About Company

NyangororaBanana Processors, Limited began as a farmer’s field school under the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO). In 2006, NBP was registered as the Nyangorora Banana Youth Group based in Kisii Town, Kisii County, Kenya. It was founded on the following guiding principles: 1. Provide employment and professional development to underemployed youth in Kisii County 2. Improve the livelihoods of local smallholders by reducing post-harvest losses and offering fair trade prices for raw materials 3. Develop the local economy by popularizing Kisii bananas throughout Kenya. After several years of steady growth in production capacity and management capability, the youths felt that the group was facing organizational limitations. Thus in 2009, they established Nyangorora Banana Processors, a Chapter 486 Kenyan limited liability company. From 2003-2011, NBP produced wine, cakes, biscuits and banana crisps, and sold them at trade fairs all over Kenya. Production at this time was limited and labor intensive. In 2012, NBP acquired machinery from Kenya Industrial Research and Development Institute (KIRDI) and purchased additional production equipment, improving production quality while greatly reducing costs. NBP now owns all of its production and storage assets, and uses KIRDI facilities for production and training. The company’s founders, AskaNyakwara and Jared Nyakundi Omiso began with 200 KES and have since surpassed 1,000,000.00 KES in assets. They continue to look towards the future following the original guiding principles established in 2006. They now have plans to increase their production while decreasing net waste and exporting to West Africa and South Asia. Currently, NBP buys a specific, specially-cultured species of cooking banana from farming households mainly along the Gusii Highlands in Kisii and Nyamira counties. They offer fair trade prices that are an average 40% higher than average prices offered by traders. NBP is able to pay higher prices through their low-cost value add model, which produces banana crisps, their primary product, at a profit margin of nearly 100%, according to previous analysis (2014). Their crisps, sold under the brand name Ritoke can be found in Nairobi as well as Kisii, Nyamira, Meru, Narok and Kisumu counties. NBP is planning to extend distribution to other counties in 2016 and is in negotiations with distributors. In addition to the salted variety currently offered, NBP is in the final stages of developing chili-flavored crisps and plans to begin production of other flavors in the next two years. NBP also produces and sales banana flour to reduce waste. NBP has the capacity to produce soap, wine, beer, juice and flour should it choose to expand its product line in the future. Although NBP produces banana products exclusively, they have the knowledge and equipment to make similar products with different locally-sourced feedstock, such as sweet potato and pumpkin. This competency and availability of local feedstock offers options for future expansion of NBP’s product portfolio beyond bananas, should management choose to do so.