Puratos headquatered in Brussels, Belgium, offers a full range of innovative products, raw materials and application expertise for artisans, industry, retailers and food service customers in the bakery, patisseries and chocolate sector.
With the four new African subsidiaries, according to the company press-release, it aims to further establish local presence in key countries to strengthen the customer relationship, localise production as well as develop new products and concepts using local raw materials.
In addition, Puratos seeks to reduce food imports and its ecological footprint while contributing to food security in Africa by capitalizing on the processing of local quality ingredients.
“We are excited about opening new subsidiaries in Africa. These joint ventures will enable us to meet customers’ growing demands for high-quality products,” said Olivier Tilkens, Regional Director Africa at Puratos.
“We are proud to deepen our presence across the continent and to continue to invest in existing collaborations that have been so welcoming to us for more than two decades,” he added.
Under the new expansion initiative, Puratos officially incorporated a new company in Ethiopia on December 9, 2019.
The company called Puratos Ethiopia serve the Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia and Eritrea markets.
Puratos Ethiopia is a joint venture with Dachi Manufacturing PLC, a local based company, already active in the manufacturing and distribution of bakery and patisserie ingredients in Ethiopia for 2 years.
Puratos Kenya activities started on January 1st, 2020 and will cover the Kenyan, Tanzanian, and Ugandan markets, taking over activities from Puratos’ previous distributor Papyrus.
In order to capture growth opportunities in East Africa, other investments will follow, including a production facility for local manufacturing of patisserie and bakery ingredients in Kenya.
Puratos Ivory Coast, a joint venture in partnership with the shareholders of Sabimex who have been Puratos’ distributor for over 6 years in the country started operations in April 1st 2020.
It will locally produce Patisserie, Bakery powders and chocolate as Ivory Coast is well endowed with cocoa beans.
In Nigeria, Puratos will officially start its activities in July 2020. It is the result of a joint venture between Puratos and the Adegunwa family who is already very active in Nigeria in various food manufacturing and distribution activities.
Puratos Nigeria will also invest in an innovation centre which will train customers and develop innovative and tailormade products.
With Puratos’ growing presence in Africa, the company wishes to develop applications and innovative ingredients that use local raw materials, improve the livelihood of local communities and contribute to the continent’s undernutrition problems.
The company is currently taking part in a study with the University of Pretoria in South Africa to investigate the potential of indigenous African crops for African bakery and patisserie applications.
“The functionality and nutritional contribution of these new ingredients will be studied as well as the impact on sensorial sensation and the sustainable cultivation of the plant resources,” stated Olivier.
Puratos also aims to support and educate the local communities in order to build sustainable and profitable agricultural systems for all parties involved.
Through its Cacao-Trace, a sustainable cocoa sourcing programme, it has offered training, fair and predictable payments, which is a premium price, in addition to a unique Chocolate Bonus of 10-euro cents for every kilo of chocolate sold.
In terms of developing skills in the bakery, patisserie and chocolate sector, Puratos supports the Bakery School Foundation which has four baking schools across the globe in India, Brasil, Mexico and South Africa.
“Puratos is proud to support the Bakery School Foundation. Not only does it help bring more qualified labour to the bakery sector, it also increases the product quality for consumers,” Daniel Malcorps, CEO of Puratos said.
By 2030 Puratos aspires to continuously enable 1,000 young people from developing countries to live their passion in one of its bakery schools.
The company has a clear roadmap for increasing its presence in Africa which will be concretised through the increase of production capacity and the opening of new subsidiaries in the coming years.
“We believe that we will become a true and complete business development partner for the African bakers, chocolatiers & pâtissiers. In the upcoming years, we will continue investing in strong local presence and excellent services, to offer a wider product range to our customers,” commented Peter Deriemaeker, Market Director Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa at Puratos.