Lachlan Kenya Limited is a Top 100 SME Award recipient and a leading regional distributor of agro-input solutions based in Nairobi, Kenya – specializing in seeds, crop nutrition, crop protection and public health.
Background
UNIFERT GROUP
Overview – Structure & markets of operation
Unifert Group is a multi-million-dollar asset agro-technology conglomerate headquartered in Brussels, Belgium with operations in three continents spanning across 16 cities in Africa, Asia and Europe.
The Unifert Group is owned by the highly-acclaimed Obegi Group, the Hrechdakian Family and Sami Maroun.
The group’s operations are split into two, namely: Unifert International and Unifert Holding.
Unifert International
Unifert International is the group’s Euro-Asia trade & distribution bureau operating from the main office in Brussels, while also running offices in Athens (Greece), Bordeaux (France), Istanbul (Turkey), Sofia (Bulgaria), and Warendorf (Germany) handling financial consolidation, audit and general management.
Unifert Holding
Unifert Holding leverages on the group’s extensive agro-input manufacturing expertise, global supply chains, and trade relation networks to advocate for the use new-age farm practises, leading new market penetration efforts and working to fortify the group’s position within the Middle East and Africa regions as a market leader.
Unifert Holding operates offices in Beirut (Lebanon), Nairobi (Kenya), Juba (South Sudan), Algiers (Algeria), Riyadh (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), Cairo (Egypt), Amman (Jordan), Rabat (Morocco), Damascus (Syria) and Baghdad (Iraq) amongst others.
Unifert & Lachlan – A partnership for growth
In 2007, the Unifert Group acquired a majority stake in Lachlan Kenya Limited, buying 75% of Lachlan’s shares. The remaining 25% is held by local shareholders.
This ground-breaking partnership was actualised against a backdrop of several months of negotiations and talks between Dow AgroSciences and Unifert Group who were both keen on expanding and breaking new ground within the East African market by leveraging on Lachlan’s existing market knowledge and distribution channels.
At the time, Unifert was a preferred agro-input distributor within Northern Africa & the Middle East while Lachlan had made a name for itself within East Africa importing and re-distributing agro-input solutions to dealers in Burundi, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya.
The partnership between Lachlan & Unifert was not just about shared business interests or similarity in ideologies or values. It was, at it’s very core, about giving the continent a strategic boost in its food security journey while advancing environmental conservation through the use of sustainable, eco-friendly agro-input solutions.
The partnership brought about stability and unlocked new ventures for both parties as Unifert & Lachlan leveraged on each other’s networks, operational muscle and expertise – giving rise to one of Kenya’s leading agricultural input distributors.
LACHLAN KENYA LIMITED
Lachlan Kenya Limited – A Unifert Group Company –commonly referred to as Lachlan, is a Top 100 SME Award recipient (Class of 2019) and a leading regional distributor of agro-input solutions based in Nairobi, Kenya specializing in seeds, crop nutrition, crop protection and public health.
Lachlan was founded in 2000 to address a growing demand for affordable, eco-friendly and world-class agro-input solutions within the Kenyan market.
The company takes a quadripartite approach involving farmers, dealers, governments and non-state actors in the sourcing, processing and delivery of its products – distributing some of Kenya’s most preferred brands of seeds, crop nutrition & public health products.
Awards
Portfolio of unique, proprietary products from renowned manufacturers and suppliers that cover Crop Protection, Crop Nutrition, Vegetable Seeds, Public Health, Water Hygiene and Disinfection
- 60 employees
- Line managers separately handling Pesticides, Specialty Fertilizers, Seeds, Public Health
- Separate Sales Managers responsible for Flowers and Export Veg, Small Scale Retail market, Key accounts, Estates and Tenders
- Sales managers responsible for Flowers and Export Veg, Small Scale retail market, Key accounts and Estates
- 20 TCP’s , technically and commercially responsible for counties and regions
- Seasonal Crop, Seed and Product Promoters
Independent distribution company involved in the registration, development marketing and distribution of innovative, proprietary products, sourced from renowned manufactures and suppliers, focusing on modern, non-generic products and formulations.
Top brands include Tracer*, Fidelity*, Topshot*, Cuprocaffaro, Premise, Multiphos, Duramon, Calcimax, LegumeFix, Lono, Powerslam, Ceylon, Emerald and Huwa-san.
Direct sales to flower farms, large growers and estates, grower groups, PCOs.
Supporting the small scale grower through a network of over 250 distributors and over 4,000 village based stockists
Focus crops include Ornamentals, export vegetables and herbs, avocados, mangoes, rice, maize, coffee, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, legumes and cabbages.
Our products are of interest to a dynamic variety of stakeholders, most notably:
- Farmers (small-scale, large-scale, organic and commercial farmers)
- Distributors (Import-Export organizations, dealers/stockists, and sales agents)
- Partners and non-state actors (Non-governmental organizations, crop nutrition & protection advocates, environmental conservation groups and sector-specific associations)
- Governments (National & county governments in Kenya and other forms of government from international jurisdictions)
- General Public (Anybody with a keen interest on agricultural inputs, specifically on seeds or products that address crop nutrition, crop protection and public health)
Primary audience: Farmers and distributors
Secondary audience: Partners/non-state actors, governments and the general public
The onset of the 21st Century ushered transformational change to the agricultural landscape across the world largely precipitated by increased uptake of new & improved technology-driven agro-techniques including the use of bio-stimulants to catalyse optimal yield, favourable weather conditions and a shift from a largely Agrarian-style agriculture to green & organic agriculture.
However, this new era was not void of obstacles and challenges. In Kenya, farmers – both at the subsistence and commercial level – lacked awareness, access and exposure to many of these new age farming practises. Farm work in Kenya was heavily reliant on manual labour and application of unsafe crop & soil nutrition inputs, complemented by outdated post-harvest farm practises.
Lachlan, then an exclusive Dow AgroSciences dealer with a humble portfolio of cereal herbicides and insecticides, set out to change the narrative with one mission in mind: To provide access to innovative, affordable, and best-in-class farm inputs – consequently – improving the life of the African farmer by optimizing their yield and cultivating a culture of environmental conservation through the use of eco-friendly farm inputs.
Today, we directly impact the lives of over 100,000 farmers across Kenya, also re-exporting our solutions to major East African economies. Our old products such as Ariane, Gladiator and Dursban are still some of the most preferred brands 20 years down the line. We have expanded our partnership reach including through collaborative efforts with USAID – The world’s premier international development agency & a vital catalytic actor in driving transformational development –to develop a potato seed treatment, ViaziPower, in the process training over 80,000 farmers, further underscoring our commitment to creating a prosperous and food-secure Africa.
Our fertilizers Durasop, Duramon & Multiphos are revered by maize, potato, coffee, tea and vegetable farmers across the region with Humic Acid – which was pioneered in the Kenyan market by Lachlan, along with Vitazyme becoming one of Kenya’s most used farmer-recommended brands of bio-stimulants.
Our ever-growing portfolio of solutions & products remains responsive to industry demands, innovative and farmer-centric. We strongly believe that Africa has the capability to produce enough food not just to sustain its own people but enough to feed the rest of the world.
Join us in creating a food-secure world, one seed at a time.
Our mission is to provide effective agricultural solutions.
Our vision is to improve the living standards of the African farmer by creating shared value through distribution of innovative, eco-friendly & top-of-the-range agro-inputs that maximize yield and provide a return on investment.
Our brand promise is to grow with our clients and stakeholders – we commit to delivering innovative, affordable, cutting-edge and eco-friendly agro-input solutions in a timely and consistent manner, at the convenience of our clients.
Our corporate values are innovation and excellence.
Growth by shared value – Studies have shown that it is beneficial for businesses to invest in the social wellbeing of the communities within which they operate through targeted and relevant corporate social investment programs that are business-line driven. In line with this, our communication should always portray that we want our stakeholders to benefit as much as we do.
By insisting on growth through shared value, we:
- Create & retain repeat customers;
- Enhance public trust and advocacy for our products and the company;
- Create room for collaboration and partnership opportunities with like-minded entities; and Unlock new revenue streams while growing the existing ones.
