FDBusiness.com

Heineken has officially inaugurated its new brewery at a greenfield site in Kilinto on the outskirts of Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. With a total capacity of 1.5m hectolitres, the Kilinto brewery is already producing the recently launched Walia® beer together with Bedele® and Harar® beer brands. It is planned that the site will also brew other brands including the flagship Heineken® beer.

Employing around 280 people, drawn from the local workforce, the new facility complements the already established Bedele and Harar breweries, which were acquired from the Ethiopian government in 2011. The Eur110 million new brewery is part of a total Eur310 million investment in the country by Heineken since 2011.

With this enhanced production footprint, Heineken Ethiopia will be well placed to further develop its portfolio of high quality beers that will meet growing demand in the country.

Jean-François van Boxmeer, chief executive of Heineken, comments: “Our inauguration marks the latest chapter in our Africa story which began over 100 years ago. Today, we are a proud partner for growth in the region, investing ahead of the curve, and with a long-term ambition to create sustainable businesses. This is certainly the case in Ethiopia, which is progressively unlocking its natural potential for its people, and bringing prosperity to both the cities and agricultural regions. Through our local barley sourcing project, we can be certain that the positive effects of our investment here spread well beyond the brewery gates. The CREATE project that we announced in 2013, where the partners share the goals of improving the income of smallholder barley farmers and improving access to markets, will help us to increase our local sourcing of malt barley.”

CAPTION:

His Excellency the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Hailemariam Desalegn (centre) pushes the button to officially start production at Heineken’s new Eur110 million brewery on the outskirts of Addis Ababa. He was welcomed at the ceremony by (left to right) Johan Doyer, managing director of Heineken Ethiopia; Jean-François van Boxmeer, chairman of the executive board and chief executive of Heineken; Charlene de Carvalho – Heineken; Anteneh Mitiku – Brewery Manager; Alexander de Carvalho and Siep Hiemstra – President, Africa Middle East Region of Heineken.