Sub-Saharan Africa investment

By: Mane on 09 December 2021

At MANE, we are proud to have had the opportunity to accompany our African partners in their developments for more than 70 years. Our Group is very grateful for these relationships and our teams are constantly elevating our service to the continent.

Everything that we do throughout the Group is determined by our passion for our business and our commitment to our customers and partners according to the three principles of the motto of our President Jean Mane, ‘ the expertise is local, the network is global, and the independence is non-negotiable.’ The need for extended knowledge of local industry, manufacturing processing and consumers are essential to feed our global strategic development team to drive innovation and product development. We continuously expand and deepen our local market and consumer insights to support development and innovative flavour solutions for locally relevant products.

In the past 15 years, the family-owned and run business has invested in Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa; Lagos, Nigeria; Accra, Ghana; Abidjan, Ivory Coast and Nairobi, Kenya with commercial offices and laboratories. During 2017, we took our partnership with Deli Spices forward by acquiring a strategic stake in the group for the development and manufacturing of savoury solutions in South Africa. Deli Spices has a long history in the world of the ingredients for the meat and general foods industry, being present in the Southern Africa meat market for 40 years. MANE with this partnership, confirm their interest to develop this market and the commitment with this leading company.

“The strategic partnership that we have entered into with MANE will give us the ability to continue to place a strong emphasis on innovation and expansion. Our customers will now have access to even more leading market solutions, as well as the best products and technology.” commented Robin Haller, CEO of Deli Spices. During 2020 MANE extended this partnership with the investment in an Innovation Centre in Cape Town. The state-of-the-art facility integrates research activities and product development initiatives in one comprehensive site with the support of expert analytical teams, sensory and food scientist and top-of-the-line food technologies. The Innovation Centre also houses sensory evaluation, a creative room, marketing and consumer insights department. Discover how we enhance people’s daily life by creating unexpected flavours. Our determination to offer unprecedented gustatory experiences drives our ability to ceaselessly innovate.

From a family adventure, which began in 1871, when Victor MANE started producing fragrant materials from regional flowers and plant, the small distillery which has continually been run by the MANE family grew successfully to become today the first French Group and one of the worldwide leaders of the Fragrance and Flavour industry. The headquarters are based in Le Bar-sur-Loup, in Southern France, near Grasse. Today the Group covers all continents thanks to its 50 R&D centres and its 27 manufacturing sites. It has posted turnover figures which have shown uninterrupted and robust growth over the past ten years and celebrate its 150th anniversary this year.