Tanzania’s biggest family-owned conglomerate, Bakhresa Group, is investing $100 million (over TZS 250 billion) in Malawi to build a soya bean vegetable oil refinery plant.
Bakhresa already owns other businesses in Malawi, including wheat flour and washing soap production as well as the Azam pay TV services.
The new soybean oil factory, which is being built in the main commercial hub of Blantyre, is expected to employ around 500 people in Malawi.
Construction is over 70% complete, with the factory likely to be commissioned next year.
Tanzania High Commissioner to Malawi Agnes Kayola, who recently visited the construction site in Blantyre, applauded Bakhresa Group, saying the project will help strengthen investment and trade relations between the two countries.
Commenting on the investment, the Executive Director of the Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC), Gilead Teri, said domestic firms like Bakhresa that expand their operations into foreign countries were pivotal for Tanzania’s economy.
Bakhresa entered Malawi some 20 years ago by acquiring the assets of the former state-owned factory, Grain & Milling Company Ltd (GRAMIL), under the government of Malawi’s privatisation programme.
After buying the flour mill, Bakhresa modernised it by installing a state-of-the-art computerised wheat mill from Switzerland and diversified its product portfolio by adding washing soap to its line of products after identifying a local demand for it.
Azam Washing Soap is now a household name in Malawi.
The Bakhresa Group has 30 subsidiaries and owns factories in 9 African countries, including Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa.
