Leading carbonated soft drinks and water makers, Crown Beverages Limited (CBL), have scooped 3 awards at the just-ended Africa, Middle East and South Asia (AMESA) PepsiCo International Bottlers Conference in Dubai.
CBL, are franchise bottlers of global food, snack, and beverage giant, PepsiCo, Inc. The company bottles Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Mirinda Fruity, Mirinda Orange, Mirinda Pineapple, Mirinda Green Apple, Evervess Tonic, Sting Energy Drink as well as Nivana and Aquafina water.
The company that emerged category winners in the Governance and Net Revenue growth categories, was also declared the Overall Winner, Faster Growth Category.
The company was not immediately available to share detailed growth figures, but we do understand, that in 2022, reported a 25% year-on-year volume growth.
In November 2022, CBL unveiled Aquafina, its new brand of bottled drinking water. Aquafina, enriched mineral is a brand of PepsiCo, Inc., In response to growing demand, in April this year, the company marked 30 years of refreshing Uganda with a USD90 million (UGX340 million) expansion project. The first phase of the expansion, at a cost of USD76 million, is already commissioned, while the second phase of USD 24 million is underway.
The company has over the thirty-year period under the leadership of Amos Nzeyi, Dr. Margie Kigozi and Chris Kayoboke, transformed itself from a small operation producing only 1.8m cartons of soda annually in 1993, when it was privatised, to a gigantic maker of over 65 million cartons of soda annually.
During the commissioning of the new plant, Mr. Eugene Willemsen, the CEO Africa, Middle East & South Asia (AMESA) at PepsiCo also lauded the shareholders and management of CBL for building one of the most progressive PepsiCo partners in the AMESA region.
“We at PepsiCo are extremely grateful for the phenomenal partnership with Dr. Amos Nzeyi and his fellow Board of Directors, Prof. Maggie Kigozi, Chris Kayoboke, Paddy Muramiirah and the entire Crown Beverages team,” he said, adding: “It is a partnership that has lasted 30 years; a partnership that started with humble beginnings”.
“Over the last 2 years since I started presiding over this region, I got to know Dr. Amos Nzeyi as an absolute gentleman and as a phenomenal, phenomenal business partner; someone who puts his people first, but is also very very competitive. He and his team have grown the business from a low single-digit market share to a business that has over 70% market share. That is extremely outstanding,” he said.