African Originals, renowned for its popular range of ciders, gins, and iced teas, has leveled accusations against East African Breweries Limited (EABL), alleging a series of smear campaigns orchestrated by the latter. These purported actions have reportedly created a more challenging operational landscape for African Originals, resulting in a loss of market share.
The Nairobi-based alcohol startup contends that EABL introduced a competing line of products, named Manyatta, in December of the previous year. Subsequently, the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) suspended African Originals’ production license and sealed its spirits line, effectively halting production and sales of certain products.
To address these challenges, African Originals has enlisted the assistance of a team of legal advisors based in the UK.
On February 19th, a letter was dispatched to Diageo General Counsel in London, despite KRA asserting that the decision to suspend the production license was part of a broader governmental crackdown on illicit liquor.
Moreover, African Originals alleges that employees of EABL have denigrated their products and offered incentives to supermarket staff to refrain from displaying African Originals’ offerings. Initial reports of the discord between the two beverage companies were initially surfaced by the news website Semafor.
In mid-January of this year, a wave of Kenyan consumers took to X (formerly Twitter), claiming to have fallen ill after consuming various African Originals products. This purported smear campaign, allegedly instigated by EABL, was reportedly led by Wowzi, a platform designed to facilitate brand marketing through creator collaborations and automation.
