Entrepreneurship Zone: 08 June 2023 :: The journey of establishing a dried fruit business in Kenya

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Entrepreneurship Zone: 08 June 2023 ::  The journey of establishing a dried
fruit business in Kenya

 

	
 


·          


 <https://www.hyundai.co.zw/> Burton & Bamber is a Kenyan food business
with a focus on dried fruit products. Jaco Maritz spoke with co-founder,
Jonathan Bamber, about the company’s journey into supermarket distribution;
why it is focused on building a local brand as opposed to exports; and the
challenging aspects of manufacturing within Kenya.


Burton & Bamber, the company behind the Kenyan dried fruit brand Sweetunda,
was founded in 2015 by British-born Jonathan Bamber, his wife Sarah, and
Ofelia Burton. Jonathan and Ofelia met while employed at a company that
produced off-grid solar products targeting rural households in Kenya.
However, a pivotal conversation with local farmers in Embu, a region in
central Kenya, led to a change in their business direction. The farmers
urged them to pivot from selling products they believed the community
needed, to buying and promoting what the region already produced: mangoes.
At that time, the country had an excess of mangoes, and farmers were
struggling to secure buyers for their produce.

In response to this market inefficiency, Jonathan and Ofelia turned their
attention to the mango value chain, deciding to start a fruit drying
business.

Burton & Bamber began its mango-drying venture at a small rented facility
in Thika, situated 45km from Nairobi, a town Jonathan refers to as the
‘Birmingham of Kenya’ due to its large number of factories and good access
to target markets. A local business supported them, offering space at an
existing factory and investing in processing equipment.

The company initially broke into the market by supplying bulk dried mangoes
to some of Kenya’s prominent retailers. However, the founders soon
recognised the potential for their own dried fruit brand. According to
Jonathan, there was a noticeable dearth of dried fruit products in Kenya at
the time, and the few existing companies were hampered by a lack of
attention to their brands, packaging and product quality.

The founders gave their brand the name ‘Sweetunda’; tunda is ‘fruit’ in
Swahili. As Jonathan recounts, “We sent our driver into Thika town with
maybe half a dozen [name] ideas. He interviewed about 100 people and came
back saying Sweetunda was the most popular name.”

The company initially produced dried mango, and later added other fruits
like pineapple, banana, raspberries, and strawberries for dried fruit and
fruit rolls. It also introduced granola to its product portfolio. Currently,
it processes around six tonnes of food each day.


Navigating the retail landscape


While creating a product is a journey in itself, getting it into the hands
of consumers is an entirely different challenge.

Jonathan recalls the early days when Sweetunda, with its simple packaging,
found its first retail space in a modest vegetable shop in Nairobi. Around
the same time as the launch of the Sweetunda, French supermarket chain
Carrefour made its debut in Kenya. Gaining a spot on the shelves of
Carrefour proved to be a pivotal moment in the brand’s growth. Following
this the company also secured listings in smaller chains such as Chandarana
Foodplus and Zucchini Greengrocers.

“My background is as a British diplomat and in international development. I
had no retail experience. But what I do know is how to talk to people, and
that’s what I did,” Jonathan explains. “And I literally went to meet
everyone involved in the process: [from the] listings guys to store owners.
And we learned how to get our products on the shelves.”

He adds that they took the products to farmers’ markets in Nairobi and
elsewhere to raise awareness

When the business began to grow, Burton & Bamber partnered with third-party
distributors to deliver products from the factory to
<https://www.howwemadeitinafrica.com/category/sectors/retail-sectors/>
retail outlets. However, Jonathan says this approach had its drawbacks.
Because the company was no longer responsible for its own merchandising at
retail stores, it lost touch with its customers. Sweetunda products were
just one of the many products that these distributors distributed and they
didn’t make much of an effort to ensure the brand looked good on the
shelves. “One of the most important things in retail is to make sure that
your product commands attention on the shelf, looks great and is
consistently available. And no one is as invested in that as the producer,”
Jonathan says.


Targeting the mass market


Although the market for dried fruit is growing, Jonathan acknowledges that
it is a premium product and not affordable to the majority of Kenyan
consumers. He explains, “It’s not for everybody, not everyone can afford 200
grams of [dried] mango at $5.” Further, he notes that a large segment of
Kenyans are unfamiliar with dried fruit. Despite this, he says there is
sizeable customer base in the capital Nairobi. The city is home to many
residents who’ve had international exposure, including returnee Kenyans and
a substantial expatriate community from the US, Europe, and China, many of
whom are accustomed to dried fruit.

To penetrate the wider market, Burton & Bamber recently introduced a new
product named Crackies. This extruded sweet potato snack retails at about 20
Kenyan shillings (around $0.15) per 20-gram packet. In its pursuit of
reaching the mass market, the company aims to distribute through Kenya’s
thousands of small retail shops, known as dukas. “Crackies has a much
greater potential to tap into the mass market compared to dried mango,”
Jonathan states.



Recently, the company launched Crackies, a product aimed towards the mass
market.

To get Crackies into the multitude of small shops, Jonathan underlines the
necessity of partnering with distributors already servicing these outlets
with products like soap, toothpaste and biscuits. Despite the company’s
shift away from using third-party distributors when it comes to formal
retail stores, he maintains that their role is essential in accessing the
informal duka market.

Jonathan asserts that success in the mass market hinges on three key
elements: a tasty product offered at a compelling price, effective
distribution, and well-executed product awareness. As for raising awareness,
he advocates for proactive, on-the-street marketing tactics. “We need to
create an appetite for Crackies through activations which draw consumer
attention to the product, create a buzz, giveaways – product sampling is
most important,” he explains.


Adding value to sweet potatoes


Besides using orange-flesh sweet potatoes for Crackies, Burton & Bamber
recently started capitalising on demand for the crop’s high nutritional
value by producing a puree for sale to bakers, who then substitute a
percentage of wheat in their bread with sweet potato puree. With a grant
from the International Potato Centre, the company procured
half-a-million-dollar equipment from the US capable of transforming sweet
potato and other fruits and vegetables into an aseptic puree. Stored in a
sealed metallised bag, the puree doesn’t require refrigeration and has a
shelf life of over 18 months. Additionally, the company can produce
pasteurised mango and other fruit purees for supply to restaurants to use in
juices and smoothies.


Export market


Jonathan reveals that over the years, the company has exported both bulk
and white-label products to countries like Italy, Sweden, and the Czech
Republic. While Burton & Bamber continues to export, the company’s sales
strategy is focused on serving the local market.

Jonathan expresses disappointment over the conduct of several international
buyers, accusing some of poaching Burton & Bamber’s staff. He laments the
pressure these entities exert on prices, effectively squeezing profits to
minimal levels. With private labels demanding their 30-40% and retailers
expecting their 40-50%, the manufacturer is left with almost nothing.
Moreover, he highlights the steep costs that manufacturers like Burton &
Bamber bear, which include upfront payments to farmers and comprehensive
food safety certifications. “We currently have one export partner who is
genuinely interested to work with us and walk with us. We’re excited about
this model and will grow the relationship, hopefully replicating with new
partners in the future,” he notes.


Manufacturing challenges eating into the bottom line


The business has been largely funded from the owners’ own pockets and
grants from non-profit organisations. These grants, though, often
necessitated a 50% matching contribution from the company. Jonathan
acknowledges that such funding has been instrumental in establishing the
company, enabling support in key areas including training for small-scale
farmers, acquiring factory equipment, marketing initiatives, and securing
essential food safety certifications.

The company’s revenue doubled each year for the first three years although
growth stalled somewhat during the Covid period. Despite this, the business
is yet to reach profitability.

Kenya’s challenging manufacturing environment has had a negative impact on
the company’s bottom line. Jonathan cites sporadic power supply as a major
issue. Unexpected power surges can result in damage to their machinery.
Additionally, recent water scarcity due to the drought, also presented a
significant problem for the factory. “We find that any profit we make go
straight into either replacing a circuit board that has been blown up or
buying water from a bowser … Doing manufacturing has been a huge challenge …
It has surprised us at how difficult it is.”

Leveraging solar power to counterbalance the unstable electricity supply,
Jonathan reports that the company has mitigated some of these difficulties.
Despite the challenges, he remains positive about the business’ growth
outlook.

 



Burton & Bamber produces a variety of dried fruit products under the
Sweetunda brand.

 

- howwemadeitinafrica

 

 

 


 


 


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