Goldwater Plc., a new player to the water bottling market in Ethiopia, unveils its plan to start exporting bottled water to the Saudi Arabia and UAE markets within three months.
Gold Group was established over six years ago and has been working in the manufacturing, construction, real estate, and hospitality sectors.
The locally owned investment company has established two manufacturing plants at cost of 600 million Br in Burayu and Ambo Towns of Oromia regional states.
These plants have three water bottling machinery and packaging equipment with the capability to produce 170,000 bottles per hour (BPH).
Marketing manager of Goldwater, Sisay Mengesha said after three months, the company will start they are exporting its products to Saudi Arabia and UAE.
The local firm’s Burayu plant with an 18,000 BPH capacity has begun production of bottled water creating 300 job opportunities.
“We are trying to finalize and start that as soon as possible,” said Sisay.
Besufikad Kassahun, General Manager of Goldwater, said the company’s near future target is to cover five percent of national bottled water consumption with its 330ml, 600ml, 1000ml, 2000ml and more products.
When production reaches full capacity, a total of 170,000 BPH in the coming six to eight months, he said frim want to be the leader in the water and beverage bottling sector.
“The increase in demand for water bottles leads us to join the spring water bottling market and we are confident that our high production capacity will help support this increased demand,” the official said.
There are 85 competitors in the market for Goldwater currently operating in the country.
The company’s Ambo factory with a production capacity of 24,000lt of sparkling water per hour will soon start to produce Gold Sparkling Water Plant.
Its officials said the product will enter into the market with a half-litter bottle.
Both products have already obtained a conformity assessment certificate from Food, Medicine, and Health Care Administration & Control Authority, according to the company.