Nestlé brands NESCAFÉ and Nestlé NIDO have been voted most preferred in the coffee and milk powder categories respectively by Kenyan consumers.
The two were recognized as favorite consumer brands in their categories during the 2019 Kenya Beverage Excellence Awards (KBEA) held in Nairobi. The awards sought to recognize, celebrate, award excellence and innovation across every category of the Kenya beverage industry.
“The awards also look at enhancing creativity and excellence in branding and packaging of the products as a way of creating a healthy competitive advantage. The winning brands were also recognized for their sustainability and CSR initiatives, creativity and health impact of new ingredients, and for the best practices in manufacturing or processing that lower carbon emission to the environment among others,” said Calvin Jodisi, Lead Organizer of the Kenya Beverage Excellence Awards.
The awards ceremony was held at Crown Plaza hotel in Nairobi, bringing together over 500 business executives, over 100 companies and other stakeholders in the beverage sector in Kenya.
Speaking at the awards ceremony, NESCAFÉ East Africa Cluster Brand Manager, Ms. Lorna Nyagah said, “at Nestlé we pride ourselves for enabling healthier and happier lives through our brands, drawing on over 150 years of passion for nutrition to bring consumers tastier and healthier choices.”
“To ensure the sustainability of our NESCAFÉ brand -we launched our value chain support program called NESCAFÉ PLAN. We have spent over Ksh100million since 2011 and reached over 50,000 coffee farmers in coffee-growing areas in East, Central, and Western Kenya. We’ve provided agronomist support, trained them on best practices and supplied disease-resistant seedlings. These efforts have helped increase the quantity and quality of coffee produced and encouraged the participation of women and youth in the coffee sector.”
Ms. Nyagah also added that the NESCAFÉ brand has been promoting youth employment in Kenya through the brand’s My Own Business (MYOWBU) where thousands of youth now operate NESCAFÉ coffee selling businesses in busy public areas such as open markets, stadiums, and bus stops.
Nestlé has more than 2,000 brands globally including other Kenyan favorites like Nestlé MILO, MAGGI, Nestlé KITKAT, Nestlé CEREVITA, Nestlé CERELAC, and Nestlé NAN.
Nestlé, which has been in Kenya for more than 50 years, has been key in championing coffee drinking in Kenya. The company recently introduced a reformulated NESCAFÉ 3in1 which has coffee, creamer, and sugar in a move to tap into the increased coffee consumption by youths and the emerging urbanized middle class. Other NESCAFÉ brand variants available in Kenya include NESCAFÉ Classic which is available in a glass jar and in sachets, NESCAFÉ Gold Blend and NESCAFÉ Gold Mixes (Cappuccino, Mocha and Vanilla Latte).
Globally over 5,500 cups of NESCAFÉ are drunk each second while in Kenya the brand is one of the most popular and iconic coffee brands. The local recognition now adds to many other global accolades the NESCAFÉ brand has won having again been ranked top hot drink brand globally and third among the top 100 megabrands in the World by Euromonitor International, in March 2019.