Irish Food Company Ventures Into The Kenyan Market

The Irish food ingredients and taste Technology Company, Kerry Group has joined the East African market.

In A move that is meant to enhance trade ties between Kenya and Ireland, The Company picked Kenya as its regional headquarters following its 4-country acquisition of Afribon.

The company said the acquisition is a significant expansion of its business in Africa, and importantly enables the localisation of its products and services.

“We encourage both Kenyan and Irish companies to take advantage of the trade policies and goodwill between our two countries to fuel joint growth which will benefit both of our countries,” said Irish Ambassador Fionnuala Quinlan.

Regional Vice President Peter Dillane says the company is in the advanced stages of increasing their regional footprint and locally-led taste and nutrition solutions.

“This is of particular importance when it comes to the development of new product ideas to formulation, recipe adjustment and initial production set up, given the diversity of regions and cuisine in Africa,” said Dillane.

He Expressed confidence in the potential of East Africa’s fast-growing food and beverage manufacturing sector.

It is currently estimated that trade value between the two states from January to September 2021, totaled to Ksh4.3 billion.

Coffee remained the largest sector of exports from Kenya to Ireland while tea & cocoa valued at ksh1.4 billion came second and third.

Essential oils and perfume materials were the largest sector of exports from Ireland to Kenya valued at ksh936, 180,000m.

For 2021, Enterprise Ireland is focused on ‘scaling’ and on companies that can grow from an existing base in Africa, Kenya is also one of the focus markets in Africa for Enterprise Ireland.

Ireland’s potential as a footprint for Kenyan in the European Union was also highlighted, with 450 million potential consumers for Kenyan goods and services.