Nairobi, Kenya-based seafood firm Camino Ruiz has received USD 1 million (EUR 865,000) in financing to expand its tilapia-farming operations on Lake Victoria.
The company, which is vertically integrated with internal fish feed, fingerling production, fish-processing, and sales capabilities, aims to use the loan to increase its annual production by an additional 800 metric tons (MT) over the next year.
Camino Ruiz Founder and CEO Joseph Mureithi said the expansion of its cage-farming operations on Lake Victoria “will not only help meet the growing market demand but also create local employment opportunities, deepen engagement with smallholder farmers, and strengthen regional supply chains.”
The financing came from a USD 24 million (EUR 20.8 million) fund managed by Nigeria-based investment firm Sahel Capital.
Sahel Capital Vice President for East and Southern Africa Zakayo Ngetich said the loan facility to Camino Ruiz “marks [Sahel’s] first foray into the aquaculture sector and represents a significant step into Africa’s growing aquaculture industry.”
“Camino Ruiz has established itself as Kenya’s first consumer-focused fish brand,” he said.
Camino Ruiz sources its tilapia from cages on Lake Victoria, as well as from an estimated 4,000 smallholder fish farmers along the shores of the lake, before transporting it in refrigerated trucks to its processing plant in Nairobi. At the Nairobi plant, the company processes its tilapia into a range of value-added products under its flagship brand, Global Tilapia, which is Kenya’s first branded tilapia line in the domestic market.
The firm’s cage capacity is approximately 3,000 MT, comprising nearly 9 percent of total aquaculture production in Kenya, which was estimated in 2024 to be 33,300 MT. It distributes its branded seafood to 180 supermarkets, as well as through catering services to hotels, restaurants, and businesses.
The company is also trying to expand beyond solely servicing domestic customers; over the past two years, it has attempted to make inroads in the Middle East.
The new financing should help boost aquaculture growth in Kenya, which has recently stagnated. The sector, which is still in its relative infancy, made strides post-Covid, growing from around 18,500 MT in 2019 to 27,800 MT by 2022. Production then rose to 31,700 MT in 2023 but grew less than 2,000 MT in 2024.
