In its quest to expand its international business, the Ahmedabad-based animal health company Hester Biosciences Ltd will build a manufacturing facility in Tanzania for manufacturing animal vaccines and health products to cater to entire African continent.
Though the project size is yet to be finalised, the company has decided to invest $ 3 million, by way of equity, in its wholly-owned subsidiary company - Hester Biosciences Africa Ltd. While the company will raise $ 3 million through internal accruals of Hester India, the balance amount for the project would be raised through debt.
More than 80 percent of the required vaccines are imported into Africa. Besides the common diseases, there are Africa-specific diseases, which currently remain unaddressed, thereby causing economical losses to poultry and livestock farmers. Hester sees a very big potential in Africa for animal vaccines.
Hester has already started the exports of animal vaccines & health products to Africa. “Hester's distribution network in Africa not only aims at servicing the organised poultry and livestock farmers, but also the backyard farmers which constitute a big percentage of the animal population in Africa,” said Rajiv Gandhi, CEO & managing director, Hester Biosciences Ltd, in a press release.
To expand its exports business in future, Hester has identified Africa as a major market. “On the international front, our focus remains to be in for Africa in this financial year and in this year we should have developed a strong distribution network mainly in Eastern Africa and then going further to Southern part of Africa and then to Western Africa,” said Gandhi during Q4 FY17 earnings call recently.
