Kenya: Dutch brewer, Heineken N/V, launched formally it famous beer brand in East Africa on March 14. The beer will be distributed and sold by Kenya Breweries Limited (KBL) following the signing of an exclusive partnership deal by the two companies, All Africa news agency communicated on March 16. The licence does not include the brewing of Heineken in Kenya.

KBL Managing Director James Musyoki said: "Our mutual objectives are to offer a premium international brand to the Kenyan consumer as well as to create value for the retailers, the distributors and our respective shareholders."

KBL's latest entry into the imported beer market is seen as part of its strategy of diversifying its product range to appeal to a broad range of high-income consumers. Recently, the company launched a new low carbohydrate and alcohol brand, White Cap Light, that aims at appealing to female executives. These efforts are intended to stem the migration of KBL customers to other imported beer brands like Windhoek lager and Windhoek Light, which are manufactured by Namibia Breweries. Heineken will retail at Sh100.

Heineken has operations in 170 countries, with 70,000 employees. It runs 115 breweries in 65 countries worldwide. "We are one of the world's largest and financially best performing brewing groups," said Guido Janssen, Heineken Area Manager East Africa. Janssen said the agreement with KBL was in tandem with Heineken's project of exploiting available opportunities in new markets.

The brand is currently one of the big favourites in West and central African countries. Through joint ventures, Heineken International is currently rolling out its products in Nigeria, South Africa, Namibia, Ghana and Sierra Leone, as well as ownership operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi and the Reunion Islands, which is part of the South African region.

"We are looking at developing unexploited opportunities for the Heineken brand," Eugene Ubalijoro, the company's Commercial Manager for sub-Saharan Africa said. He described the arrangement with KBL as "strategic partnership, which aims at further growing the premium beer segment in the Kenyan market… We hope to build the brand in Kenya on its international credentials and authenticity backed by EABL - a very powerful partner with a strong distribution network." Ubalijoro said that Heineken is planning to launch an aggressive marketing campaign for its non-alcoholic beverages in Kenya.

According to Musyoki, EABL expects beer volumes to increase in 2005.

The premium beer market has also been growing at 2 % annually, which is miniscule compared to the growth in the value segment that targets low-income drinker.

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