The name Inyange is of Bantu origin and means “This is a completely white plumage bird which belongs to the heron and listed as one of the most beautiful white birds in the world. It is also called white Egret, great white Egret or great white Heron. This name is mainly for girls, where those who name a baby ‘Inyange,’ wish her to be attractive, beautiful as the bird is among its kinds (animals).”

While I cannot make a definitive statement about Inyange being either a family business or conglomerate like Akagera Business Group, one thing is for sure – it is a brand to be reckoned with in Rwanda. From the minute to step off the plane to any and every part of the country you set foot, you can be rest assured that Inyange is in your face. It is a leading food processing company in Rwanda, manufacturing a variety of products under their brand name- “Inyange.”

Inyange industries is engaged in the business of producing & selling a wide variety of fruit products, including fruit juice concentrates, fruit juice drinks & dairy related products. Our products are primarily sold to the local market, as well as regionally via Inyange certified distributors. The Inyange brand has been operating since 1997. However, it was not until 1999 when it began operations including processing & selling pasteurized milk & yoghurt.

Inyange manufactures a wide range of products & thus has quickly become a household name in the fast-moving consumer goods industry in Rwanda known for high quality mineral drinking water, fruit juices, milk & dairy products.

“At Inyange, we take pride in our levels of high quality that we maintain from raw material procurement to delivery of the final product. This has earned the company the market leader position in many of the production lines.”

In 2001 the plant introduced mineral water processing & packaging. Realizing that the domestic demand for all Inyange products was much higher than the facilities could supply, Inyange’s shareholders embarked on an ambitious expansion project, the construction of a US$27 Million production plan in Masaka, which has since allowed for Inyange’s production capacity to increase tenfold.  

Masaka is located in Gasabo District, Kigali Province, approximately 17 kilometres, by road, south-east of the central business district of Kigali City. Masaka is located about 9 kilometres, by road, south-west of Kabuga, at the eastern edge of the city of Kigali, along KK3 Road (RN3). Masaka is a sparsely populated area with an estimated population of approximately 4,558, as of January 2018. In January 2018, the government of Rwanda selected this neighborhood to be the location of the cargo terminal of the western end of the Isaka–Kigali Standard Gauge Railway.

Bottled Water

This increased capacity more than fulfills local demand & additionally allows for Inyange to expand its market to neighboring countries, taking advantage of Rwanda being part of the East African Community & its customs union.  

Sample of Products

In terms of its distribution network, the brand covers three main locations including Nyarugenge (Ali’s Inyange depot is located in the brand new CHIC complex in the bustling central business district of Kigali), Kicukiro (Majyambere’s depot is strategically located in the lively residential neighborhood of Gikondo) and Gasabo District (through Byagatonda located in the fast growing residential neighborhood of Kimironko).

Ultimately, this article resonates with my discussion with marketing students when we discussed the characteristics of a good brand name, we discussed the need for it to be easily spelt and pronounced, legally protected and extendable. Evidently, Inyange ticks all these boxes – it can virtually mean anything.

Happiness – your choice and no other can flip it.

Over the years, as a kid growing up in the village of Ovim, to a young man in the university, to a banker, to an engineer, to a teacher and everything, the summary is this: no man, no woman, and nothing can make you happy UNTIL you decide to be happy with yourself.

Ndubuisi, you will be going to Owerri. I was very happy because I would be leaving the village to study in the city. Then, from Owerri to Lagos, from Lagos to New York. But in all, I realized one thing: there was something really amazing in the past that I did not appreciate.

This is the deal: life is a moving target; it makes sense to recalibrate and find ways to be positive, for happiness. Your choice and no other can flip it!

In the Nigerian Stock Exchange*, BUA Foods Plc has since joined the club of stocks worth over one trillion (SWOOTs). Yes, just like that, another company has been seeded that is worth at least N1 trillion. Nigeria has a promise for builders and makers despite the paralysis. The club members now are  Airtel Africa, BUA Cement, Dangote Cement, Nestle, MTN Nigeria and – BUA Foods.

• Airtel Africa – N3.95 trillion
• BUA Cement – N2.32 trillion
• Dangote Cement – N4.59 trillion
• Nestle – N1.137 trillion
• MTN Nigeria – N3.87 trillion
• BUA Foods – N1.19 trillion

So the three sectors – cement, food and telecoms – now have pairs in the club. In my 2022 Outlook, I explained how you can trace this back to the 1917 and 1967 largest publicly traded companies in the United States. Then, steel companies (US Steel) dominated, then tech infrastructure firms (IBM) and until recently knowledge firms like Apple and Microsoft.

Where are the fintechs? Not yet. Nigeria is at a state where building houses, having core tech infrastructure and eating food are things that interest the investors. So, if you plan to hit it big in the nation’s stock market, you know where to focus.

Sure, within a decade, we expect the new species of tech firms to register in the big board as the current wave of digitization transforms the economy. I expect startups which are focusing on agriculture related domains like logistics, processing, distribution and  actual farming to continue to have opportunities in the local exchange.

Besides food, the battle for cement continues and BUA Cement is also firing all the cylinders.

One of the many reasons why BUA cement is so attractive to anyone looking to invest is its efficiency. BUA Cement has displayed elite level of proficiency in its cost management, let me sight an example with the performances from 2020 in comparison with Dangote Cement and Lafarge Africa.

These are the gross earnings for 2020

• Dangote cement plc- N1.034 trillion
• Lafarge Africa plc- N230.6 billion
• BUA cement plc- N 209.4 billion

Whilst these are the profit after tax for the period.

• Dangote Cement- N276 billion

• Lafarge Africa plc- N30.8 billion

• BUA Cement plc- N 72.3 billion

If you compute profit after tax as a percentage of the gross earnings (eliminating the cost component) you’ll notice that BUA’s percentage (35%) is way higher than even Dangote’s at 27% not to mention Lafarge Africa. This is cost proficiency at its finest.

Watch some videos below.

The Lessons from Okomu Oil Palm and BUA Foods in Nigeria

In addition to its significant cement industry and fertilizer plant, the BUA Group is making big waves in the food sector. BUA Foods Plc has become a member of the SWOOTs after passing the N1 trillion threshold required to join the group.

BUA’s Food value jumped 24.10% during the week, rising from N53.2 per share to N66.oo per share, gaining N230.40 billion that saw the company’s market capitalization hit N1.19 trillion capitalization, a milestone for a company listed on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) on January 4, 2022.

The gain is building on BUA Food’s 1.41% year-to-date run that started at N1,415 to trade currently at N1,435, displacing Nestle Nig. Plc as the most capitalized and only consumer goods stock member of SWOOTs.

The recent gain buoyed the company at the end of trading session on Friday, to the rank of the most capitalized consumer goods stock on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX). At its current position, BUA Foods is N50 billion richer than Nestle that has lost N96.31 billion owing to N121.5 share loss that places its market value at N1.14 trillion, on the NGX.

BUA Foods was the first company to get listed this year at N40.00 per a share and got admitted on the NGX by introduction. With its 18 billion shares, the company has risen to the top of the stocks chain, delivering high margin returns to investors, especially those who bought at the early price.

BUA Foods stock has become one of the most attractive stocks in the Nigerian capital market for what analysts attribute to the company’s style of operation in the Nigerian food market. They said the company is operating in critical areas that are capable delivering good performance and reward investors handsomely.

A global market analyst, Opeyemi Dapo-Thomas, said BUA Foods is witnessing immense rally as a result of its consolidation in the consumer goods market.

The food businesses that were merged into BUA Foods are: BUA Sugar Refinery Limited; BUA Rice Limited; BUA Oil Mills Limited; IRS Flour and IRS Pasta.

The consolidation has seen the company’s revenue taking the first place in the market. In its 11 months that ended November 30, 2021, BUA Foods posted N303.876 billion profit, ending the period with profit after tax (PAT) of N78.809 billion – a 25.93% profit margin.

Other players in the food processing industry posted lower profit margins. Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc posted N522.821 billion revenue for the six months ended September 30, 2021 and 10.528 billion PAT, yielding a 2.01% profit margin.

Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc also came short with a N195.499 billion revenue for the nine months ended September 30, 2021, and a N15.513 billion PAT. It ended the period with a profit margin of 7.94%.

Similarly, Nestle Nigeria Plc recorded a revenue of N261.591 billion for nine months ended September 30, 2021 and PAT of N33.584 billion, translating to a 12.84% profit margin.

The BUA group said consolidation is part of efforts to maintain its leadership in the food processing and agribusiness sector, especially in the wake African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) that presents opportunities for growth through export.

“We have perhaps the largest food business in Nigeria and the West African sub-region. To realize our full potential as a business as we drive the food security needs of the country, we recently consolidated our food businesses under a single entity to be known as BUA Foods,” said Chairman of BUA Group, who doubles as Chairman of BUA Foods, Alhaji Abdul Samad Rabiu,

To meet its growth target, the company is expanding its factories across Nigeria. Rabiu said the group has eight ultra-modern factories across the country where sugar, flour, pasta products, edible oils, and rice are refined and processed. Its Lagos and Port Harcourt two refineries share a refining capacity of 1.5 million metric tonnes of sugar yearly.

“Our destination refinery in Port Harcourt is mostly export-based and can produce the highest grade of sugar there, that could serve the West African sub-region and the Nigerian markets,” he said.

However, while the group’s factory expansion and the BUA Foods shares’ rally support the optimism for higher growth for the company, analysts said some factors, including drawdowns, could get in the way of the company’s future growth.

“We are expecting drawdowns at the end of Q1, we are going to see a lot, for the fact that we are entering into the election year and the fact that foreign investment in that sector is already drying up, and at some point, investors will have to sell,” a financial analyst, Olumide Adesina said.

The Lessons from Okomu Oil Palm and BUA Foods in Nigeria