Ukwala Supermarkets, often referred to simply as Ukwala, is

supermarket chain A supermarket is a self-service shop offering a wide variety of food, beverages and household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earlier grocery stores, but is smaller and more limit ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

, the largest economy in the

East African Community The East African Community (EAC) is an intergovernmental organisation composed of seven countries in the Great Lakes region of East Africa: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United Republic of Tanzania, the Republics of Kenya, Burundi, ...

. The supermarket chain is a subsidiary of

Choppies Choppies Enterprises Limited is a Botswana multinational grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Gaborone, Botswana. The retailer initially sold only food-based (both fresh groceries and wholesale long-life foods) and other fa ...

, a retail conglomerate based in Gaborone, Botswana.

Location

The head office of Ukwala is on Haile Selassie Avenue, in Nairobi, the largest city in Kenya and the

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

of that country.

Overview

Ukwala owns and operates supermarkets in Kenya. It is the fifth largest of the major supermarket chains in Kenya, behind

Tuskys Tuskys (formerly Tusker Mattress), is a Kenyan supermarket chain. It was one of the large supermarket chains in the Great Lakes Area. It employed nearly 6,150 people, 6,000+ in Kenya, and 150 in Uganda. Location The head office of Tuskys is l ...

, Uchumi and Naivas.

Branches

, Ukwala maintained a total of eleven branches in Kenya. Another three new stores are in the pipeline, within 2018. Ukwala does not have any branches outside of Kenya.

Ownership

Ukwala is 75 percent owned by

, a Botswana-based supermarket chain, whose stock is listed on both the Botswana Stock Exchange and Johannesburg Stock Exchange, with 157 stores in Africa. The remaining 25 percent shareholding is held by Export Trading Group, a Tanzanian company.

Recent developments

Beginning in April 2013, Tuskys Supermarkets, a rival chain, entered into a private deal with Ukwala, whereby Tuskys would buy six Ukwala stores in the Nairobi area. To arrive at a fair price, Tuskys took over the management of two of the stores, to assess traffic and commercial flow at those locations. The two chains did not consult the Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK), as required by law. When CAK learned of the transaction, the regulator stopped the deal and fined the two chains a total of KES:5.3 million (about US$62,000). CAK ordered the management arrangements to be reversed. When the supermarket chains did not move fast enough, CAK closed the two stores. Tuskys, however, obtained a temporary court injunction reversing the CAK directive, until a full court hearing on the matter can be arranged in the future. On 29 May 2015, the Botswana-based supermarket chain

reached an agreement to purchase Ukwala's ten stores for approximately US $10 million (KSh990 million). Five of the stores are located in Kisumu, three in Nairobi, and two in Nakuru. The owners of Ukwala are reported to be exiting the retail consumer business. The transaction received Kenyan regulatory approval in November 2015. In October 2016, Choppies announced its intention to invest KSh754.7 million (approx. US$7.57 million) into Ukwala, over the next three years, to open up more stores.

References

External links

The Most Popular Supermarkets In Nairobi, Kenya
Supermarkets of Kenya Economy of Nairobi {{coord, 01, 17, 17, S, 36, 49, 45, E, display=title