Kevian Kenya, owners of the Afia and Pick ‘N’ Peel fruit juice brands, has received $10.9m loan from German sovereign wealth fund DEG to finance its expansion. The loan follows a $7.8m the company received from DEG in 2012, which has been successfully paid back.
Kevian was founded in 1992 and has almost 50% market share in the Kenyan fruit juice market. It owns the Afia and Pick N Peel fruit juice brands, Mt Kenyan bottled water, as well as manufacturing tomato sauce, carbonated drinks, ready-to-drink coffee, energy drinks and vegetable soups.
Kevian plans to introduce additional products into the Kenyan market and expand its production capacity to better target children and young adults. The median age in Kenya is just 20.3 years old compared to, for example, 47 years old in Germany. As part of the expansion, the Thika-based company will seek to add 200 jobs to its existing workforce of 800.