Indian billionaire Ravi Jaipuria joins Dangote and Dewji with $32 million investment in a 52-acre beverage plant in East Africa
Kenya, East Africa’s largest economy, is witnessing a wave of billionaire-backed investments as some of the continent’s and Asia’s richest businessmen move to capture its fast-growing consumer and industrial markets.
Black News 
Kenya, East Africa’s largest economy, is witnessing a wave of billionaire-backed investments as some of the continent’s and Asia’s richest businessmen move to capture its fast-growing consumer and industrial markets.
- Kenya is attracting major investments from Asian and African billionaires seeking to capture its expanding consumer and industrial markets.
- Varun Beverages, headed by India's 'Cola King' Ravi Jaipuria, is acquiring Devyani Food Industries Kenya's dairy, juice, and water business, gaining a large modern facility in Nakuru.
- This move strengthens Varun Beverages' partnership with PepsiCo and follows the extension of their bottling agreement in India to 2049, while also removing restrictions on non-PepsiCo activities.
- Kenya's drinks market is increasingly competitive, with new investments like Dewji's $50 million Mo Cola plant and PepsiCo gaining a second independent production base with the Nakuru facility.
The deal places Jaipuria, widely known as India’s “Cola King” and valued by Forbes at $12 billion, alongside Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote and Tanzanian billionaire Mohammed Dewji, who are also moving capital into Kenya’s industrial and consumer markets.
BL Industries Kenya, a wholly owned subsidiary of Varun Beverages, has signed an agreement to acquire the dairy beverages, juices and packaged drinking water business of Devyani Food Industries Kenya in a transaction expected to close by August 1, 2026.
The acquisition gives Varun Beverages control of a 52-acre manufacturing site in Nakuru, Kenya’s fourth-largest urban centre, with 17,500 square metres of built-up area, key food safety certifications, advanced water purification systems and modern manufacturing machinery.
PepsiCo Deal Gives Jaipuria More Room
More broadly, the Kenya acquisition comes shortly after Varun Beverages extended its bottling agreement with PepsiCo, strengthening a partnership that has powered Jaipuria’s rise from a single plant into one of India’s biggest consumer goods empires.
The revised agreement extends Varun Beverages’ PepsiCo bottling licence in India to April 30, 2049, from the previous expiry date of April 30, 2039.
Notably, the May 21 agreement also removes restrictions that had stopped Varun Beverages, PepsiCo’s largest franchise bottler outside the United States, from pursuing non-PepsiCo business activities while handling brands such as Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Mirinda, 7UP, Tropicana, Slice, Aquafina, Sting, Gatorade and Lipton Ice Tea.
Kenya Becomes A New Battleground
Meanwhile, Kenya’s drinks market is becoming more competitive as global bottlers and regional challengers move to win price-sensitive consumers in a segment still dominated by Coca-Cola.
MeTL Group, owned by Tanzanian billionaire Mohammed “Mo” Dewji, is building a $50 million soft drinks plant in Mombasa to produce Mo Cola, Mo Xtra and Mo Malto, with plans to sell Mo Cola at a fraction of Coca-Cola’s retail price.
Against this backdrop, PepsiCo would gain a second independent production base in Kenya once Varun Beverages begins manufacturing carbonated soft drinks at the Nakuru facility.
PepsiCo brands are already produced in the country by SBC Kenya, a separate bottler owned by Uganda’s Crown Beverages, which has operated a plant in Ruaraka, Nairobi, since 2013.
Beyond beverages, Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote is approaching Kenya from a larger industrial angle, with plans to finance a proposed 700,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Lamu through internal cash, bonds and an initial public offering.
A Cleaner Route Into East Africa
For Varun Beverages, Kenya offers a smaller and cleaner route into East Africa after a failed attempt to buy larger PepsiCo bottling assets in Tanzania and Ghana for $169.6 million.
Those deals failed to close by their March 2025 long-stop dates after conditions were not met, while the Tanzania agreement later drew regulatory and tax complications.
The Kenya deal avoids some of that complexity because Devyani Food Industries Kenya is part of the same promoter group controlled by the Jaipuria family, which also controls Varun Beverages.
Africa Expansion Accelerates
Across Africa, Varun Beverages has also been building scale through acquisitions, new plants and distribution deals.
In Southern Africa, it acquired PepsiCo’s South African bottler Bevco for $158 million in December 2023, gaining franchise rights in South Africa, Lesotho and Eswatini, with distribution in Botswana and Namibia.
Thereafter, it acquired South African soft drinks maker Twizza, while also developing a $50 million bottling plant in Kinshasa and another facility in Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
