KENYA – Chandaria Group’s investment arm, Chandaria Capital, has invested in Kenyan food and beverage start-up, Savannah brands, as the first investor in the company’s seed funding round.

Chandaria Capital backing marks and important milestone in the Nairobi based food and beverage company, which launched its products in the Kenyan market last year.

The seed funding will accelerate Savannah’s ambitions of aggressively taking on the African food and beverage market through the innovative launch of a variety of product ranges in the juice, cider and snack categories.

Savannah, led by its founder and chief executive Alexandra Chappatte, produces a range of snacks, drinks and teas from locally sourced materials under the brand name Nairobi nibbles – which prides of providing tasty and healthier alternatives to confectionary and crisps.

The company also produces a range of beverages under the brand Kenyan Originals including alcoholic ciders and non-alcoholic iced teas such as Lime & Ginger Cider and Hibiscus & Lime Iced Tea.

Alexandra has a decade worth of brand building experience across Africa and in the United Kingdom, working with multinationals like Nestlé, Ab-InBev and Pernord Ricard in developing some of the globally reputable brands such as Kit Kat, Stella Artois and Jameson.

Darshan Chandaria, chief executive of Chandaria Group who is also the founder and Managing Partner of the Chandaria Capital shared the company’s pride in supporting the African start-up; “The importance for Africa to create and manufacture successful Brands cannot be understated.

“We are proud to be associated with Savannah Brands, a company that offers consumers authentic African flavours, quality African branded products.”

Commenting on Chandaria Capital’ssupport and guidance to Savannah Brands, Alexandra said;

“Chandaria Capital has a wealth of knowledge on the local market which has helped Savannah Brands gauge a more realistic view of what will or won’t work in this market.

“Their access to relevant African network has also been invaluable, based on their extensive experience in manufacturing and retail, they understand the challenges local manufacturers like Savannah Brands face and are proactively assisting us in finding solutions for them.”

In the space of 18 months, Savannah Brands has managed to launch 3 new product ranges in a market where innovation in the food and beverage space is difficult.

Savannah Brands products are already present in some of retailers in the country including Carrefour, Chandarana, Shoprite, Zucchini and Healthy U and the company continues to build its distribution network.

Moving forward the company will continue to focus on building a range of food and beverage products that cater to local tastes.