MOMBASA, KENYA — Tanzanian conglomerate Mohammed Enterprises Tanzania Limited (MeTL Group) is aggressively expanding its East African beverage footprint with a planned $50 million (approximately KSh 6.5 billion) manufacturing facility in Mombasa, Kenya.
Group President and CEO Mohammed Dewji formally announced the strategic investment during the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi, detailing a roadmap to capture a larger share of the regional mass-market consumer base.
As first reported by Kenya’s Business Daily, the project is currently in the advanced planning stages, with the Mombasa land acquisition already finalized.
“Although we are still at the planning stage, we believe there is a strong possibility of starting construction within a year,” Dewji stated during the summit.
Market Strategy and Bottling Implications
The new facility will serve as a regional production hub for MeTL’s flagship beverage lines, including Mo Cola, Mo Xtra, and Mo Malto, which are distributed across East and Southern Africa.
According to regional coverage by The Citizen, the company’s market entry is anchored by a highly disruptive pricing model. MeTL intends to retail its primary 300ml consumer units at KSh 15, directly challenging incumbent competitors and significantly undercutting the current market average of KSh 40.
For the packaging and processing sector, this ultra-low price point points toward a strict operational mandate. To maintain margins at this retail cost, the Mombasa facility will require high-speed, lightweight bottling technology and a steady supply of low-cost PET preforms, presenting significant opportunities for regional packaging suppliers and equipment manufacturers.
Corporate Scale and Supply Chain Liquidity
The $50 million Mombasa plant is part of a broader period of capitalization and modernization for the privately held Dewji family enterprise.
To support its extensive cross-border trade operations, MeTL recently secured a $200 million commodity and working capital facility arranged by South Africa’s Rand Merchant Bank (RMB). Furthermore, the group’s supply chain infrastructure is undergoing a massive overhaul, backed by a $24.6 million loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB) as part of a $74.7 million program to modernize its tea, sisal, and macadamia operations.
Operating more than 30 manufacturing units across eight African nations, MeTL Group remains a massive economic driver in the region, generating over $1.3 billion in annual revenue and contributing an estimated 3.5% to Tanzania’s total GDP.