KENYA – African Originals (AOL), a Nairobi-based startup and makers of Kenyan Originals (KO) cider, has accused East African Breweries (EABL) of what it terms a ‘dirty tricks campaign’ against its brands.
AOL sent a letter dated Feb. 19 to Diageo’s general counsel in London claiming its subsidiary in Kenya, EABL, had copied some of its products and sponsored social media smear campaigns through influencers who claimed to have experienced health complications after consumption of its products.
The KO makers described EABL’s new range of fruit ciders as a “direct copy” of its products.
In mid-January this year, a number of Kenyans took to X (formerly Twitter) saying they had fallen ill after consuming different KO products. AOL claims the tweets are linked to Wowzi, a Nairobi-based platform which connects companies with social media influencers.
EABL has previously worked with Wowzi “to partner with nano-creators to effectively connect to consumers in an authentic way,” according to a testimonial on the Wowzi website. Wowzi was selected for Diageo’s inaugural cohort of its growth acceleration program in February.
“We are ready and willing to compete with EABL on merit through the quality and prices of our products but we are not prepared to suffer serious commercial harm as a result of their smear campaign,” African Originals chairman Henry Rudd wrote in the letter.
Further, AOL accused EABL staff of maligning African Originals products and encouraging supermarket staff not to display its products.
However, EABL has dismissed the claims terming them as unsubstantiated and lacking any evidence.
In a press statement, EABL wrote: “EABL strongly refutes these malicious claims as they are false, defamatory and lack any evidence. We do not condone such behaviour within our business by any of our business by any of our third-party partners or employees.”
EABL has also reaffirmed its commitment to ethical business practices and fair competition, vowing to defend its position in the matter.
“These attempts to link EABL to these issues are baseless and cannot be authenticated, EABL is formally requesting African Originals retract their false allegations,” read the statement.
African Originals was founded by British executive Alexandra Chappatte in 2017. It has attracted investors including Phoenix Beverages, Mauritius’ largest brewer which acquired a 28.15 percent stake in the company in February.
EABL is the region’s largest brewer and the third-largest company on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) by market cap.
In 2019, the Tusker beer producer was embroiled in a war with Keroche Breweries over the use of brown bottles, with Keroche accusing it of harassment and dirty tactics on its distributors.
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