ETHIOPIA – Risiq Group, with investments primarily in the Food and Beverage Sector, automotive dealership, import-export and construction sectors in Ethiopia has set up a mango juice processing and water bottling business with an investment of 150 million Br.

The new venture will be undertaken through its subsidiary Sendelet Food Processing, with the plant located in Burayu, Taxeq Industry Zone, West Shoa, Oromia Regional State.

Sendelet Food Processing was established in 2014, making and supplying PET lightweight plastic to water bottlers and juice processors in Ethiopia.

They also manufacture both fruit juices and  non-carbonated non alcoholic soft drinks

The new plant 1,000Sqm, took one and a half years to be completed and was constructed by Risiq Construction who imported the Sheen Star juice processing machines from China.

The plant’s processing capacity is 50,000 bottles of juice a day in half-litre and 300ml bottles while the water bottling line can bottle 300 jugs of water an hour, each with a capacity of 20lt.

It is expected to start production in the mid of this month, February and products to hit the market in March.

The juice will be branded Omango, while the water will bear the brand name Owater.

To facilitate production, Sendelet will be importing the raw mango pulp from India to produce the juice.

For the water bottling plant, the company will be getting the water from the underground burrow located at its plant.

Currently, the management of the company is recruiting new employees and targets to have 40 employees for the first year.

“We’ll expand the number of employees to 80 when we start working in double shifts,” said Nesrdin Redwan, manager of the plant, who adds that the plant expects to process guava and multi-fruit juice with carton packaging after undergoing an expansion.

“We also have a plan to export our products to neighbouring countries, including Djibouti and Sudan,” said Nesrdin.

Owater and Omango will join the burgeoning water bottling and juice processing business in the country, which has 87 water and seven juice processing plants.

The 87 water bottlers supply just five percent of national consumption, while the nation has a population of above 100 million, reports Addis Fortune.