RWANDA – Skol Brewery Rwanda Limited, a local beer manufacturer in Rwanda, reported a growth in its market share by 20% in 2018 from 5% in 2010, reports New Times.

Ivan Wulffaert, the company’s General Manager said the growth in market share is largely due to Rwandan customer base development in increased consumption of the high quality beer and different varieties.

Speaking during the launch of its brand new ‘SKOL Select’ beer in the market, the brewer said this resulted into an increase in production and distribution to serve a wider a consumer base.

“One of the key indications of Skol Brewery’s growing market share on Rwandan market is that the brewer’s distribution has grown by 30 times in the past seven years.

Which shows that Rwandan consumers are really looking for different beers and express high desire to taste different quality products.

That is why we have Skol Select in the market because we want to diversify our brands to beer consumers,” said Wulffaert.

Anita Haguma, Skol Brewery Rwanda’s Marketing Director, said that the company has already met its initial plan of commanding 20% of the market by 2020.

Mr Wulffaert also said that the firm is committed to meet the consumers’ expectations and reduce its cost of production which mainly lies in malt, fuel, electricity and hops.

“I can say that malt is the biggest cost factor in beer followed by fuel.

We are surprised that fuel has more to do with ingredients than the functioning of the factory, it is our second biggest cost because we need to avail hot water, we need to boil water before we add malt,” said Wulffaert.

Skol has said it has plans of growing its market share in Rwanda by not only increasing the production but also maintaining the high quality of its beer.

The new brand, ‘Skol select’ which is said to have a refined taste in its ingredient composition has an alcohol percentage of 5.5

Skol select sold in 33cl bottles and is already available in crates of twenty-four 33cl bottles at a retail price of Rwf 700 per bottle.

During its seven years operation in the country, Skol Brewery Rwanda limited has seen an increase in the number of employees from 50 employees to 350 employees and over 100 temporary workers.