Company name: Dedan Kimathi University of Technology, Mukurweini Wakulima Dairy Limited, Kenya
Product type: Yoghurt
Innovation: New product
One of Kenya’s leading coffee producing region, Nyeri County has introducing coffee flavoured yoghurt in the market.
The new product dubbed, Royal Coffee Flavoured Yoghurt, was launched by an institution of higher learning in Kenya known as Dedan Kimathi University of Technology (DeKUT) in partnership with Mukurweini Wakulima Dairy Limited (MWDL), a local dairy cooperative society.
“DeKUT signed a license agreement with MWDL towards industrial scale production and marketing of natural coffee flavoured yoghurt in the supermarkets and retail outlets across the country and beyond.”
Mukurweini Wakulima Dairy Limited – Chief Executive Officer Peter Kamau
The development of the product follows the novel process of obtaining coffee extract using modified extraction technologies by the university’s Institute of Food and Bio-resources Technology.
DeKUT patented the premium coffee extract for use as a natural flavor for yogurt and under the collaboration has licensed MWDL to mass produce the drink and oversee its retail distribution across the country.
MWDL Chief Executive Officer Peter Kamau noted that the innovation is a demonstration of university-industry partnership in resolving local challenges as the dairy and coffee sector currently realises low returns due to limited value addition opportunities.
“DeKUT signed a license agreement with MWDL towards industrial scale production and marketing of natural coffee flavoured yoghurt in the supermarkets and retail outlets across the country and beyond,” Kamau explains.
DeKUT Vice Chancellor Ndirangu Kioni says that this unique partnership comes at a time when new policies are being developed by counties aimed at promoting value addition of dairy and coffee products towards improved food security and livelihood of farmers.
During the unveiling of the product, Agriculture CS Peter Munya said the university has set the way on how to harness technology and produce products for the market. Adding that the collaboration will go a long way in solving farmers’ problems.
The partnership leverages on MWDL economies of scale which currently collects 50,000 litres of milk daily and DeKUT’s expertise in research and development, in addition to being endowed with over 280 acres of coffee, thus providing raw material for the project.
Other than producing coffee flavoured yoghurt, the institution also offers other variants of the products i.e. strawberry, vanilla, chia and bamboo at its in-house shops.
The successful launch of Royal Coffee Flavoured Yoghurt is aimed to pave way for more partnerships between industry players and the university which is also known for producing the Berrydew Wine.
Yoghurt deemed as a semi-solid food with pro-biotic benefits has been registering rise in demand in the global market projected to reach US$107 billion in 2023 growing at a CAGR rate of 4.6% from 2017 to 2023, indicates Allied Market Research.
The growth in market is mainly driven by growing consumer awareness for safe and nutritious products.
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