Resilience, commitment and growth: Crown Beverages’ success story continues to unfurl with the USD76 million new bottling plant Crown Beverages Limited (CBL), Uganda’s oldest beverages company this November unveiled Aquafina, its new brand of bottled drinking water. Aquafina, enriched mineral is a brand of PepsiCo, Inc., one of the largest multinational food, snack, and beverage corporations in the world. It was first launched in the USA in 1994. Over the last two decades, it has expanded into Asia, UAE, and most recently Africa. Uganda is the third country to be allowed by PepsiCo International to bottle the Aquafina brand, after Nigeria and Egypt, according to Paddy Muramiirah, the CEO of Crown Beverages Limited.

Aquafina is available in a 500ml pack at a recommended retail price of One Thousand Uganda Shillings (1000 UGX) only, countrywide.

Aquafina is the first international water brand in Uganda.

Aquafina is bottled at the CBL’s state-of-the-art USD76 million (UGX279 billion plant) at Kakungulu, Ssisa, off the Entebbe Expressway. This is CBL’s second plant, after the legacy Nakawa plant, which has undergone several extensions and upgrades. 

The plant was financed by Citibank and Stanbic, to the tune of USD 50 million. The remaining USD26 million was shareholder re-investment into the business.

Alongside Aquafina, the plant also bottles other CBL products- Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Mirinda Fruity, Mirinda Orange, Mirinda Pineapple, Mirinda Green Apple, Evervess Tonic, Sting Energy Drink and Nivana Water. Nivana comes in two varieties, namely; still and sparkling.

Speaking at the launch of Aquafina, Amos Nzeyi, the CBL Executive Chairman and one of the three shareholders said the new plant was a symbol of the company’s resilience, the commitment of the shareholders to Uganda and confidence in the country’s stability. He also said, the new plant, at a much larger location, was a sign of greater things to come.

The factory was built in a record 7 months and created 500 jobs. Ground-breaking was in June 2020, amidst the Covid-19 pandemic and by January 2021, the plant was already running.   

Recalling the history of the company, back in 1993 when the company was divested from the government, Nzeyi said the company had suffered from years of underinvestment and was performing at below capacity.

“When we bought the assets of the then Lake Victoria Bottling Company, there was one old line- there were not enough coolers, bottles, trucks and infrastructure. They had not carried out the production as it was supposed to. The company was being subsidised by the government to be able to buy raw materials from PepsiCo and even pay, its workers,” Nzeyi said.

He added that within 10 years of taking over the company and reinvesting, the company started to thrive and make a larger impact, beyond the shareholders. 

“Within 10 years, we were paying UGX5 billion in taxes. Remember, in 1986, the entire national tax revenue was UGX5 billion,” he said. 

Thanks to the multiple investments and reinvestments, the company created more jobs, both directly and indirectly, but more importantly, was able to improve the service- as products were now available across the country.

“Gone are the days when one needed to go to the extent of faking a wedding card, to be able to get a chit from a government minister to be able to buy soda,” Nzeyi recounted.

“Between October 2021 and October 2022, we have paid UGX185 billion in taxes. In 2021 alone, tax paid was UGX175 billion,” Nzeyi said.

“I want to thank our staff, our bankers and of course the customers, who have made this possible,” Nzeyi said, adding: “I would also like to thank my fellow shareholders for continuing to invest in the business, and creating a better future for our country”.

“This (investment) was done because of stability in the country, otherwise, no one can put nearly USD100 million in an unstable place. Because of the stability, we had the confidence to both borrow and add our own money to invest in this project. I wish to thank the Uganda Government for providing that conducive environment,” he said. 

Nzeyi also revealed that CBL recently won a 1st runners-up award within the entire PepsiCo family of bottlers, for quality and cleanliness at the annual awards held in Barcelona, Spain.

“This is not the first time we are winning. We have consistently been rated blue- the highest mark of quality within the PepsiCo family. We are the best in Sub-Saharan Africa. Our plants are equipped with modern technology akin to what you will find in Europe or North America. When you drink our Aquafina, you should drink it with one heart- because it has been purified and processed according to PepsiCo’s international standards. The Aquafina you drink here is not different from the Aquafina in the Americas, Asia or Europe,” he said.

Nzeyi also said the CBL had acquired 30 acres at its new home in Ssisa and the next expansion phase would focus on diversification into foods.

“We have a vision of going into other products, especially foods. We have already put this on the drawing board,” he said.

Elsewhere around the world, PepsiCo already has a thriving snacks and cereals business, with famous brands such as Lay’s, Doritos, Cheetos, Walkers and Quaker, and SodaStream. PepsiCo’s product portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including many iconic brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.

He, however, called upon the government to revisit the heavy excise duty on the industry as well as the high fees for digital tax stamps, saying that the taxes were negatively impacting planned investments.

“The taxes are breaking our banks,” he said, adding: “Too much tax is delaying planned investments and jobs creation”.  

CBL is one of few wholly Ugandan-owned companies in the top 20 taxpayers list.