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NEWS & CURRENT AFFAIRS

The Nairobian

Kakuzi announces Sh100 million investment plan

Business

By Irene Githinji | Sep 26, 2024

**Kakuzi PLC staff tagging packages for tracking for export**. [File,Standard]

A section of Kakuzi shareholders have declared their support for the company’s diversification and expansion plans.

This comes after the company announced a Sh100 million investment strategy for 2025.

The agribusiness firm has committed to execute a sustainability-anchored agricultural portfolio diversification agenda, as part of its business expansion and diversification strategy.

Kakuzi Managing Director Chris Flowers yesterday said the agenda, with a capital outlay of Sh100 million next year, is focusing on key issues like integrating agricultural technology, water stewardship, measuring and reducing carbon emissions, and reducing waste products.

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The company is also seeking to introduce new commercial produce such as blueberries and an expanded livestock range.

“Market diversification for Kakuzi is a key part of our strategy, not only for export but also for the growing domestic and regional markets,” said Flowers during a tour of the farm’s operations in Murang’a County.

“Having the combination of avocado, macadamia, and hopefully, blueberries as export crops being sent to Europe, China, India, the Middle East, America, Japan and the UK, as well as a strong domestic value-addition range, we believe, gives us the greatest opportunities to minimise shareholder risks and maximise returns.”

He said the complexity of doing business today is greater than it was during the Covid-19, owing to the wider global logistics.

“We are now dealing with new significant problems beyond our control, such as complex global logistics caused by the closure of the Red Sea shipping routes and climate change, making agriculture far less predictable,” he explained.

Kakuzi board chairman Nicholas Ng’ang’a said the firm is now an integrated international agribusiness player.

In its growth strategy, the firm, he said, will continue to engage its shareholders through familiarisation tours and progressive engagements.

“Our shareholders are our primary stakeholders, and we’re proud they can come to visit us today and understand how their investment is operating,” Ng’ang’a said.

The Kakuzi share register shows that the number of shareholders grew to 1,395 as of December 31, 2023, up from 1,362 the previous year.