KENYA – Kenyan beverage manufacturing company, Highlands Drinks is seeking to make its presence to be strongly felt in all corners of the country by building the capacity of its team.
To this end the maker of Highlands Cordials is recruiting trade developers, fleet supervisors, sales managers and quality controllers, among others to join the organization.
The professionals will be posted in the different parts of the country i.e., Nairobi, Rift, Coast, Western and Northern region as indicated on the company’s LinkedIn page.
The move by Highlands is seen as a response to the need by a majority of food companies in Kenya to meticulously concentrate on each region following the establishment of the devolved government system with 47 counties.
The system has brough out the uniqueness of each area, opened the regions for development, triggering investments which has in turn raised competition among players seeking to be market leaders in their respective markets.
Highlands having a heritage spanning over 60 years, has a wide range of soft beverages products in its portfolio comprising of mineral bottled water, carbonated drinks and energy drinks.
Its flagship product was the Highlands drinking water and the company later added the Highlands Cordials coming in Orange, Pineapple, Tropical, Mango & Lemon flavours.
The game changer was the introduction of its CLUB soda brand which come in 10 different variants. Through this the company destabilized the market dominance of Coca-Cola company in the carbonated drinks segment.
Keeping to its diversification and innovation mantra, the beverage company recently introduced a new kid in the block dubbed ‘Energy in control’.
Highlands’ products portfolio comprises of bottled mineral water, carbonated drinks and energy drinks.
As highlands seeks to grow in the FMCG sector by expanding its team, The Coca-Cola Company recently announced that it will cut 2,200 jobs worldwide.
The Atlanta-based company expects the job cuts to result in annual savings of between US$350 million and US$550 million.
These job losses are the latest round of cuts from Coca-Cola. In 2017, the company announced it would cut 1,200 jobs. Two years earlier, the company said it would reduce its headcount by at least 1,600 white-collar jobs globally.
However, this latest restructuring is much deeper than prior efforts, but is aimed to put Coca-Cola’s operations on firmer ground to make itself nimbler and more responsive to the market.
As part of its restructuring, the company has said it would reduce its 17 business units to nine to eliminate duplication and get products to market more quickly.
Also, it has been actively scaling back its beverage portfolio to focus on brands that are growing and have the potential to achieve a large scale.
To this end it has announced the retirement of several brands including Tab diet soda, Odwalla, Feisty Cherry, Coke Life and Zico Coconut Water.
On the flip side of events, the over 100-year-old company has moved into faster-growing areas by acquiring Topo Chico Hard Seltzer with plans to launch it into Latin America in 2021, as the trend for low-alcohol drinks continues to proliferate.
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