While Kenya has a very broad and diverse food industry, most of the household brands we consume every day are owned and controlled by a few powerful family businesses and self-made entrepreneurs.
Some of these businesses started out as small shops before they grew to become the giant manufacturing companies we see today.
In this article, Wok takes a look at seven entrepreneurs and families behind some of Kenya’s most popular food brands.
- Bhimji Shah, Vimal Shah and Tarun Shah – Kimbo and Elianto
The Shah family is credited with building Bidco Africa, which is the company behind popular brands like Kimbo, Cowboy, Golden Fry, and Elianto.
Bidco started as a garment manufacturing business before it started making consumer goods in 1985.
Bhimji Shah is the company’s founder, while his sons, Vimal and Tarun, help manage public relations and the company’s operations respectively.
Aside from cooking oil, Bodco manufactures soaps, detergents, beverages and animal feeds, with its manufacturing facilities spread across East Africa.
- Jaswant Singh Rai — Kabras Sugar and Top Fry
The Rai family business empire has been controlling Kenya’s sugar industry for decades.
Jaswant is closely associated with the West Kenya Sugar company, which produces popular brands like Kabras sugar.
He also acquired Manengai Oil Refineries in 2011. The company produces Top Fry cooking oil and several soap products.
The Rai family has also diversified into timber, paper manufacturing, cement, real estate and horticulture, with their factories operating in different parts of Kenya.
- Nurzakhanu and Akberali Manji — Supa Loaf
Supa Loaf started as a small family bakery in Mombasa, selling cakes and other baked products.
The brand is the brainchild of Nurzakhanu Akberali Manji and her husband, Akberali Habib Manji.
With the help of their sons, the founders grew the business and helped expand the Supa Loaf brand across Kenya.
Today, Supa Loaf is manufactured by Mini Bakeries, part of Mini Group.
The group also owns the Mibisco brand, which produces biscuits and confectionery, as well as Butali Sugar Mills.
The family has also invested in real estate through Trident Estates and hospitality through Island Paradise Inn.
- Hasmukh Dawda — House of Manji Biscuits
Manji Biscuits is a brand that is owned by Hasmukh Dawda, who left school at 13 to start his own business.
In 2002, his House of Dawda Group acquired the struggling House of Manji biscuit business and helped revive it as Manji Food Industries.
Dawda’s company also established Britannia Allied Industries in Uganda, which produces biscuits, fruit juices, and other products.
Additionally, his family owns Uganda Pharmaceuticals and other cotton-processing companies.
- The Chedda Family — Kenafric Sweets
If you’re a millennial or Gen Z, you’re probably familiar with Kenafric sweets, chewing gum, and snacks, which have featured on many a shop’s shelf since the early 2000s.
Kenafric’s history began in 1969 when Velji Punja Shah opened a small shop.
His family later expanded into wholesale trading and began manufacturing footwear before entering the sweets business.
They have also diversified into footwear, stationery, and commercial real estate industries.
In 2022, Britannia acquired a controlling stake in Kenafric Biscuits, meaning that they co-own the company with the Chedda family.
- Mohanlal Karania and His Brothers — Kasuku and Prestige
Kapa Oil Refineries, the company behind Kasuku cooking oil and the Prestige margarine, was established by three Karania brothers in the late 1960s.
At first, the company focused on packaging salt before it started making the Chapa Mandashi baking powder.
The family eventually expanded into making cooking oils and fats and also diversified into household manufacturing.
Kapa Oil refineries also makes detergents, soaps, tissues, and instant noodles, including the Nala brand.
- Munir Thabit — Ajab and Umi Flour
Munir Thabit is a co-founder of Grain Industries Limited, the company that makes Ajab and Umi flour.
He started out working in the Kenya Air Force before joining Barclays Bank.
After working as a banker for several years, he helped set up Grain Industries in Mombasa in 2017, despite the political turmoil that existed in the country at the time.
The company quickly grew to become one of the largest flour manufacturers in Kenya.
Aside from Ajab, the business produces Umi, Lotus, and Asli flour products.