ISEAL Alliance

Kenya is following up on the success of South Africa to bring locally-produced goods to the Kenyan marketplace. Two years ago, South Africa began selling Fairtrade certified products in their domestic market. Kenya is the next country to look to the domestic market with Fairtrade Certified Safari Kenya Coffee, a new line of coffee from Dormans Coffee. The Kenyan company, founded in 1950, is one of East Africa’s leading coffee roasters and exporters – it exports 250,000 sacks of coffee a year.

In preparing for the launch, a baseline research study by Cambridge University and commissioned by Fairtrade Africa, the Fairtrade producer network for Africa, demonstrated enormous potential for market growth in the country – it estimated that Fairtrade products could reach a market value of £5-7 million within five years. Not only does Kenya have a large expatriate market already exposed to the Fairtrade movement, the country also boasts a growing middle class that is committed to development in Africa.

 “Currently in Kenya more than 70 per cent of the population is below 30 years old” says Fairtrade Africa’s Marketing Manager Wangari Kabiru ”so we need to start creating a movement now to ensure future consumer success.”

Introducing Fairtrade products to the African market requires support from consumers, traders, companies, civil society, farmer’s cooperatives, the government, and even religious bodies. Fairtrade Africa will work to bring together these stakeholders.

The Kenya Tea Development Authority (KTDA), a tea company in Kenya, has expressed interest in selling on the local market.