By Lenah Bosibori
Nairobi, Kenya: Unilever East Africa has commissioned its new warehouse in Nairobi to boost the local economy and create new job opportunities in Kenya.
Speaking in Nairobi on Tuesday during the launch of the warehouse Unilever Kenya’s Managing Director, Luck Ochieng said the facility is designed to flexibly handle high-mix, health, and beauty products across East Africa.
“Today we had the opportunity to inaugurate our new warehouse, previously we had a facility that was offsite and we were spending a lot of money tracking products from here to that other warehouse before they went to the customers,” said Ochieng.
Ochieng added that Unilever made a cumulative investment of Kshs 500 million (3.6M USD) to construct and equip the warehouse which took approximately one year to finish.
Ochieng also noted that the newly constructed ultra-modern warehouse is a commitment to growth not only on turnover but also on capacity, job creation, and community impact. He added that the investment is a testament to Unilever’s purpose of making sustainable living commonplace.
“The implementation of our new system has proven to be highly beneficial, it has allowed us to create efficiencies in our operations, streamlining various processes and improving overall productivity. We have been able to enhance our ability to serve customers in a faster and more efficient manner added Ochieng.
He added that the facility is able to create 200 new job opportunities and at the same reduce destructions that are out there on the roads like time spent in traffic jams and the risks of losses.
“The environment has been tough economically, post Covid, Ukraine, global supply and inflation, we have had serious issues and impacts on business raising from costs and the devaluation of the Kenyan shilling that is bringing extra complexity and cost into our business,” added Ochieng.
Unilever’s Head of Supply Chain in Africa; Christian Byron affirmed the importance of localizing raw and packaging materials in Unilever’s production processes. 70 percent of the raw and packaging materials that Unilever uses for production in the continent are made in Africa which has a positive impact on access and affordability of our products.”
“At Unilever, we continue to invest and strengthen our commitment to Kenya with the expansion of our facilities in the country. We strongly believe in the potential of this country and our consumers, and we are fully committed to playing a role in their respective growth stories,” he concludes.
The state-of-the-art facility comprises a total surface area of just under 23,000 sqm and was constructed adhering to the highest environmental standards.
