Facilities

Kegna Beverages is making a USD 250 million investment in the beer market, officially opening a 3 million hl brewery in Ginchi, a town some 80 km west of the capital Addis Ababa in Oromia Regional State. The lager with the brand name Kegna (meaning “our”) is brewed with local barley and will hit the market immediately. Incorporated in 2017 by some 5,000 shareholders, including farmers, the company is controlled by the Oromia state government and backed by the Development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE). Kegna’s management has set its sights on high-volume production to compete with established breweries, including Heineken, BGI (Castel) and a host of others. At the heart of Kegna’s plan is a sprawling production site in Ginchi. The site is huge, covering about 100 ha, half of which is dedicated to the brewery, with the rest housing offices, warehouses, and guest accommodations. Although a look at the map suggests that the brewery is sitting in the middle of nowhere, it will eventually benefit from a revamped road to Addis Ababa, which the Ethiopian government promised to build as part of its national road development programme. This should ease distribution in the region and to other major markets.