French milk firm - Danone Milk comes to Kenya

NAIROBI: French food group Danone is using Kenya as a launch pad to enter the East Africa market. The firm, which holds 40 per cent stake in Brookside, stated its commitment to using the Kenyan market to further embed its presence in the region, following past successful entries in north, west and South Africa.

Besides Danone, 10 per cent is owned by equity firm Abraaj and the rest is held by the Kenyatta family. The firm, which operates in 140 countries, has investments in Africa worth 1 billion Euros (Sh116 billion). It has a presence in Morocco, Algeria, Egypt and South Africa. Danone’s approach appears to be targeting mainly smallholder dairy farmers, who stand to benefit from the French firm’s investment in capacity building. Brookside has some 160,000 contracted dairy farmers in Kenya.