STiR coffee and tea magazine

STiR coffee and tea 43 "Having been born in a family that was supported by pro- ceeds from a tea company courtesy of my father, and the fact that we grew tea ourselves played a key role in my future in- volvement in the industry," said Katah. "While I was in college I bought tea from processing fac- tories and would hawk it. The response from customers was amazing," he said. "I soon realized I could actually buy pro- cessed black tea from tea factories and package it for sale and that is how Nandi Hills Chai was born," explained Katah. "The brand was well received in the market," he added. With the success he achieved in the business of buying tea from factories and packaging it for the local market, Katah said: "I was convinced I needed to have a factory of my own." "Instead of a Greenfield compliant tea factory that required going through a cumbersome and rigorous licensing process, I learned of a factory that had been abandoned in Mount Elgon nearly 136 kilometers from my home in Nandi. I bought it using savings before embarking on reviving its operations," he said. Katah soon realized he had made a wrong turn in his investment journey. No sooner had he revived the tea processing plant than things began to fall apart. "I ran out of funds before the tea processing plant was fully operational. I was now penniless, dejected but determined to make a breakthrough in tea processing and marketing," he said. He was forced to sell the revived tea factory for a pittance and "I quickly set my mind to doing something else to achieve my tea business ambitions." "While attending a religious meeting in Nairobi, somebody announced there was an investor in Kenya who was keen on specialty teas. Anyone with information that could help him was invited to get in touch. Immediately I left the meeting and contacted the investor who happened to be from Canada," ex- plained Katah. After the meeting he introduced the Canadian investor to his father, who by this time was about to retire but remained involved in the tea industry in various ways including as a professional tea taster. "Our new Canadian friend was initially interested in con- tacting small-scale tea farmers in Kakamega County and wanted somebody to help set up a meeting between him and the coun- try's governor," explained Boaz's father, Jacob Katah. "We succeeded in setting up the meeting with the governor of Kakamega, but unfortunately when the investor, Grayson Bain, arrived for the meeting at the governor's office asked, the governor asked that the meeting be rescheduled," said Jacob Katah. Katah, who trained as an agriculture teacher in Egerton Uni- versity in the early 1970s, said he realized how disappointed Bain was and how determined he was to set up a project in Kenya. "I contacted the governor of Nandi County on the same day and secured an appointment for Bain and his team. We man- aged to meet the governor, and Bain explained to him all he wanted and how he wanted it done," he said. "Once I found out what he wanted I offered to help. The people in Kenya's tea industry that he wanted to meet to help push forward his investment agenda were the very same people I was working with and interacted with in various forums. That is how our friendship and partnership with Bain and his Canadi- an-based JustTea brand started," explained Jacob Katah.

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