GraceKennedy to invest in Ghana's economy
GraceKennedy Ghana Limited, manufacturer and distributor of Mighty Malt in the country, has opened its operations at the Tema Industrial Area to import and distribute the beverage to consumers in the country.
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The Ghana office has been selected to serve as a hub for the West African market, where products meant for other sister countries would first be shipped to the country's twin-ports and then to the final destinations within the sub-region.
GraceKennedy is a Jamaican-based company whose operations stretch from food processing and distribution to banking and finance, insurance and remittance services.
The Sales and Marketing Manager of the Ghana subsidiary, Mr Adolf Dogbey, said the company, which set up its local unit in March this year, had so far invested about US$1 million into the business and was now looking at adding another US$4 million in the coming months.
"We are also looking at an annual sale of about US$4 million for this year and then it goes up into the years," he told the Daily Graphic at a media launch of the company in Accra.
Mighty Malt, which is a premium malt targeted mainly at the youth, had been selling in the country for sometime prior to the official setting up of its Ghana office.
Mr Dogbey explained that before March this year, the beverage was imported into the country through a distributor, Ernest Chemist, and then sold to interested consumers.
He said since the company started full operations two months ago, it had distributed about 30,000 crates of the drinks compared to the 5,000 crates it was doing prior to setting up.
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He stated that GraceKennedy was looking at doing US$60 million in the sub-region, using the Ghana office as a conduit.
"We are also looking into the future to build our own manufacturing plant in Ghana to serve the West African market and we are looking at doing that in the next five years," the Sales and Marketing Manager of GraceKennedy Ghana added.
On demand for the product, he said interest for Mighty Malt, which was one of the various beverages manufactured and distributed by the GraceKennedy Group, had been picking up in the country and the sub-region at large and his outfit was positioning itself to meet that demand.
"The malt market, especially, is big because from the figures we had last year, we were able to bring in about 20,000 containers into this country within a period of 12 months. There's also a lot of competition but we have a premium brand and we have positioned ourselves into the upper market and our target is the youth," he said, explaining that the drink gives maximum energy and refreshment.
Mr Dogbey said subsequently the company would also look at adding more brands to its stables in the country.
Mighty Malt comes in both bottles and cans and adds to the over 12 different brands of malt beverages currently on sale in the local market.