The Chairman Mr. Salim Omar Salim has been working in the beverage industry since 1983. He worked in different parts of the world for Aujan Soft Drinks, in the Gulf for Coca-Cola Company in the Middle East and Africa. He has visited many markets globally this includes the biggest Coca-Cola markets such as USA,China,Israel,Egypt,Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Some European counties to mention just a few. His 27 years experience in this Industry made him come together with his brothers to begin a local company, SAFIA DRINKING WATER LTD.
The idea for the Brand Name SAFIA is a company which process water through Reverse Osmoses and UV purification system and delivers water to the consumer with highest quality, and this actually means SAFIA (Clean water to drink in Kiswahili)
Based on research the owner came to know the following facts
Total Water = 41.1%of Bottled Water = 0.3% of
The Beverage Market Total Water
• 41% represents the total water business in Kenya and 0.3% is bottled water as of 2007
• The Growth of bottled and Bulk water( 18.9 liters) since the research has been over 100% year on Year
• Kenya has the smallest volume of Bottled Water globally, way below the global average. There is a large opportunity for growth of this category, however it is a very difficult task to convert free tap water consumption to bottled water consumption
• Because of the significantly small size of bottled water, there is a large opportunity to grow this category, despite other competitive categories in the commercial market.
• SAFIA currently being distributed in Coast only due to tight working capital resources
Production
1. Currently we are producing 170,000 litres of bottled water which translates to 400,000 bottles per month.
2. Our capacity is 300,000 litres of bottled water which translates to 600,000 bottles per month
3. Opportunity is to reach capacity but that is restricted buy working capital to buy raw material.
Current Company Turnover & Assets
1. Company forecasts for 2010 Dec – June 2011 20 million Ksh
2. We have 1 acre of land in the Shelly beach
3. 2 sets of Reverse Osmosis systems with 3000 litres per hour capacity
4. We Have 2 filling machine for 0.5L – 1.5L approximately 1500 bottles per hour and 5L- 18.9 litre approximately 250 bottles per hour
5. The Company owns 3 Distribution Trucks and one distribution Van with a new distribution truck which is on loan a total of 4 trucks and 1 van.
6. The operation of the company is managed THROUGH TALLY software
7. Our Company Auditors are MULEHI & ASSOCIATES
8. We placed 120 dispensers in the market and 25 coolers
Our Top Ten Clients
1. Risingstar Distributors
2. Lakani Food supplies (Handles Most hotels)
3. Al-Merra Distributors
4. Travellers Beach Hotel
5. Nyali International beach Hotel
6. BOB’s Bar
7. Al-Amoody Distributors (Malindi)
8. Al-Hashmi Supermarket ( Malindi)
9. Spear Shipping Agencies
10. A1 Supermarket Mombasa