"Rooted in Africa, Built for the World"

The Empire Hiding in Plain Sight Every time someone in Lusaka, Blantyre, Maputo, or Mbabane stirs sugar into their tea, there's a reasonable chance that sugar was grown, milled, and sold to them by a company ultimately answering to a boardroom in uMhlanga — which answers to a holding company in London — which answers, in the end, to one family's trust in the United Kingdom, endowed by a Canadian bread baron nearly seventy years ago. That company is Illovo. Its parent is ABF S

Some products carry a postcode. This one carries a landscape. Nestled along the shores of Lake Mugesera in the Eastern Province of Rwanda, 1000 Hills Products is one of Africa's most remarkable farm-to-shelf operations. A modern, vertically integrated farm producing specialty coffee, organic loose-leaf tea, and sun-dried tropical fruits — grown, processed, and packaged at source, in Rwanda, by Rwandan hands. RIC Brands is proud to represent 1000 Hills Products as our exclusiv

A RIC Brands Africa Agribusiness Intelligence Report *Published by Africa Brew Brief | RIC Brands Research & Intelligence Division* --- THE STATE OF PLAY Africa is the world's fastest-growing consumer market — 1.7 billion people, a combined GDP of $10.8 trillion at purchasing power parity, and a single-market framework in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) that promises to reshape the global trade order. Yet business operators on the ground still face a daily re

A Deep Dive Into the Continent's Grain Sovereignty, Trade Power, and the Rise of Indigenous Alternatives* --- ## THE BREADBASKET QUESTION: NOT ONE ANSWER, BUT A CONTINENT IN MOTION When the phrase "breadbasket of Africa" is used, it has historically pointed in different directions depending on the era, the crop, and the political lens. South Africa, with its sophisticated commercial farming sector and the fertile Western Cape, long held the title in the colonial imagination.

Format: Investor Intelligence | Pillar: CAPITAL, DFIs & INVESTMENT* "The IFC, AfDB, and UKEF collectively committed over $8bn to African agribusiness in the last 5 years. Ask any smallholder in Rwanda or Ghana if they felt it. Most haven't."* --- ## The Gap Between the Billions and the Farm Gate There is a number that gets repeated in every DFI press release, every impact investing summit, every development finance panel in London, Geneva, and Washington DC. The number change

By RIC Brands | Africa Brew Brief | Africa Trade & Investment Intelligence --- Introduction: A Deal That Redrew the Map In January 2019, The Coca-Cola Company completed one of its most strategically significant acquisitions on the African continent — the full purchase of Chi Limited, a Nigerian food and beverage company born in Lagos in 1980. The deal, which had been staged over three years beginning with a 40% minority stake in 2016, sent a clear signal to the global investm

From the Elgin Valley to 60 countries — the CPG story every African agribusiness should study.* --- The Origin: Africa Named It, Africa Made It Named after Africa's savannahs, Savanna Dry cider was introduced in South Africa by the Distell Group in May 1996. [Difford's Guide](https://www.diffordsguide.com/beer-wine-spirits/4523/savanna-dry) It was not a multinational import dressed in African colours. It was conceived, crafted, and commercialised on African soil — a homegrow

A deep dive into the true traditions of growing, roasting, and drinking coffee in the land where it was born — and why that changes everything.* Published by RIC Brands · Africa Brew Brief | Tied to: Origin Cup — Ethiopia Edition | 26 June 2026 · London** --- Prologue: The Cup That Predates Civilisation Every morning, across continents, hundreds of millions of people begin their day with a ritual they understand as modern — a habit of productivity, pleasure, or both. What alm