Interview with Moses Changwony, Group Managing Director at Sasini
What is your assessment of the agribusiness sector in Kenya as a whole?
Kenya has an agro-based economy. Agriculture contributes to about twenty five percent of Kenya’s GDP and supports over eighty percent of all rural jobs. It is a very important sector. Unfortunately for us, most of the sector is still in a formative stage of production. We look forward to a time when this can be industrialized, particularly at our production location.
What is the history of your company?
In the sectors that we play in at the moment, we have cut a niche for ourselves. We have kept our standards benchmarked with the best international practice. That is where we draw strength.
It is a long and quiet history. Sasini began operation in 1952. Initially, the company was owned by white settlers who came to this country, then known as the Kenya Colony, in the very early stages of the colonization of Africa. Over time, the company changed hands from the white settlers to significantly local shareholding. We are a publicly quoted company on the Nairobi Securities Exchange. We have about 8,000 shareholders today, most of whom are local and small scale farmers, with the majority of those at the top being Kenyan businessmen. The initial engagement for Sasini was the growing of coffee. We eventually invested in tea, as well. We are now trying to diversify into other sectors of agriculture, such as livestock. We have also expressed interest in horticulture. Over time, we have evolved to the level that we now have a large mill that mills and markets our coffee. This is a recent addition to the business that was brought in only five to ten years ago. We have been growing greatly over the years, and are much bigger now than when we first began business.
How would you describe Sasini’s philosophy and what makes you different from the competition?
