Cooking oil manufacturer Bidco wants transform into a billion dollar company in the next one year.
This vision will be driven by the expanding detergent market where it aims to make huge gains after it launched a new product line.
While launching the new Ksh 2 billion detergent factory, Bidco CEO Thiagarajan Ramamurthy said that the company cannot hold back its growth plan just because of the current political temperature while there is demand for their products out there.
“We only closed for one day on 8th August to allow our employees to vote, we cannot close down or scale down our production while Kenyans require the products day in day out, we have to be resilient as a country and continue with our growth plans despite the political temperatures,” said Ramamurthy.
He added that the new plant is designed to meet a growing demand for powdered detergent across the region and will initially be producing 3, 000 tonnes of detergents per month.
“Msafi, our new product is a quality washing powder which is affordable and available across the country, the investment in this new product is part of the Ksh 200 billion expansion plan which will see the company enter into new product categories as it seeks to grow its revenue to the billion dollar mark,” said Ramamurthy.
He added that currently Bidco is producing powerboy and general detergent brands and the portfolio is growing.
“Detergent is a crucial product in the Kenyan home and it is an area we believe we can compete and offer fantastic value to the consumers through our plant which is the most advanced facility of its kind in the region,” said the CEO.
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“We are coming up with what the customer wants, in their preferred qualities and quantities and that is what we are offering,” said Ramamurthy.
He said that he is very happy to share with people wherever he goes across the world that Kenya is the home to the most skilled people.
“The future requires people who train in the human resource skills required in the job market and Kenyans are continually doing that, all our staff operating the advanced facility are Kenyans and we are very proud of that,” he explained.
He added that the facility alone will be bringing in a revenue of Ksh 31 billion and this will grow by 50% in the next one year, which will create more employment.
