By Mohamed Seif
Mombasa, Kenya: Coconut water at the Coast is popular with tourists and locals as it offers a respite from the sometimes cloying heat. The drink, better known as madafu, is made from young, green coconuts and is mostly sold by roadside vendors. But now, an enterprising trader has taken the beverage mainstream by bottling it.
Mr Dan Abwao, the entrepreneur behind the idea, calls his product Dafukool and says it is “East, Central, West and North Africa’s first and only premium coconut water.”
“There is no bottled coconut water brand in Africa … Dafukool is historic and I that hope when I’m gone, this product will still be here as a legacy of this country,” he said.
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On contacting the Kenya Coconut Development Authority (KCDA) for confirmation on the claim, the institution’s Business Development and Marketing Manager, Mr Jeremiah Alukwe, said: “That is true, in Africa, [bottling coconut water] has not been done.”
Dafukool, which retails at Sh100 per bottle, can stay fresh for a month when refrigerated, or six months when frozen.
Abwao got the idea to start bottling madafu when watching TV.
“My wife and I watched a business programme one weekend on coconut water in Brazil, and I told her we should give it a shot in Kenya because nobody was doing it.”
Certification
They began researching the modalities of actualising the idea, and after settling on a formula, they approached the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) with a sample for verification.
“They took us through a very rigorous process. Among other things, they checked for pathogens, whether the alkalinity of the water was fine, and checked the flavour to establish if any sugar was added,” he said.
Since there was no existing product in the country similar to Dafukool, Kebs relied on Caribbean standards.
After they received their certification, and with capital of about Sh500,000, Dafukool launched in September 2013. Abwao says they have since sold coconut water worth Sh400,000, and increased their production capacity from 20 bottles to around 400 bottles a day.
To market the drink, Abwao relies on social media platforms, online stores, participation at trade fairs and exhibitions, and distributing leaflets.
“Our basic business model is direct sales. Clients call us and we deliver anything from one to 1,000 bottles to homes and offices using my van,” he said.
However, his growth has not been without its challenges.
“Soko Plus, a medium-sized store in Mombasa’s upmarket Nyali area, has offered us free shelf space, but it has not been easy getting into major supermarkets, which has been rather discouraging.”
Also, his profit margins are quite narrow as the cost of production of one bottle is Sh80, he says, attributing this to the use of waterproof labels and high quality bottles.
“And of course we don’t know when we will really industrialise and start production on a very large scale while sustaining the supply of tender coconuts,” Abwao added.
Simple machinery
He buys coconuts from farmers in south and north Coast, and transports them to Mombasa where the water is extracted and bottled — with nothing added — using simple machinery.
“Coconut water is ultrahydrating, full of potassium that helps regulate blood pressure, and it is anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-viral.”
To increase his capacity, Abwao has imported a machine from India to increase production to more than 1,000 bottles a day.
“We have a strategy. We will be everywhere — at your doorstep, backyard, the little shop next door. Soon, we are going to have hundreds of partners; in fact, they will be the ones to look for us.”
