Armela Farms Chairman Kanti Shah (third from right) with Kenya Export Promotion and Branding Agency (Keproba) Chairman Jaswinder Bedi (on the left side) at the firm’s hydroponic farm in Dubai. PHOTO | KEVIN ROTICH | NMG
Despite running a successful business, Mr Shah in 2011, sold off the firm to Rai Group for an undisclosed amount.
He says that he was pressured by his granddaughter to shift to Dubai so as to keep the family intact as well as offer his son entrepreneurial advice.
Immediately the family landed in Dubai, they wanted to start a business that will help them earn a living since they sold everything back in Kenya.
Kanti Shah was running a successful business in Kenya before relocating to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
He owned one of the biggest washing soap and edible cooking oil company, the Menengai Oil Refineries Limited in Nakuru County.
Despite running a successful business, Mr Shah in 2011, sold off the firm to Rai Group for an undisclosed amount. He also sold everything that he owned in the country, including vehicles and houses.
Afterward, together with his son Avir Shah and daughter-in-law Rachan Shah, he sought a new path in the UAE.
He says that he was also pressured by his granddaughter to shift to Dubai so as to keep the family intact as well as offer his son entrepreneurial advice.
Immediately the family landed in Dubai, they wanted to start a business that will help them earn a living since they sold everything back in Kenya.
It was at this point when the family started Armela Farms, a large-scale commercial producer, packer and distributor of water-grown lettuce and kale. The farm grows 14 varieties of lettuce that are supplied to leading retail stores such as Carrefour as well as local restaurants.
Shifting to farming was easier for them since UAE imports more than 99 percent of its food from outside as the country is bedecked by desert, which is unsuitable for farming.
“I was running different businesses in Kenya. We started from textile, construction to soap and oil manufacturing and in 2011, we sold our manufacturing of soap and my son moved to Dubai and he started hydroponic farming in Dubai in 2016,” Mr Shah told Enterprise recently at the firm’s farm in Dubai.
Since the UAE is hot and dry, the company conducted some research on the best vegetables to grow in the country.
“We did research and development for different products. We started with cherry tomatoes, herbs, and did a little bit of lettuce,” says Mr Shah who was born in 1951 in Kenya.
“There was no money to be made in cherry tomatoes because the market is tight where there are too many people growing so we started growing lettuce. This is what you see is what we did after research and development.”
The company, which owns a five-acre hydroponic farm, produces 5, 000 heads of lettuce daily. However, this is set to grow to 25,000 a day as the company targets to open a new fully automated plant.
“Formation of (lettuce) heads will be the same throughout the year; winter or summer,” he says, adding that summer temperatures go as high as 49 degrees Celsius with winter between 28-27 degrees. “To grow these (lettuces), we need 22 degrees of temperature.”
He said that they have invested a lot without giving the exact value of the projects.
“Growing this is not expensive but to put up the facility takes a lot of money. We got the facilities from the banks, local UAE banks.”
The facility has employed 50 employees with the new high-tech farm set to absorb an additional 150.
Water being one of the biggest challenge in UAE, the company sources water from Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) that are supplemented with an in-house borehole.
“We have to recycle the water through reverse osmosis to meet set standards for plants,” he says.
This comes after the firm last month said that it targets to double imports of vegetables and fruits from Kenya to the UAE through partnerships with local producers.
The firm seeks to increase imports of baby spinach, avocados, strawberries and herbs from a current weekly import of 2.5 tonnes to five tonnes to expand its product range that mostly comprises 14-lettuce varieties.
Already, the company has partnered with Kenyan producer of vegetables VegPro, which is based in Naivasha to increase its product range. It is also looking at working with other producers.
Armela Farms Director Rachan Shah told Enterprise during a farm visit in Dubai last month that the products will be supplied to local retail chains such as Carrefour and restaurants.
“We are planning to move into some more products from Kenya like right now it is still limited. We are working with a grower there to increase the range of baby spinach, avocados, strawberries, berries, among others,
“Obviously, we will go to more supermarkets. Right now, our main focus has been Carrefour.”
