Beloved Kenyan tea brand Kericho Gold, one of the products from Global Teas & Commodities Ltd which also manufacturers Bahari Chai, was this week offered a loan of $4 million that will facilitate the expansion of Global Tea in Malawi from The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group and the Global Agricultural Food Security Program (GAFSP).
This will help to boost Macadamia and Coffee production and will be done through planting more macadamia trees, replanting existing coffee plantations and also developing a coffee out-grower program to support 3,300 smallholder farmers.
“The company plans to increase packaging capacity at its factory in Kenya, which will help it source an additional 5,000 metric tonnes of tea from tea farmers and local factories directly and via auction,” said the IFC.
The loan will support the expansion of Global Tea & Commodities and its subsidiaries. The financing will benefit local farmers in Malawi and also support Global Tea’s processing operations in Kenya,’’ said Global Teas & Commodities Ltd chief Gold Crown Beverages managing director Fahim Ahmed Global Tea & Commodities Ltd is one of the fastest growing, fully integrated teas (Kericho Gold & Bahari Chai), coffee and macadamia nut companies offering a range of services at all stages of the supply chain.
With sales in excess of $130 million, handling over 55 million kilos of tea annually, Global Tea currently employs over 10,400 people worldwide and is the United Kingdom’s largest independent tea company. It has tea trading offices in Kenya, Malawi, India and the UK that combine to provide total solutions to the tea trade by way of procurement, warehousing and blending services. With packing operations in major tea centers of the world, it provides a wide range of tea and coffee for the private label market (we pack for some of the world’s largest and most exclusive names).
Global Tea also owns quality brands of tea, coffee, Dairy and Confectionary products– Brooke Bond® ‘D’, Brooke Bond® Choicest, Red Mountain Coffee, Jewels, Mama’s Choice and The London Tea & Produce Co.
Tea processing is currently taking place in Kenya and the collaboration will increase packaging capacity and in future opening up doors of opportunity for bigger projects. This will be able to create job opportunities which will be able to support the livelihood of local farmers.
