Osho Chemical Industries: Providing Support to the Agriculture Sector in Kenya and the Region

Manoj Shah, Owner of Osho Chemical Industries Ltd, gives an overview of the company. Osho Chemical Industries is the leading manufacturer, marketer and distributor of crop protection, animal health products, public health, industrial chemicals, farm equipment, allied products and services in Kenya.

“Next year, we will be celebrating 30 years in business. We started in 1993 and, initially, it was more as an import supplier of various raw materials for the textile sector. Of course, when we talk about textiles, it touches on a bit on tanneries, some chemicals for pharmaceuticals, and paints. So, it was more of a trading entity fitting into the markets that were already consuming raw materials. Around 1998 or 1999, we saw a window for agro chemicals. Agriculture chemicals then used to be the big packs of half a liter, or one liter, so we said okay, let’s try to feed into a market which is the small-scale farmer who needs small packs. We used to import the ready product, either in bulk or pre-packed for selling. Then we realized that packaging had to be localized because we needed flexibility, so we went into packaging. While that was happening, we also realized that there was a lot of local value to add. We had to create a capacity because after 50 odd years of independence, you cannot remain just a trading entity. There are certain functions that need to be localized so we went into technical registrations, then into formulations. So we starting evolving. Then we looked at the huge gap in the market on plant nutrition. Besides chemicals, fertilizers are also very critical and that gave us more ideas about soil conditioning, rejuvenating the soils, and that brought us into the biological field. We keep learning and we keep upgrading. Since 2004 or 2005, there has been more and more focus on agriculture and today, 90% of the business is agriculture. We have moved away from importing raw materials to agriculture sector support. When we realized that we also needed to take this expertise to neighboring countries, we opened in Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia. Earlier, we thought the southern part of Africa would be dominated by South Africa, but we now know there is a window for companies like ours”, says Manoj Shah.

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