Strong Demand for Exelas Banana Juice: Factory Upgrading in Progress
Exelas banana juice experienced strong demand in 2014 leaving EHCAI able to produce only a fraction of the juice needed in order to satisfy the market. As a result we plan to upgrade our production capacity to a total of 2.5 million liters annually by building a 1.6 million dollar juice factory in Mbarara.
Aside from the factory itself providing dozens of well paid jobs for Ugandans, over six hundred matooke farmers will benefit by receiving a stable market and higher prices for their bananas.
“Only looking at Mbarara, where we are currently producing our juice, we were far from being able to satisfy market demand last year. The market reception has truly been beyond our hopes, and our banana juice really seems to be something which is completely missing from the market and something that Ugandans want,” says Dr. Andrew Ainomugisha, CEO of Excel Hort Consult.
“This is why we have decided to put a lot of effort into securing capital to upgrade our factory. I truly believe we have a strong business case which will not only help our company grow, but also be beneficial to our farmers and Ugandan consumers in general.”
The Exelas banana juice taps into a pre-existing market for Enshande, which is a popular healthy traditional banana juice high in potassium, vitamin C, B6 and other vital micronutrients. While that juice is traditionally mate from special traditional banana (beer type) varieties which are not abundant on the market and have sporadic supply. Exelas juice, on the other hand, is based on an innovative recipe which uses matooke bananas, which are widely grown in Uganda.
“Ugandans consume the highest amount of bananas per capita in the world and are the second biggest producer. At the same time, almost none of our bananas are used to create any kinds of product, almost no value is added. We at Excel believe that if we are to move forwards economically as Ugandans, we need to start adding value to what we produce. We think focusing on bananas is obviously one of the best places to start and that is what we are going to do,” says Dr. Ainomugisha.
