Norda Industries is a Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) production company based in Nairobi, Kenya. The company was founded in 2008 by Tajdin Hussain Jaffer, Khatun Jaffer and their grandson, Faraz Ramji.
Some of its most popular products include Urban Bites Potato crisps, Tamu Tamu corn curls and Urban Stix crunchy corn snacks.
Here is what WoK has gathered about the homegrown company.
Background
The fast growing company prides itself in manufacturing high quality snacks that retail across the East African region. Since its inception, the company is committed to following the best practices to ensure all its products meet the high quality standards.
“We are deeply aware of the responsibility that we have to our consumers as manufacturer of food products and ensure that their safety is top priority. We are also committed to our hardworking employees and their health and safety is off utmost importance to us as we carry out our activities,” reads a part of a statement in their website.
Some of the products manufactured by the company include the Urban Bites Potato Crisps, Cribaz Potato Crisps, Urban Stix Crunchy Corn, Tamu Tamu Corn Curls, Ringoz Corn Rings and Bitez Crunchy Corn.
The Ownership
The company was established by Tajdin Hussain Jaffer, Khatun Jaffer and their grandson, Faraz Ramji. The grandparents had settled in Rwanda and after Ramji cleared his education in the United Kingdom, he joined them in Rwanda in search of a job.
His grandparents shared with him an idea of starting a business instead, hence the birth of Norda Industries Limited.
Potatoes
Getting good quality potatoes was no walk in the park. After a long search, he googled potato supply Kenya and this is where he came across a group of farmers in Bomet who had been trained how to farm specific varieties of potatoes for crisps. According to Faraz, you need a variety which has a high dry matter for crisps.
It also has to have a low sugar content “otherwise you get those brown rings”.
The company went on to contract the local farmers and has had a positive impact in the community.
Faraz Bio
Faraz Ramji’s dad was born in Uganda while his mother in Congo. His father was among the Asians who were kicked out of Uganda by the late Idi Amin Dada. He fled to the UK where he met his wife who was in the country to study to English. This is where Faraz was born and he would regularly travel to East Africa.
Setback and Comeback
In 2017, a fire burned down their factory along Mombasa road destroying equipment worth Ksh 100 million. According to an independent forensic expert’s investigation, the fire incident was caused by an electrical glitch.
However that did not kill the dream and seven months later they rebuilt the factory. Their uncle Shaheen Lilani joined the company as the sales manager helping the company come back with a bang.
In November 2022, a survey conducted by KPMG and Business Daily ranked Norda Industries Limited as the overall winner of the Top 100 SMEs in Kenya.
