revenue of US$35.86 billion in 2018 is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13.3% to reach a market value of US$83.5 billion by the year 2025, according to Adroit Market Research.

Ethiopia already has three of its regions of Sidamo, Harrar and Limu trademarked as specialty coffee regions, giving it a head start in this premium segment of coffee business. The only thing stakeholders in the country’s coffee sector must do is to continue focusing on quality, quantity, and marketing, particularly in Europe, which accounts for 40% of the total specialty coffee market, and as a critical emerging market, Asia and the Middle East.

Ethiopia being the natural home of coffee, it will only be a matter of time before it regains its status as the purveyor of authentic, high quality, single sourced coffee. FBA

FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

TRENDS IN FORMULATING, PROCESSING, PACKAGING & CONSUMPTION OF MILLED & BAKED GOODS AND ANIMAL FEED

South Africa's success with GM white maize

A

By Joseph Maina

frican countries in the south of the Sahara have a lot to learn from South Africa’s successes in Genetically Modified (GM) plant agriculture.

The southern Africa country appears poised for significant triumphs in its quest for greater food security, thanks to its embrace of agricultural biotechnology.

For a continent that perennially grapples with acute food shortages and recurrent droughts, amplified in many instances by stark poverty and unhelpful food production policies, South Africa has been doing pretty well.

Considered a regional leader in commercial and mechanized farming, South Africa has all the necessary muscle to deploy in food production that would arguably

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put it at par with the first world.

NEW RESEARCH CONDUCTED BY EXPERTS FROM VARIOUS UNIVERSITIES IN THE US AND EUROPE SHOWS THAT BETWEEN 2001 AND 2018, GM WHITE MAIZE HAS BROUGHT WELFARE BENEFITS AMOUNTING TO US$695 MILLION IN SOUTH AFRICA. Perhaps the more remarkable feather in the country’s hat was its daring and early foray into agricultural biotechnology, at a time when many countries in the continent were still fumbling for greater clarity on the impact of this novel route to food production.

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KEY NUMBERS

237 MILLION NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN AFRICA WHO ARE UNDERNOURISHED PEOPLE

Its adoption of Bt white maize in 2001-2002 established South Africa as the first GM subsistence crop producer in the world. This particular decision has paid off dividends in the past two decades, and could serve as a shining example of what biotechnology can do to correct the continent’s ofterratic maize production.

New research conducted by experts from various universities in the US and Europe shows that between 2001 and 2018, GM white maize has brought welfare benefits amounting to US$695 million in South Africa.

Food security benefits attributable to GM white maize in South Africa also manifest through an average of 4.6 million additional white maize rations annually, the report states. To achieve these additional annual rations using conventional hybrid maize, the additional land required would range from 1088 ha in 2001 to 217,788 ha in 2014.

The report further states that GM maize has seen the reduction of environmental damage by $0.34 per hectare or $291,721 annually, compared to conventional hybrid white maize.

The results of the study provide an appropriate and factual rebuttal to commonly peddled diatribes against GM food agriculture. Some of the criticisms, which are often founded on wobbly pseudo-science and fanned with appropriate dosages of propaganda, have effectively planted a wedge between scientists and policy makers who are largely driven by sheer good will against a public that understandably prefers to tread carefully on the subject.

The report’s authors assert that GM white maize in South Africa, typically produced as food for direct human consumption, provides a testable medium for the impacts of GM on the country's direct food supply.

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GM white maize is produced on a widespread commercial basis for direct human consumption in South Africa. It is the only staple crop produced on a widespread commercial basis in the country for direct human consumption using GM cultivars.

Food production in Sub-Saharan Africa must also be evaluated in the context of climate change and the threat it poses on sustainability of food systems. Earlier this year, a report published in the journal Nature Food suggested that GM maize can help improve climate change adaptation strategies and support producers in both high and lowproduction areas and bolster food security in the case of white maize consumption in South Africa.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) notes that in sub–Saharan Africa, there were 237 million undernourished people in 2017, a worrying figure indeed.

Given these and other concerns, the onus is on producers, agricultural scientists, and policymakers in the rest of the continent to pick applicable lessons from the South African success story, including adoption of GM technology where appropriate.

There are credible and sound reasons to believe that were this trait copied in other parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, the results would vindicate GM farming as one of the most viable solutions to food insecurity in the continent. FBA

FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

Industry REPORT

Cocoa industry in Africa tainted with a myriad of challenges but sector soldiers on

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By Catherine Wanjiku

f you have lately indulged in a chocolate dessert or a cup of hot chocolate, there is a good chance that the cocoa used to make the product was from Africa.

Nearly all the cocoa produced in continent is concentrated in the Western Africa region, mainly Ivory Coast and Ghana, the world’s top two producers with a combined contribution of 62% of cocoa output.

These two are followed by Nigeria (8%) and Cameroon 7%, coming after Indonesia. Other countries in the region also contribute smaller harvests, including Liberia, which is increasingly looking into crops such as cocoa to rebuild FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

its economy. Further afield, Uganda and DRC also have substantial cocoa crops.

The cash crop is significant to the economies of the producing countries. For instance, with cocoa production circling around 2,000,000 tonnes yearly in Ivory Coast and 850,000 tonnes in Ghana, the sector brings in nearly 40% of total export earnings, standing at US$2 billion in Ghana and US$5 billion in Ivory Coast. US, Netherlands, France, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands and Japan are some of the countries with the largest appetite for the commodity.

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COMBINED THE COFFEE SECTOR EMPLOYS MORE THAN 1.8 MILLION FARMERS, ONE MILLION IN COTE D'IVOIRE AND MORE THAN 8,000,000 IN GHANA. of the farmer population, most being smallholder farmers with an average size of 2-3 acres in Ghana, and 3-5 acres in Côte d'Ivoire. Combined, the sector employs more than 1,800,000 farmers, one million in Côte d’Ivoire and more than 800,000 in Ghana, highlights the Agricultural Attaché Network.

The sector’s noteworthy contribution is not only paramount to the producing countries, but also offers a lifeline to the multi-billion-dollar chocolate industry, which gulps nearly half of all the cocoa traded. Outside of chocolate confectionary products, the cocoa sector is also witnessing increasing demand for cocoa ingredients such as cocoa powder, liquor and concentrates used in the baking and beverage industries.

With the chocolate sector being its anchor market, cocoa industry is ideally set for exponential growth as the chocolate market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 4.78% to reach a total market size of US$182.090 billion by 2025, from US$137.599 billion in 2019, reports Research and Markets.

However, despite the expected growth, the cocoa growing sector accrues only 7 per cent of the value of the chocolate market, according to UNEP, bringing to light the true nature of the bittersweet value chain, especially from the supply side. While the final product is something most of us enjoy, unfortunately it comes at a cost.

ENCROACHMENT INTO REMAINING BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOTS Cocoa beans come from trees that require specific climates and pollination systems. These conditions are found in and around tropical forest ecosystems. To this end, deforestation has become a huge problem in cocoa farming regions, as cocoa growers are encroaching into the last remaining biodiversity hotspots.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), West Africa is experiencing severe deforestation estimated at about 1.2 million hectares (Ha) per year.

Environmental groups have reported that Côte d’Ivoire lost about 47,000 hectares of forest to cocoa production in 2020. In 2018, Ghana saw a 60% increase in forest loss compared to 2017, the largest annual increase in the world. Côte d’Ivoire was second at 26%. Deforestation has irreversible negative impacts on biodiversity, soil health and the adaptive capacity of ecosystems in the face of climate change.

To curb the menace, the governments of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana and 35 leading cocoa sourcing and chocolate companies joined together in 2017 to implement a five68

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year project dubbed Cocoa & Forests Initiative (CFI) to end deforestation and restore forest areas.

Some of the leading private cocoa and chocolate signatory companies of CFI include Barry Callebaut, Blommer Chocolate Company, Cargill Cocoa and Chocolate, ETG, Ferrero, General Mills Inc., The Hershey Company, JB Foods, Lindt & Sprüngli Group, Mars Wrigley, Mondelēz, Nestlé, Olam Cocoa, Unilever, among many others.

Under the initiative, the parties have distributed 10.4 million forest trees since 2018, contributing to Ivory Coast’s objective of extending forest cover to 20% of the country by 2030, up from 11% in 2015. To complement that mapping effort and monitor deforestation, the government of Côte d’Ivoire has adopted the IMAGES satellite monitoring system for the CFI. In Ghana, the government has a strong focus on delivering on the Ghana Cocoa Forest REDD+ Program (GCFRP) and has restored almost 226,000 hectares of forest area.

All the CFI signatories are also improving the traceability of the cocoa supply chain, with the government of Côte d’Ivoire having mapped all cocoa farms through a national operation conducted by the Conseil du Café-Cacao. The private companies have reached on average 82% (Ghana) and 74% (Côte d’Ivoire) traceability in their direct supply chains and mapped about 605,000 cocoa farms in both countries.

“The opening up of the geographical location of the cooperatives and districts we are directly sourcing from to public scrutiny is proof of the robustness of our approach to exclude cocoa grown in protected forest areas from our direct supply chain,” said Pablo Perversi, Chief Innovation, Sustainability & Quality Officer; Global Head of Gourmet at FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

Barry Callebaut.

RAMPANT CHILD LABOUR, EXPLOITATION PRACTICES Despite a growing number of sustainability commitments by players in the cocoa sector to curb deforestation, cocoa value chains continue to be dogged by persistent child labour. The farming process is labour intensive often with little to no mechanization, thus families that produce the crop often rely on child work as it offers cheap/free labour A recent report by a research group from the University of Chicago known as NORC, revealed that 38 percent of children in Côte d’Ivoire and 55 percent of children in Ghana living in agricultural households were engaged in child labour in cocoa production during the 2018-19 season. In total they account for about 1.6 million children labouring in the Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire cocoa farms undertaking hazardous tasks such as carrying heavy loads, climbing cocoa trees for harvesting, and using sharp tools to open cocoa pods.

Amid a 62% increase in cocoa production between 2008/09 and 2018/19 in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana in aggregate, prevalence of child labour in cocoa production among all agricultural households increased 14 percentage points. The findings are a blow to the cocoa and chocolate industry, which agreed a decade ago to cut the worst forms of child labour by 70% by 2020.

However, major chocolate and cocoa companies have committed to help change the narrative. In Ivory Coast the Child Learning and Education Facility (CLEF) and the Early Learning and Nutrition Facility (ELAN) coalition, is focused on scaling investments of about US$154.8m to promote effective learning and early childhood development at FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

scale in the country. The public-private partnership comprising of the Ivorian government, Jacob Foundation, UBS Optimus Foundation and eleven other cocoa and chocolate companies including Nestle, Barry Callebaut, Cargill, Chocolonely Foundation, ECOM, Ferrero, The Hershey Company, Mars, Mondelēz International, Olam Cocoa and Touton, aims to provide quality education for 5 million children and affect the behaviour of 10 million parents by 2030. To achieve this goal, CLEF will bring effective learning to up to 10,000 primary schools in cocoa growing areas and beyond, and construct 2,500 classrooms and other education infrastructures such as bridge classes, community schools, school canteens, and pre-school classrooms.

Meanwhile, Olam Cocoa, one of the world’s leading cocoa suppliers has introduced the first of its kind Child labour monitoring and remediation system (CLMRS) in Cameroon. The new digitally led initiative is aimed to help more children attend school across its entire direct supply chain. “Child labour anywhere in the cocoa supply chain is unacceptable, but the risk has increased over the past year as schools have closed due to the pandemic. By introducing this level of monitoring across all our cocoa sourcing countries, we want to make sure that cases are identified and dealt with as quickly as possible,” said Gerard A. Manley, CEO of OFI’s Cocoa Business.

KEY NUMBERS

US$182.1 BILLION PROJECTED VALUE OF GLOBAL CHOCOLATE MARKET BY 2025

As consumers and governments become more and more concerned about the origin of their food, most producers, traders and processors along the value chain will have to set up strategies aimed to make them more responsible for human rights abuses and environmental harm in their supply chain. The European Parliament has been pushing for the 27-nation bloc to introduce laws to prevent the import of commodities and products linked to the vices, while U.S. lawmakers have proposed banning imports of cocoa produced in areas characterized with the practices.

DEEP EMPTY POCKETS Shifting focus to another major systemic issues, it’s ironic that the cocoa industry fuels the multi-billion dollars chocolate industry, but farmers growing cocoa do not reap the rewards of its popularity, with many experiencing SEP/OCT 2021 | FOOD BUSINESS AFRICA

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extreme poverty. Smallholder farmers in West Africa still live in poverty despite their contribution to the sector, with countries like Ghana having an income gap of about 50% of the income benchmark value.

In a report by Los Angeles Times, Nana Akufo-Addo, Ghana’s president passionately stated that his country is locked in a colonial-style relationship with the world’s chocolate manufacturers in which it provides raw materials only to import finished goods.

“Chocolate is a US$100-billion industry and we who produce 65% of the raw material make less than US$6 billion from the sweat and toil of our farmers,” he says, referring to the combined sales of Ghana and Ivory Coast.

In pursuit to fetch more prices, the World Cocoa Foundation estimates that around 22% of cocoa traded worldwide is now certified by one or more standards, with Organic and Fairtrade Foundation being a particularly

sought-after combination. Production of cocoa beans that were certified by both these standards rose by 39% globally between 2014 and 2018, according to Fairtrade.

Such schemes provide auditing by an independent third party, offering some assurance that certified goods have been produced according to certain environmental and/or ethical standards.

This shift in consumer preferences is good news for West African farmers as certified beans fetch higher 70

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KEY NUMBERS

US$15.5 BILLION PROJECTED VALUE OF GLOBAL COCOA MARKET BY 2027

prices than conventional cocoa and bring other benefits such as reinvestment of profits in the local community and environmental protections. Other certification schemes common in the region include Utz Certified which is now part of the Rainforest Alliance.

The certifications have only been able to scratch the surface of the matter, propelling governments of the producing countries to rack their brains on the best remedy to the price volatility and income disparities. With the aim to improve farm-gate prices and ultimately farmer’ incomes, Ghana and Ivory Coast through their respective regulatory bodies set a fixed Living Income Differential (LID) of US$400 per tonne, for every cocoa sold by the two countries starting from the 2020/2021 season. But they have since struggled to sell their beans as chocolate demand has been hit by the coronavirus crisis.

However, the two countries plan to use funds raised from the LID to guarantee farmers 70% of US$2,600 a tonne of Free on Board (FOB) target price. If global prices rise above US$2,900, proceeds from the LID will be placed in a stabilisation fund that would be used to ensure farmers get the target price when market prices fall. Setting a cocoa floor price in the two largest producing countries will provide more certainty for their farmers and would be a game changer for the sector.

“If you look at OPEC, they are only controlling about 30% to 40% of the global oil supply and they control prices,” says Mahamudu Bawumia, Ghana’s Vice President, referring to the oil cartel. “If they have OPEC, we can have COPEC.” The introduction of the LID has been championed by chocolate makers and grinders such as Mars, Cargill, Olam, among others. However, companies such as Hershey’s have come to the radar of the regulators, allegedly accused of purchasing cheap beans from the New York futures exchange in an attempt to derail plans

by Ivory Coast and Ghana to increase farmers’ income. The matter quickly escalated with both West African countries cancelling all cocoa sustainability schemes that the maker of Hershey’s Kisses and Kit Kat brands was running in their countries, to send a clear message to anyone who plans not to abide with the LID. The parties resolved their differences following Hersey’s “definitive” commitment to paying a premium on cocoa to improve farmers’ income.

Ivory Coast and Ghana have pledged to further strengthen FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

and expand their existing economic relations on cocoa and other related matters. In August 2020, the two countries formed the Ivory Coast-Ghana Cocoa Initiative (ICCIG) aimed to promote their cocoa industries internationally and defend their collective position in the global market.

To this end, they have signed the Headquarters Agreement for the establishment of the Ivory Coast-Ghana Cocoa Initiative Secretariat in Accra, Ghana.

ACCELERATING TRANSFORMATION THROUGH VALUE ADDITION Some industry players have argued that increasing the prices of the cocoa bean is not the means to an end. The cocoa producers have an opportunity to increase the value of their products and generate additional revenue by processing, as well as incorporating and highlighting features that are valued by the final consumer.

Most cocoa produced in West Africa is largely sold as a raw commodity, with the producing countries retaining only a small proportion of the global cocoa market’s value, which garnered US$12.87 billion in 2019, and is estimated to generate US$15.50 billion by 2027, manifesting a CAGR of 4.3% from 2021 to 2027, according to a report published

by Allied Market Research.

Côte d’Ivoire exports 72% of cocoa as whole beans, while in Ghana the figure is 68%. Processing is largely concentrated in goods at the lower end of the value chain for cocoa paste, butter and powder, done by small number of players, predominately global majors such as the Franco-Belgian company Barry Callebaut and US company Cargill.

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WITH THE AIM TO IMPROVE FARM-GATE PRICES, GHANA AND IVORY COAST THROUGH THEIR RESPECTIVE REGULATORY BODIES SET A FIXED LIVING INCOME DIFFERENTIAL OF US$400 PER TONNE Barry Callebaut, the world’s leading manufacturer of high-quality cocoa and chocolate products, inaugurated its new state-of-the-art processing unit at its Zone 4C Société Africaine de Cacao (SACO) plant in Abidjan, Ivory Coast in 2019. The new grinding unit, part of the company’s fiveyear CHF 55 million (US$60 million) investment plan, will increase SACO’s cocoa bean processing capacity by 40% by 2022.

The expansion fits with the Ivorian government’s desire to increase cocoa processing capacity to attain 100% local processing by 2025. Mid last year, the government unveiled plans of establishing two new cocoa processing units in Abidjan and San Pedro with CFA Francs 216 billion (US$389 million) investment. The new units will have an annual processing capacity of 50,000 tonnes of beans each, adding to the current installed capacity of 710,000 tonnes per year. Construction works, which will take 2 years, have been bestowed on China Light Industry Design Engineering Company.

Still in Ivory Coast, global agribusiness company, Cargill channelled a US$100 million investment to its facility at Yopougon in 2019, aimed to increase its production capacity by 50 percent. This was done alongside the US$13 million investment at its site in Tema, Ghana, to boost production capacity by 20 percent. In the same year, Ghana’s Afrotropic Cocoa Processing Limited (ACPL), commissioned a new cocoa processing factory, valued at US$30 million with a capacity to process 15,000 tonnes of cocoa bean into cocoa nibs, cocoa liquor, deodorised cocoa butter and cocoa cake.

Meanwhile, the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has entered a public private partnership with the China Development Fund and Genertec International Corporation to establish a cocoa processing plant at Sefwi Wiawso, Western region Ghana estimated to cost US$100m.

Construction of the facility commenced in the first quarter of 2020 and once complete, it is expected to process about 50,000 metric tonnes of cocoa beans. This will increase the capacity of local processing in Ghana to about 550,000, which puts the country in a position to meet its 50% processing target, from the current 40%.

Ghana currently has seven major cocoa processing firms with an estimated processing capacity of about 500,000 metric tonnes. Other local players in the scene include the Cocoa Processing Company, state owned manufacturer of chocolates, confectionery and semi-finished cocoa products that operates two cocoa factories with an annual throughput of 65,000 metric tonnes and a confectionery factory. Another local player which prominently features in the space include BD Associates Ghana Limited, with SEP/OCT 2021 | FOOD BUSINESS AFRICA

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INDUSTRY REPORT: COCOA IN AFRICA

CERTIFIED BEANS FETCH HIGHER PRICES THAN CONVENTIONAL COCOA AND BRING OTHER BENEFITS SUCH AS REINVESTMENT OF PROFITS IN THE LOCAL COMMUNITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTIONS. an annual processing capacity of 12,500 metric tonnes of premium Ghanaian cocoa beans, processed into semifinished product mainly exported to Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

In Cameroon, Atlantic Cocoa Corporation (ACC), an Ivorian cocoa processor with investments in the neighbouring country, recently commenced operations at its newly built US$73.8m processing plant with a production capacity of 48,000 tonnes expandable to 64,000 tonnes, located at the industrial zone of the Kribi deep seaport.

Despite most investments being channelled towards semi-processing, there is a significant market niche for small-scale producers whose beans tell a compelling story to a growing class of conscientious consumers. The new trend of bean-to-bar, or tree-to-bar, has seen a handful of players move into the space to retain more value from their cocoa. USAID, through the West Africa Trade & Investment Hub, is supporting three such businesses: SOLEA in Côte d’Ivoire, Zora Chocolates in Ghana and Liberia Cocoa Corporation.

With an eye on the premium market, Koa, a SwissGhanaian start-up partnered with Lindt & Sprüngli, a global leader in the chocolate sector to develop a new chocolate bar sweetened using cocoa pod’s pulp. The new chocolate, known as Excellence Cacao Pur, is exclusively made of 82% cocoa beans and 18% cocoa pulp from Koa. Further setting itself apart, the startup recently collaborated with French chocolate maker Valrhona, to introduce the very first cocoa fruit juice concentrate at 72° Brix dubbed Oabika.

Still in Ghana, Niche Cocoa Industry is the largest fully integrated cocoa processor in the country producing high quality semi-finished cocoa products and premium cocoa powder and redefined chocolate products. The company has an installed cocoa processing capacity of 60,000 metric tonnes of semi-finished products and 10,000 tonnes of confectionery per year. Niche, producing high quality products, supplies Fairafric, Ghana’s first organic chocolate maker, with the needed raw materials.

Fairafric, is a German-Ghanaian social business that is revolutionizing the chocolate world by collaboratively working with its farmers, who are brand co-owners, having purchased shares in the company. To ensure its products will continue being enjoyed across the continent, the company recently commenced operations at its newly built solar-powered chocolate factory in the rural region of Suhum, South of Ghana.

As both local and international players seek to accrue more value from the crop, Bühler, one of the world’s leading plant equipment manufacturers, opened an ultra72

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modern agro-industrial training & innovation center in Abidjan, Ivory Coast in 2020. Christened the Buhler Cocoa Competence Center (CFIA), the facility becomes the first and only cocoa competence centre in Africa, dedicated to offering theoretical and practical training and R&D service for recipe development and process optimization.

The site includes two core production halls, which will initially focus on primary cocoa processing stages in terms of its pilot-testing, which is hoped to be extended within two years to include chocolate testing equipment to enable finished product development. Its full range of equipment includes a winnower, grinders, pre-refiners and a lab press, that will offer valuable practical experience for those using the site, which also has classroom facilities.

With the new facilities, Bühler is set to offer manufacturers, students and sector researchers, facilities to optimise their processes, develop new semi-finished product recipes. They will be able to train the current and future cocoa processing workforce on state-of-the-art technology.

“For Bühler, as a technology provider, and with very good experience in this field with the success of the African milling school in Kenya, we felt this was a model that could be adapted for the cocoa industry,” explained the project director Désiré N’zi, who said the site’s creation addresses several of the company’s key strategic sustainable development goals including providing quality education, delivering economic growth and forging new partnerships.

Further extending its expertise, the Swiss technology group recently signed an agreement with Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) to build the country’s local cocoa processing and value addition capacity through training, product development and technology guidance.

It is evident that sector-wide efforts and commitments are urgently needed to solve the issues facing the sector in a bid to support -farming communities, improve the livelihoods of value chain players and protect the environment. FBA

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Eating fruit and veg associated with children's mental well-being

A

By Jessica Norris lthough well-being among adults and children is similar, it is not exactly the same for both groups. Children are still growing, and multiple factors need to be taken into account when evaluating children’s health. One area of interest is the association between nutrition and children’s mental well-being. A new study, which appears in the journal BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health, suggests that children who eat more fruits and vegetables are more likely

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to have a better sense of mental well-being than those who eat less.

THE MENTAL WELL-BEING OF CHILDREN The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Trusted Source provide the following definition of what it means for children to be mentally healthy: “Being mentally healthy during childhood means reaching developmental and emotional milestones and learning SEP/OCT 2021 | FOOD BUSINESS AFRICA

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FOOD NUTRITION & HEALTH: CHILDREN'S MENTAL WELL-BEING

healthy social skills and how to cope when there are problems. Mentally healthy children have a positive quality of life and can function well at home, in school, and in their communities.” Psychologist and well-being consultant Lee Chambers further explained the impact of children’s mental well-being to Medical News Today: “Mental wellbeing in children plays a vital role in more than their health outcomes. Positive mental well-being is influenced by a variety of factors, and, in turn, impacts a range of outcomes, from education to health [and from] friendships to decision making.” Chambers continues, “It also provides the platform to develop resilience, cope with stressors, and become rounded and healthy adults. It is also pivotal POSITIVE MENTAL WELL-BEING IS INFLUENCED

BY A VARIETY OF FACTORS, AND, IN TURN, IMPACTS A RANGE OF OUTCOMES, FROM EDUCATION TO HEALTH [AND FROM] FRIENDSHIPS TO DECISION MAKING. in their ability to be safe and for healthy relationships.” “In an increasingly dynamic and uncertain world, mental wellbeing provides the foundations for children to build upon, to explore and learn, to play and have fun, and to navigate the challenges and adversity that come with being human.”

Research is ongoing when it comes to understanding the factors that influence mental health and well-being.

The relationship between nutrition and mental health is an area of great interest — particularly regarding how nutrition is linked to the mental well-being of children.

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The authors of the recent study note that: “Nutrition, a modifiable factor at both an individual and societal level, is an important influence on health throughout the life course, is intricately involved in [the] development and normal functioning of the body, and thus has the potential to affect both physical health and mental well-being.”

THE STUDY The recent study was a cross-sectional study that examined the association between children’s consumption of fruits and vegetables, their meal choices, and their mental wellbeing.

Researchers collected data from more than 50 schools, including primary schools, secondary schools, and further education colleges. In the United Kingdom, primary school children are aged 5–11 years, and secondary school children are aged 11–16 years. Based on the U.K.’s system, the oldest children included in the study would be the equivalent of seniors in United States high schools. The youngest children included in the analysis were 8 years old.

These data came from The Norfolk Children and Young People’s Health and Wellbeing Survey 2017. A total of 10,853 children filled out this survey. For students in secondary school, the researchers used a mental health assessment called the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale.

For students in primary school, they used an assessment called the Stirling Children’s Well-Being Scale. Both of these assessments use a system wherein a higher score indicates a higher level of well-being. The survey also asked about the children’s intake of fruits and vegetables FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

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and the types of breakfasts and lunches they ate.

The scientists also collected data on other covariates, such as: nutrition, including alcohol consumption, free school meal status, and weight satisfaction demographics, including age, ethnicity, and level of deprivation health, including long-term illnesses and disability status living situation, including whether or not children had their own rooms and whether or not their parents or caregivers smoked adverse experiences, including issues such as feeling safe and bullying. Some of these covariates, such as alcohol use, were not included in the survey for primary school children because the researchers deemed them inappropriate.

NUTRITION AND MENTAL WELL-BEING The study found that higher levels of fruit and vegetable consumption were associated with higher mental wellbeing scores among secondary school children. It also found that, in secondary school children, only consuming an energy drink instead of breakfast was associated with lower mental well-being scores than not eating breakfast at all.

For both primary and secondary school children, the scientists found that mental well-being scores were higher for those who had breakfast or lunch than for children who did not eat these meals. Study co-author Prof. Ailsa Welch highlighted the following findings to MNT: “In a class of 30 secondary school children, we found that [four] 76

SEP/OCT 2021 | FOOD BUSINESS AFRICA

KEY NUMBERS

US$10,853 NUMBER OF CHILDREN WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE STUDY had nothing to eat or drink before starting classes in the morning, and [three] had nothing to eat or drink before the afternoon. Only 25% of children ate [five] or more fruits and vegetables a day, and 1 in 10 ate none.”

“These statistics are concerning, as poor nutrition is likely to impact on academic performance at school as well as growth and development,” Prof. Welch added.

“The lower mental well-being scores of those who had no breakfast and of those who had no lunch were of the same scale as those who witnessed regular arguing or violence at home on a regular basis.”

LIMITATIONS AND IMPLICATIONS The researchers note a few limitations to their study.

Firstly, because the children only took the questionnaires once, the scientists could not track changes in well-being and diet over time. Secondly, the data collection relied on self-reporting from children, which has the potential to be inaccurate. They also note that some of the questions related to the children’s diets were simplistic. Based on previous research and the study’s results, the study authors advocate for schools to work to ensure that that nutritious food is available to all children.

Prof. Welch emphasized to MNT that: “Good quality nutrition needs to be available to all children of school age to optimize mental well-being and empower children to fulfill their full potential. The associations found between nutrition and mental well-being in our study mean that strategies to improve nutrition in school children need to be investigated and implemented.”

Prof. Welch also noted that we need to understand the reasons that some students are not consuming meals. She told MNT: “Further investigations are required to uncover the reasons why some children are not having breakfast, and/or lunch, or are consuming energy drinks only. These may include social, cultural, knowledge, and economic factors, including provision and access to [fruits] and vegetables being limited in areas of deprivation.”

Overall, this link between nutrition and mental wellbeing emphasizes the importance of addressing the nutritional needs of children when considering their mental well-being. FBA

Article originally appeared in the MedicalNewsToday FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

FOOD INGREDIENTS: EMULSIFIERS

Emulsifiers: Getting right the oil-water relationship in foods Emulsifiers are used in wide range of applications and provides unique benefits in the food industry

By Paul Ongeto

T

he immiscibility of oil and water has inspired the proverb “oil and water don’t mix” and other expressions that reflect the general incompatibility of two entities.

Surprisingly, a good portion of the food we eat such as mayonnaise, milk, salad dressings, to name but a few, are comprised of water and oil components that are uniformly distributed. This interaction between immiscible liquids is called an emulsion and is made possible by compounds known as emulsifiers.

Simple emulsions are either oil suspended in water

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(o/w), or water suspended in oil (w/o). Milk is an example of an o/w emulsion, in which the fat phase or cream forms tiny droplets within the skim milk, or water phase. In contrast, margarine is a w/o emulsion containing droplets of water or skim milk in a blend of vegetable oils and fat.

In both cases, emulsifiers are needed to prevent the suspended droplets from coalescing and breaking the emulsion. Apart from stabilizing an emulsion, emulsifiers also make the finished product soft and smooth in texture.

In some applications such as ice cream processing, the addition of emulsions leads to better dispersion, SEP/OCT 2021 | FOOD BUSINESS AFRICA

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FOOD INGREDIENTS: EMULSIFIERS

THE TYPE OF EMULSIFIER USED DEPENDS ON THE APPLICATION, WITH CATIONIC EMULSIFIERS TYPICALLY USED IN LOW-TO-NEUTRAL PH SOLUTIONS AND ANIONIC EMULSIFIERS IN ALKALINE SOLUTIONS. solubilization, crystal modification, foaming and creaming ability.

It would therefore be safe to say that without emulsifiers, some of the foods that we currently have from ice creams to chocolates and even sausages would not have existed or if they did, not in the quality and taste that we enjoy today.

HOW EMULSIFIERS WORK Emulsifiers have a unique attribute of having both a hydrophilic (water-loving, or polar) head group and a hydrophobic (oil-loving, or nonpolar) tail. This makes them attracted to both polar and nonpolar compounds.

When added to an o/w emulsion, emulsifiers surround the oil droplet with their nonpolar tails extending into the oil, and their polar head groups facing the water. For a w/o emulsion, the emulsifier’s orientation is reversed: nonpolar tails extend outward into the oil phase, while polar head groups point into the water droplet. In this way, emulsifiers lower the interfacial tension between the oil and water phases, stabilizing the droplets and preventing them from coalescing.

However, not all emulsifiers are the same. Some are cationic (positively charged polar head group), while others are anionic (negatively charged head group), or non-ionic (uncharged head group). The type of emulsifier

used depends on the application, with cationic emulsifiers typically used in low-to-neutral pH solutions and anionic emulsifiers in alkaline solutions. Non-ionic emulsifiers can be used alone or in combination with charged emulsifiers to increase emulsion stability.

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COMMON FOOD EMULSIFIERS For centuries, cooks have added natural emulsifiers, such as egg yolk, mustard, or honey, to create stable emulsions.

Today, a wide variety of nature-based and synthetic emulsifiers are available for different food applications from bakery to meat processing.

Of all emulsifiers currently in use today, lecithin is arguably the most popular. The compound, which is a blend of naturally occurring phospholipids, is widely used in the food industry to promote o/w emulsions. Commercial bakers especially find lecithin useful in preventing the split of water and oil particles. By keeping the droplets of oil in water safe, lecithin also increases the stability and shelf life of the food.

Fatty Acid Derivatives are the second most common class of emulsifiers, with several emulsifiers derived from fatty acids including polyglycerol esters (PGE), polysorbates, stearoyl lactylates, propylene glycol esters (PGMS), and sucrose esters.

PGE is commonly used in desserts like cakes and their icings while PGMS is preferred for toppings that are whippable. Sucrose esters are on the other hand useful in FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

feels like the food product is melting inside your mouth – adding the to the taste and feel of the food.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT EMULSIFIER With a wide variety of emulsifiers existing in the market, choosing the right emulsifier for a particular food application can be challenging.

Calculating the hydrophilic-lipophilic balance (HLB) of an emulsifier or combination of emulsifiers can be a good place to start. Different emulsifiers have different HLB values, which in theory, can be used to predict their ability to stabilize various kinds of emulsions.

HLB scale ranges from 0 to 20, with 10 corresponding to an emulsifier that is equally attracted to water and oil.

Emulsifiers with HLB values greater than 10 are more hydrophilic and thus better at stabilizing o/w emulsions.

In contrast, emulsifiers with HLB values less than 10 are more hydrophobic and therefore better suited for w/o emulsions.

John Neddersen Senior Application Scientist, Fats and Oils, Emulsifiers at IFF notes that knowing an emulsifier's HLB is not satisfactory enough as “foods are complex systems with many different ingredients interacting.”

To get the right emulsifier for your food application, Neddersen advises practical experimentation in food application labs. “Although guidelines like the HLB scale can help, most of the time experience and experimentation are needed to find the optimal choice of emulsifiers and usage rates,” he advises. This is where emulsifier providers like IFF, Palsgaard, Bunge and Kerry come in to help food processors choose the right emulsifier for their foods. products like gums, coffee, and sauces.

A different class of emulsifiers known as polyglycerol polyricinoleate (PGPR) is common in the chocolate industry.

It works well in enhancing the thickness and volume of the product. Chocolate coatings flow satisfactorily when PGPR is added unto its mixture, making it a helpful agent in maintaining the good quality of the chocolate or other products that require certain smoothness and viscosity.

Sunflower-based Ammonium phosphatide (AMP) has been the most triumphant emulsifier in chocolate and confectionery manufacturing. It is chiefly efficacious in achieving uniformity and steadiness of the mixture, leading to high-quality food products. Chocolate manufacturers also say it does pretty well in helping them achieve the right size, texture, smell, and thickness.

Mono and Diglycerides class wraps up our small list of common emulsifiers used in the food industry today.

They are produced when palatable oils are blended with glycerin and are used in a number of food applications, from chocolates processing to the making of baked and dairy products. Monoglycerides work well in foams that are whippable while managing the agglomeration of fats.

For products like chocolates, they give the sensation that FOODBUSINESSAFRICA.COM

FOODS ARE COMPLEX SYSTEMS WITH MANY DIFFERENT INGREDIENTS INTERACTING. TO GET THE RIGHT EMULSIFIER FOR YOUR FOOD APPLICATION, NEDDERSEN ADVISES PRACTICAL EXPERIMENTATION IN FOOD APPLICATION LABS. IFF for instance sells a broad range of emulsifiers, including the Panodan® DATEM (diacetyl tartaric acid ester of monoglycerides) line especially for bakery products and the Cremodan® line for ice creams and other frozen desserts. As an alternative to lecithin in chocolates and other confectionary, IFF offers Grindsted® CITREM, a citric acid ester. This emulsifier can substitute for soy lecithin, which has recently come under fire, particularly in Europe, because most soy crops grown for export are genetically modified.

Palsgaard, on the other hand, boasts of a wide range of emulsifiers for use in different kinds of applications from chocolate and cakes to condiments and meats. For baking, the emulsifier expert offers several solutions for different cake applications. Its Emulpals® 115 emulsifier is for SEP/OCT 2021 | FOOD BUSINESS AFRICA

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instance good in making better-for-you cakes while its Palsgaard® SA 6615 comes in handy for industrial bakers seeking to avoid using palm oil in their product mixes. If you want to make a low-fat or a fat-reduced mayonnaise, Palsgaard has a solution to help you achieve this goal. For those seeking to control stability in plant-based beverages Palsgaard offers RecMilk 131, a combination of monoand diglycerides, and stabilisers – which work together to provide a pleasant and creamy consistency while at the same time reducing separation during storage.

EMBEDDING SUSTAINABILITY INTO EMULSIFIERS Emulsifiers being key in many food applications has not escaped the scrutiny of many environmentally conscious consumers.

Palm oil, a key ingredient in making many emulsifiers, has been associated with deforestation of some of the world's most biodiverse forests. Calls for its complete elimination from food chains has led to suppliers such as Palsgaard coming up with a new class of non-palm emulsifiers that give manufacturers more ways to address consumer concerns. Where palm oil emulsifiers cannot be replaced, the company also offers a full product range

BEFORE THEY CHOOSE A CAKE, MANY CONSUMERS NOW LOOK CAREFULLY AT THE RECIPE, IF THEY SEE A LONG LIST OF INGREDIENTS THEY DON’T RECOGNISE, THEY’RE PUT OFF, SO THE FEWER E-NUMBERS THE BETTER. Application Specialist, Palsgaard A/S says. “If they see a long list of ingredients they don’t recognise, they’re put off, so the fewer E-numbers the better.”

To meet this demand, emulsifier providers have had to create new solutions with less ingredients. Palsgaard has for instance created the Palsgaard® SA 6610 for cakes which only has one E-number, a great improvement when compared to the six or seven E-numbers that are usually in cake gel alternatives. Sternchemie also recently released SternPur S DH 50 – a hydrolyzed, de-oiled sunflower lecithin suitable for powdered ingredients, baked goods and beverages. This new solution within the SternPur range is allergen-free and non-GMO. The company says that SternPur S DH 50 is the ideal alternative to artificial emulsifiers which can taint a product’s clean-label status.

EMULSIFIER USE BEYOND FOOD APPLICATIONS For centuries, emulsifiers have been predominantly used in food and today, their use has spread to other fields including medicine, nutraceuticals, home and personal care, and even in packaging.

Emulsifiers have particularly come in handy in the production of food-grade plastic packaging and film.

Their incorporation enhances the anti-static performance of the packages while also improving their anti-fogging capabilities. This, according to Palsgaard, offers a new way of keeping food and its packaging fresh and appealing.

made from palm oil that is 100% Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certified, sustainable and segregated. USbased IFF has also committed to only using palm oil from sustainable sources to allay consumer concerns about the commodity.

CLEAN LABEL AFFECTS EMULSIFIER FORMULATIONS Today, consumers fear foods comprised of long lists of ingredients that they cannot identify, preferring clean-label foods which are comprised of leaner lists of ingredients they know.

“Before they choose a cake, many consumers now look carefully at the recipe,” Christophe Lequet, Senior 80

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PRACTICAL EXPERIMENTATION Basically, advances in technology have allowed manufacturers to create emulsifiers tailored for specific food applications.

Today, we have emulsifiers specifically tailored for the production of activated cakes while others are best suited for mayonnaise production. Food technologists have even come up with emulsifiers to suit modern day trends from clean-label to better for you and plant-based foods. No two emulsifiers are however the same. What would work well in cakes might turn out to be a bad option for chocolate or yogurt production.

To find out which is the best for your food application, Neddersen’s advises practical experimentation. Working closely with your emulsifier supplier is therefore key in identifying the right emulsifier for your food. There is always something for everyone, you just have to find what perfectly suits your needs. FBA

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