East Africa’s richest billionaire takes on Coca-Cola and Pepsi with $50 million soft drinks manufacturing plant in Kenya

Tanzanian billionaire Mohammed Dewji is preparing a $50 million soft drinks manufacturing plant in Kenya as he ramps up efforts to challenge The Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo in East Africa’s largest economy with low-cost beverages that transformed Tanzania’s consumer market.

• Tanzanian billionaire Mohammed Dewji is investing $50 million to build a soft drinks manufacturing plant in Mombasa, Kenya, aiming to compete with Coca-Cola and PepsiCo.
• The new facility will produce MeTL Group’s flagship beverages, including Mo Cola, Mo Xtra, and Mo Malto, with Mo Cola to be sold at a much lower price than rivals.
• This strategy targets mass-market, low-income consumers—an approach that proved successful in Tanzania by offering affordable alternatives.
• The investment reflects intensifying competition in Africa’s beverage sector as both local billionaires and multinational corporations vie for the growing consumer market.

The planned facility, to be built in the coastal Kenyan city of Mombasa through Dewji’s conglomerate MeTL Group, will produce the company’s flagship beverages including Mo Cola, Mo Xtra, and Mo Malto.

Business Daily reported that MeTL plans to sell 300-millilitre bottles of Mo Cola at about 15 Kenyan shillings ($0.12), significantly below competing products that typically retail at around 40 shillings.

Dewji told reporters the project is already in the planning stage and construction could begin within the next 12 months.

“I’m setting up a plant in Uganda, and I now have land in Mombasa. I’m also looking into establishing a carbonated soft drinks plant,” Dewji said.

“Although we are still at the planning stage, we believe there is a strong possibility of starting construction within a year,” he added after attending the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi.

The investment would mark MeTL Group’s first major manufacturing entry into Kenya and is expected to intensify competition in a soft drinks market long dominated by Coca-Cola and PepsiCo.

The billionaire behind Mo Cola

Known across East Africa as “Mo,” Mohammed Dewji built his fortune through businesses spanning palm oil, rope, consumer goods, and beverages.

The billionaire, who previously served as a Tanzanian lawmaker and owns football club Simba SC, transformed MeTL Group into East Africa’s largest indigenous conglomerate with operations across manufacturing, agriculture, logistics, and consumer products.

According to Forbes, Dewji has a net worth of about $2.1 billion. He built the Mo Cola brand around affordability and mass-market reach, naming the beverage line after himself.

Regional expansion gathers pace

The Mombasa investment comes as MeTL Group accelerates expansion across East and Southern Africa, including plans for a manufacturing facility in Uganda and wider distribution networks in Rwanda, Zambia, and Mozambique.

MeTL’s beverage products, including Mo Cola and Mo Xtra, are already sold across markets including Uganda, Rwanda, Zambia, Malawi, Ethiopia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, underscoring the company’s growing regional footprint.

The investment also adds to growing interest in Mombasa among African industrialists and billionaires seeking access to East Africa’s fast-growing consumer and logistics markets.

Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote recently said he was considering Mombasa as the preferred location for a proposed $15 billion-$17 billion East African oil refinery, citing the city’s deep-water port and regional market access.

Meanwhile, competition in Africa’s beverage industry is intensifying as both regional billionaires and multinational companies increasingly race to capture a fast-growing and youthful consumer population.

Global beverage giants intensify Africa push

The Coca-Cola Company has pledged to invest about $1 billion in South Africa by 2030, while Pepsi bottling giant Varun Beverages has also recently expanded operations in Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Together, the investments by MeTL and multinational beverage companies reflect growing confidence in Africa’s expanding middle class, rapid urbanisation, and rising demand for affordable consumer goods.