Africa Plantation Capital, the “New Business of the Year 2016” award winner is proud to announce its nomination in three categories for this Year’s KNCCI Mombasa Business Awards 2017!
- Best Agribusiness Company,
- Customer Focus,
- Best Growth Strategy
Africa Plantation Capital has been operating successfully in Kenya over the past 2 years, with the establishment achieving an amazing growth ratio. Its main objective is to provide sustainable plantation management services. The company has already established its first large scale bamboo project and now is in the process of creating a second one as part of its state of the art bamboo plantations in Kilifi County.
The company has planted over 45000 bamboo clumps and is now ready to proceed with planting another 50,000 bamboo plants in the next 12 months. All the projects are fully licensed, monitored and irrigated on a 24/7 basis. Africa Plantation Capital is also managing two bamboo arboretums, and is currently operating five offices and three nurseries. The company is also ready to proceed with the first phase of its processing unit facility in Kilifi for biomass, tea and other end products. The company is currently managing over 350 small to medium scale plantations belonging to third parties around the country.
Today, some of the most prominent and respected Kenyans are part of the Africa Plantation Capital family, which has more than 100 permanent staff, and more than 170 casual workers carrying out their duties on its operations. The plantation management team — which includes six agronomists (among other experienced professionals) led by the Africa Plantation Capital Management Director R Kirui — has established the first fully irrigated, 24/7-monitored bamboo plantation in the region, achieving fast growth, and creating the foundation for maximum yields. All operations are coordinated by Africa Plantation Capital’s International Plantation Management team, with Robin Jewer leading the Group’s global operations.
Africa Plantation Capital is part of the APC Group of companies that also includes Asia Plantation Capital. The APC Group is a multi-award-winning sustainable plantation operator and Management Company, with projects across four continents, and a global workforce in excess of 2,000. A market leader in the industry and its Scientific Advisory Board is comprised of leading academics from various countries (China, Thailand, Malaysia, Kenya, India, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates) who have, between them, developed and patented industry-leading technologies and systems. Africa Plantation Capital’s aim is to deliver the same quality plantation management services as per the group high quality standards.
“At the beginning of the project, Africa Plantation Capital signed an MOU with KEFRI securing the best available local expertise on bamboo plantation management,” said Mr. Kelvin Kaloki, Africa Plantation Capital’s East Africa Regional Business Development Director. “The initial decision has proven to be an excellent one, as it has provided added value to our operations, and the combination of resources has ensured that we are exactly where we need to be at this stage of our venture.”
“The partnership between KEFRI and Africa Plantation Capital has actualized the commercialization of the research efforts,” said Dr. Ben Chikamai, Director, KEFRI, in his latest project appraisal. “This green investment project is realizing that bamboo forests have many environmental benefits through biodiversity, conservation and purification, as well as being effective in regulating the environment.”
“KEFRI is pleased that Africa Plantation Capital has completed the first phase of their project,” Dr. Chikamai concluded, “thereby changing the livelihoods of the local community by providing employment. KEFRI has been providing technical support as well as planting material to Africa Plantation Capital in this noble endeavor for industrial development and environmental conservation. KEFRI will continue to provide technical support and planting material to ensure maximum returns from the plantations.”
From inception, it has been the Group’s policy to invest in research and development, and examine the latest technologies in order to create new products and markets. In line with this policy, Africa Plantation Capital, together with KEFRI, is now ready to start a pilot program to study the possibility of growing agarwood in the coastal region.
After working together for some months, the two institutions are now in the final stages of efforts to import seeds from Africa Plantation Capital’s operations in Asia, and start an exciting and innovative project that could open new horizons in Kenya’s sustainable agroforestry sector. This will go a long way to establishing a new market with excellent potential returns.
Mr. Kosta Kioleoglou, Africa Plantation Capital’s CEO, stated that despite the challenges faced at the start of its operations in the region, the company’s growth has been remarkable and even exceeded initial expectations. “We are now focusing on building on the success of Phase 1, complete the setup of phase 2 very soon and we aim to do this by keeping up to our initial targets. This is all part of our five-year plan, and from the success we have already achieved, we feel ready to expand in the region. Recently we incorporated Africa Plantation Capital in Uganda which together with Rwanda are the countries that will follow our achievements in Kenya. We have already started setting up the processes to facilitate this. For now, though, we hope that the challenges that were created from the prolonged election period will end soon, and that we will be able to continue on course without distractions and further local disturbances.”
The APC Group’s CEO, Gary Crates, expressed his delight at the great work the Africa Plantation Capital team has done so far in Kenya, and stated that the Group will fully support the East Africa Region Operations in order to sustain Africa Plantation Capital’s leading position in the regional plantation industry.
Africa Plantation Capital is leading the way in sustainable plantation management, establishing top quality bamboo plantations, fully licensed by NEMA, WARMA and all relevant Kenyan authorities. Africa Plantation Capital is operating under the ISO 9001/2015 standards for ‘Quality Plantation Management’ by UKAS, after the successful end of the certification process of auditing from Bureau Veritas.
For its progress and contribution to business and development in the region, Africa Plantation Capital garnered the ‘New Business of The Year, 2016’ award, conferred by the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry. This year the company’s target is to win all three categories adding more accolades to the APC Group’s ever-expanding collection.
“It gives the company and everyone associated with it a great deal of pleasure to see our vision for Kenya and the East Africa region being realized and our mission statement being carried out “concluded Africa Plantation Capital’s CEO Mr. Kosta Kioleoglou.
The KNCCi Mombasa Business Awards will take place in Mombasa on December the 15th 2017.
If you wish to vote for Africa Plantation Capital you can use this link http://www.mombasabusinessawards.co.ke/vote/
