Flamingo Horticulture Investments (FHI Ltd), a Sun Capital Europe portfolio organisation, announced that they will make a further investment of USD 2.4Million in subsidiary business Dudutech, Africa’s leading Biological Pesticide Manufacturer.
Dudutech a is high growth biotechnology business in operation since 2001 that plays a critical role in allowing their many international and Kenyan customers and the Flamingo Group to farm sustainably and adhere to farming and produce regulations across the globe.
To provide farmers with sustainable solutions, Dudutech’s team of over 250 technicians, masters and doctorate level scientists manufacture insect-killing fungi and beneficial predatory insects and mites, which are used as part of an Integrated Pest Management strategy, where farmers combine pesticides and traditional synthetic chemical pesticides to tackle agricultural pests and diseases.
Dudutech will direct the additional funding towards expansion of production facilities at the biofactory site in Naivasha, Kenya, including an additional 4ha of greenhouses and an insectary. The project is aimed at increasing production capabilities to provide additional beneficial predatory insects availability to meet growth in demand for biologicals and satisfy the needs of major growers in Africa, Europe and the Americas.
Thomas Mason, Managing Director Dudutech says:
We are incredibly excited to see Flamingo Horticulture Investments backing Dudutech. The new investment will be used to further expand the company’s manufacturing capacity. Alongside this investment Dudutech will be recruiting into its management team, broadening its product range and increasing the scope of its international operations.
This investment will allow us to grow our services to our customers in Africa, Europe and the Americas and ensure availability of our beneficial predatory insects, especially during peak seasons, where demand has outstripped supply in the past.
Martin Hudson, CEO Flamingo Horticulture Investments comments:
Under the stewardship of an outstanding management team, we believe that Dudutech has consistently demonstrated its ability to deliver on investment strategies, it now plays a critical role in the supply of insect killing fungi and beneficial predatory insects and mites for farmers globally.
Dudutech opened its Netherlands office in April 2016. We are located on Jupiter 185, Honselersdijk. We proudly presented Dudutech Europe at this year’s IFTF, Vijfhuizen Trade Show.
Covering East Africa, the Dudutech Training team had a successful year.
On December 5th Dudutech carried out a Vermicomposting training for the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture in western Kenya. This training brought together 139 participants lead by our Dudutech trainer George Mala. The training consisted of lectures on compositing, the right materials, environmental conditions, worm type, different set-ups, vermicompost value, application rates and followed by practical training in the field with the host farmers. We received reports back that there is great amounts of enthusiasm around composting from the farmers in this area.
In August we partnered with Kenya Markets Trust and KALRO (Kenya Agricultural Livestock and Research Organisation) to launch our BioPesticide products for small-scale farmers in Kenya. This event was aimed to create National awareness on BioPesticides for Improved Food Productivity, Safety and Security. We invited over 300 small-scale farmers from the Meru and Kirinyaga counties to discuss their learnings from the pilot projects Dudutech held on their farms. Dudutech also shared innovative ways of rolling out the same technology and information to more farmers countrywide. It was a pleasure to have various stakeholders from the Ministry of Agriculture, County Officials, Researchers, Producers, Distributors, Non-Governmental Associations, and representatives from Academia present as guests and speaking at this event. We were honored to have KALRO’s Dr. Lusike as our key note speaker and the representative who opened the ceremony.
Our team has just completed a training in Zimbabwe, with our Distributor Philip Weller reporting back that it was “great to see that the guests got a better understanding of IPM. The growers really enjoyed the NEMguard presentation and how effective it is with Dudutech Products. In all, a positive day with growers really appreciating the effort Dudutech made”
Follow our social platforms and stay tuned for exciting new developments in 2017. We thank you, our esteemed client, for your continuous support and business this year and we look forward to an even better working relationship with you in 2017.