Компания Ken Meat наращивает экспорт скота в страны Персидского залива и развивает переработку говядины

Ken Meat, a processor that has found a market in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, has built a successful business around small ruminants. “We mainly focus on the export of livestock to the GCC [the Gulf Cooperation Council] countries. We have the capacity to handle one million goats and lambs in a year,” Willy Laboso told BDLife in an interview during the Kenya Meat Expo 2026 held at KICC in Nairobi. The company operates a meat processing facility at the Export Processing Zone (EPZ) in Athi River, Machakos County, and sources livestock from pastoralists and aggregators, particularly in the arid and semi-arid land areas, before slaughtering, processing and supplying the animals to local and overseas markets. Ken Meat started as an aggregator, saw an opportunity and now, during peak periods such as Ramadan, Mr Laboso says the company can handle as many as 300,000 small ruminants in a month. The GCC comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, a region that has emerged as an important destination for Kenyan livestock and meat products. The growth in export-oriented meat processing comes as Kenya seeks to increase the value generated from its livestock sector. Sh397 billion market According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture and the State Department of Livestock Development, Kenya produced approximately 613,627 tonnes of meat in 2024, with an estimated market value of Sh397 billion. “This represented a 10.2 percent increase in production volume and a 30.5 percent rise in value compared with 2023, highlighting the growing economic importance of the meat industry,” said Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe during the opening of the expo, the annual event organised by Nation Media Group. Beef remained the largest contributor, accounting for about 260,000 tonnes valued at approximately Sh160 billion in 2024. However, Mr Kagwe said the country needs to diversify the meat industry by investing in goat meat, mutton, poultry, camel meat, pork and emerging value chains such as rabbit meat, an opportunity for investors. Ken Meat’s success model has been on value addition, as the company handles slaughtering, processing, packaging and cold storage. Its facility can slaughter up to 6,000 goats and sheep a day and 350 cattle daily, according to Mr Laboso. How export market works One of the key challenges faced by meat entrepreneurs is securing a sufficient and consistent supply to meet export demand. Mr Laboso said the meat export business starts much earlier than the slaughterhouse. It depends on an extensive network of pastoralists and livestock aggregators who supply animals from different parts of the country. Ken Meat works with suppliers in Garissa, Wajir, Kajiado and Machakos, among other areas. Over the years, the company has worked with about 500 pastoralists and aggregators, although the number varies as some livestock keepers are not tied to particular aggregators. “We work with aggregators and pastoralists, purchasing the lamb and goat for local and export purposes,” he says. The model has enabled the processor to connect livestock keepers in dryland areas with both domestic and international markets, while allowing the company to aggregate sufficient numbers of animals for its processing and export operations. Spotting an opportunity For meat exporters, other challenges include identifying market opportunities and scaling the business without compromising supply, quality or delivery. Ken Meat started out as an aggregator before shifting toward processing and working with other aggregators. Mr Laboso says the transition was largely driven by the need to make the business more efficient. “We were looking for markets outside. We found it more profitable working with people who already have markets, so that we just offer the logistics services,” he said. Under the model, a customer with an overseas order can contract Ken Meat to handle the processing and delivery. The company slaughters the animals, packages the meat and facilitates delivery to the customer’s destination. The shift has also enabled the company to concentrate on processing while relying on aggregators to consolidate livestock from different pastoralists. Weighing opportunities Entrepreneurs are constantly weighing opportunities, deciding which are worth pursuing and which are better left on the table. Mr Laboso said the company does not currently operate a livestock fattening facility and instead focuses on export of carcasses, but also serves the domestic market, particularly with beef and value-added meat products. While small ruminants dominate its export business, cattle are mainly processed for local consumers. Ken Meat can process about 300 to 400 cattle a month, depending on the season, according to Mr Laboso. It also focuses on prime cuts are rump steak, topside, strip loin, T-bone, silverside steak and Ossobuco. Mr Laboso said value addition allows processors to utilise more parts of an animal rather than leaving trimmings and other portions as waste. “You cannot deal in cuts without having value addition because when it comes to value addition, there are specific weights that are needed by consumers and that comes along with trimmings,” he said. “If not value-added, then it will be considered as waste. Value addition ensures that at the end of the day there is no by-product in the value chain. Every part has its margin.” Export challenges Securing access to a reliable, export-compliant slaughterhouse is another challenge facing meat exporters. The government seeks to improve the infrastructure supporting the meat industry. Mr Kagwe said Kenya has about 2,000 slaughter facilities, including approximately 49 large slaughterhouses and 322 medium slaughterhouses, alongside slaughter slabs. However, he cautioned that the country should focus not only on the number of slaughter facilities but also on their quality, capacity utilisation, hygiene, refrigeration, inspection, waste management, environmental management, logistics and market connectivity. The export business has also made compliance and traceability increasingly important. Mr Laboso said traceability is one of the areas the company is working to strengthen as Kenya seeks access to larger and more lucrative markets. He said the company is keen to work with more pastoralists and aggregators who can meet traceability requirements. “Traceability will lead us to better markets out there and not just be fully dependent on one region of the world,” he said. The Government’s Animal Identification, Registration, Traceability and Tracking system (ANITRAC), a digital livestock identification and traceability platform, could help address some of these challenges. The system is intended to enable animals to be tracked through the value chain, providing information that can support disease control, food safety and access to export markets. On challenges in getting adequate supply, Mr Laboso compared the situation to crop farming, where farmers depend on rain. Changes in weather conditions can affect the availability and quality of animals supplied to processors. “We need more aggregators in the field because pastoralists usually depend on nature. It is like the farmer who fully depends on rain. So, when the variations of nature change, so does the availability of raw material,” Mr Laboso said. The company is consequently looking for stronger relationships with aggregators and pastoralists to improve access to livestock throughout the year. For the wider meat industry, Mr Laboso said increasing the supply of quality animals would help Kenya take advantage of the demand for meat both locally and internationally. He said the high price of beef in the domestic market is an indication of the demand that exists, while Kenya’s livestock products continue to attract buyers abroad. “The demand that is there for beef in the country is purely evident also in the pricing of beef right now. If you go to the supermarket and see how much beef costs compared to other domesticated animals that we eat, you will see that beef is quite expensive, and it is because of its demand,” he said. Ken Meat currently employs about 200 people, up from 150 when it started, according to Mr Laboso. The growth in employment shows the expansion of its processing operations and the need for labour across slaughtering, processing, packaging and other functions. Flexibility, Mr Laboso said, has been one of the key lessons that has enabled the company to grow, particularly as it transitioned from an aggregator to a processor and logistics provider. “One aspect that any entrepreneur needs is to not be rigid but to be flexible and to change with the times,” he said, adding that the decision to work with aggregators while providing processing and logistics services demonstrates the company’s ability to adapt its business model to changing market conditions.