Kakuzi Plc, an agricultural cultivation and manufacturing firm partly owned by Kenyan businessman John Kimani, expanded its operations and increased production capacities, resulting in the addition of 188 jobs during the 2022 fiscal year.
According to figures contained in its 2022 financial statements, the agricultural cultivation company added 188 jobs during the year, bringing the total number of employees to 3,433, up from 3,245 in the previous year.
The number of other unionized employees increased from 3,245 to 3,435, while the count of management personnel grew by six to reach 70.
Despite the decline in permanent unionized employees from 761 to 731, Kakuzi’s addition of employees in other categories more than offset the reduction.
However, the number of new hires during the period was considerably lower than the net increase of 753 employees the company achieved in 2020, which brought its total staff count to 3,760.
The company’s expanded staff count during the review period resulted in a noteworthy increase of 8.1 percent in its total payroll costs, which rose to Ksh992 million ($7.42 million), compared to Ksh918.6 million ($6.87 million) in the prior year.
Kakuzi is a prominent agro-allied company listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange, producing and selling a range of products such as avocados, blueberries, macadamia nuts, tea, cattle, and commercial forestry.
Kimani, a significant shareholder in Kakuzi with 6,762,133 shares, or 34.54 percent of the company, has a stake valued at about $12.3 million, rendering him one of the richest investors on the Nairobi Securities Exchange and a prominent businessman in the country.
In the 2022 fiscal year, the group experienced a remarkable 164.6 percent rise in profits, from Ksh319.7 million ($2.4 million) in 2021 to Ksh845.8 million ($6.4 million) thanks to increased production and exports of key products, particularly avocados, which witnessed a 34.5-percent growth in revenue during the period under review, reaching Ksh3.29 billion ($25 million).
