Leading consumer goods company, Unilever East Africa, has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Tatu City for the acquisition of 70 acres of industrial land for future expansion of its manufacturing operations. The site is located at Tatu Industrial Park, adjacent to Tatu City’s 2,500-acre mixed-use, mixed-income development near Nairobi.
This move is part of a stream of investment activities that Unilever aims to roll out over the coming years to drive growth in East Africa and develop new sustainable business models to help secure the region’s future prosperity.
Speaking about the MOU, Marc Engel, Unilever CEO for East Africa, said,“Our goal is to meet our consumers rising expectations for high quality local and international product choices for years to come while leading the way in sustainable business in Kenya by deploying state of the art technology and thinking. This investment demonstrates our commitment to Kenya’s sustainable growth as the hub of our operations in East Africa.”
He added, “We are also very proud to be associated with the Tatu City urban development and Kiambu County, which is an ideal location for Unilever’s longer term strategic growth plans.”
The land acquisition announcement follows the recent opening of a new Ksh155 million state of the art production line by the consumer goods company that is set to double the production of Vaseline Petroleum Jelly in the current Nairobi plant to meet growing regional demand.
Stephen Jennings, founder and CEO of Rendeavour, the majority shareholder in Tatu City, hailed the agreement as a demonstration of Kenya’s robust economy and Africa’s consumer growth.
“We welcome this very strategic decision by Unilever in choosing Tatu City as the company’s destination of choice for expansion in East Africa. Tatu City is delivering on its promise to create a live work-play environment free from congestion that provides homes and jobs for tens of thousands of people and attracts leading Kenyan and international companies to set up business.” He added.
Unilever also announced plans to relocate its current offices from Industrial Area to Watermark Business Park in the Karen area, in early 2016.
“We have been at our current industrial site for over 80 years, moving our head office will give us room for immediate expansion, upgrading our current operations and enhance capacity of the manufacturing and distribution of our brands to meet our consumer needs.” added Engel.