When it comes to the future of Africa’s economy, its food, dairy and agri-processing sectors will be key drivers, a situation which is fuelled by a growing population.
By 2050, the global population will expand by 2.2 billion people, a UN report shows. Half of that growth will occur in Africa. Fact is that these people will need food to survive, dairy products included. This offers new business opportunities to food processors and their equipment suppliers.
The above facts were the main reason Resulta attended the Africa Food Manufacturing & Safety Summit (AFMASS) Eastern Africa last month. Taking place in Kenya, the event allowed participants to hear about, keep track of, and discuss relevant trends within Africa’s food manufacturing sector. Besides conference sessions and high-impact networking breaks, the gathering featured an expo, networking sessions and other relevant sub-events.
Significant growth
Resulta’s attendance predominantly focused on the region’s dairy, fruit, vegetable, and food processing sub-sectors. “Considering an expanding population and increasing spending power, these are just a few industries that will experience significant growth over the next few years,” says managing director Eric Juncker.
This growth is already happening. Last month, RaboResearch dairy analyst Matthew Johnson described Sub-Saharan Africa as an “increasingly recognised as the next frontier for the global dairy industry” whilst the World Bank has hailed Africa’s food and agri-processing sector as an untapped opportunity.
East Africa’s potential
Whilst Kenya is not Resulta’s top market yet, the country and the entire East African region is growing in terms of significance, Juncker says. “There is a lot of potential for growth, particularly in the dairy industry. In due course, we want East Africa to become our second most important business region,” he explains, noting that attending the AFMASS will help the company work towards that goal.
“Besides meeting with existing clients, we connected and discussed our process engineering equipment and solutions with over 120 company representatives who didn’t know about us before-hand. From my discussions with these company representatives, I discovered that there is a large gap in terms of equipment dealing with water treatment and cooling as well as modular dairy processing solutions,” Juncker says, noting that Resulta has a long track-record of supplying quality dairy processing engineering equipment in Africa, from conveyors and stainless steel tanks to modular water cooling systems. “We have been working in Africa for at least 30 years, dealing with a variety of companies in over 25 countries, from the DRC, Ghana and Nigeria to Kenya, Ethiopia and Ivory Coast.”
Resulta is a consulting project engineering company in South Africa that supplies quality process engineering equipment, components, and other machinery to dairy companies, food manufacturers, and processors across the African continent. We serve companies in various industries, from edible oils and palm sector to dairy, fruit & vegetables, and agro-processing. Our competitive edge lies in our ability to customise all design elements of our process engineering equipment, allowing to meet our customers’ very specific and ever-changing needs time and time again. This is amplified by a personalised service, on-site meetings (on our account) and detailed dialogue prior to tendering.