Nile Breweries Limited (NBL) is the leading beer manufacturer in

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

Location

The NBL's headquarters and main brewery are in the town of

Njeru Njeru is a town in Buikwe District, in the Central Region of Uganda. It is the largest town in the district. It is mainly a residential town. However, it hosts industries such as ''East African Packaging Solutions Limited'', a manufacturer of ...

Buikwe District Buikwe District is a district in the Central Region of Uganda. It is named after its 'chief town', Buikwe, where the district headquarters are located. Location Buikwe District is bordered by Kayunga District to the north, Jinja District to the ...

, approximately north-east of the central business district of

Jinja, Uganda Jinja is a city in the Eastern Region of Uganda, located on the North shores of Lake Victoria. Location Jinja is in Jinja District, Busoga sub-region, in the Eastern Region of Uganda. It is approximately , by road, east of Kampala, the capita ...

. This is approximately , by road, east of

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,680,000 and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and Ruba ...

, the capital and largest city of Uganda. The coordinates of the company headquarters are 0°26'19.0"N, 33°10'47.0"E (Latitude:0.438620; Longitude:33.179720).

Overview

NBL had an estimated 52 percent share of the Ugandan beer market in 2013. This has since grown to 57 per cent. Eagle Lager was launched to promote the use of locally grown

sorghum ''Sorghum'' () is a genus of about 25 species of flowering plants in the grass family (Poaceae). Some of these species are grown as cereals for human consumption and some in pastures for animals. One species is grown for grain, while many othe ...

to make lager beers and to reduce reliance on imported raw materials. Brand extensions now include an Eagle Extra, Eagle Poa and Eagle Dark.

History

NBL started in 1951 as a single brewery in Jinja. The brewery was nationalised in 1972 by President

Idi Amin Idi Amin Dada Oumee (, ; 16 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. He ruled as a military dictator and is considered one of the most brutal despots in modern w ...

. In 1997,

South African Breweries South African Breweries (officially The South African Breweries Limited, informally SAB) is a major brewery headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa and was a wholly owned subsidiary of SABMiller until its interests were sold to Anheuser-Bus ...

bought a 40 percent share in the brewery, raising this to full ownership in July 2001. The company is now a proud part of the ABInBev family after the successful completion of the business combination with SABMiller plc in 2016.

Operations

In October 2013, NBL opened a new brewery in

Mbarara Mbarara City is a city in the Western Region of Uganda and the second largest city in Uganda after Kampala. The city is divided into 6 boroughs of Kakoba Division, Kamukuzi Division, Nyamitanga Division, Biharwe Division, Kakiika Division, Nyakay ...

, about , south-west of Kampala. Built at a cost of US$90.6 million (about UGX:235 billion), the brewery was projected to produce 5.5 million crates of beers annually. The new brewery uses sorghum,

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

, and

barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley pr ...

, which are grown mostly by farmers in the region. The products of this brewery are marketed locally and exported to

South Sudan South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the C ...

and the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

. A maltings plant with a 120-ton piece size was built on the brewery site at Jinja in 2011 to support a local barley growing initiative and to supply barley malt to the brewery. Involved in this construction was Excel Construction Limited, formed in 1992 as a joint venture company between the

Madhvani Group The Madhvani Group of Companies commonly referred to as the Madhvani Group, is one of the largest conglomerates in Uganda. The group has investments in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, the Middle East, India, and North America. His ...

and Gomba Construction Company Ltd.

Brands

As of 2013, Nile Breweries had ten locally produced beer brands (Nile Special, Nile Gold, Club Pilsner, Castle Lite, Castle Milk Stout, Eagle Lager, Eagle Extra, Eagle Dark, Eagle Poa and Chairman's ESB), one locally produced traditional African beer ( Chibuku), two imported lagers (

Castle Lager Castle Lager is a South African pale lager. It is the flagship product of South African Breweries and has been recognised as the National Beer of South Africa , based on the fact that it is 100% grown and produced in the country, and for its abil ...

and

Grolsch Grolsch Brewery (Koninklijke Grolsch N.V. - "Royal Grolsch"), known simply as Grolsch (), is a Dutch brewery founded in 1615 by Willem Neerfeldt in Groenlo. In 1895 the de Groen family bought the brewery. They had started their own brewery in E ...

) . As of 2014, the flagship Nile Special brand was being exported to

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

References

External links

Beer Wars: Nile, Bell Row Rocks IndustryLocations of SABMiller Subsidiaries
{{Anheuser–Busch InBev, state=autocollapse Breweries of Africa Food and drink companies of Uganda 1951 establishments in Uganda SABMiller Sorghum Buikwe District Food and drink companies established in 1951 Jinja, Uganda