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By the time a cold Coca-Cola lands in the hands of a consumer in Madagascar, Sudan, Gabon or Somaliland, it has already passed through the hands of some of the most powerful local industrialists on the continent.
The Coca-Cola system in Africa depends not on direct corporate control, but on a sprawling network of franchise bottlers—regional and national entrepreneurs who produce, package and distribute the world’s most recognizable soft drink.
Two of the largest bottlers, Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA) and Equatorial Coca-Cola Bottling Company (ECCBC), anchor this system. But across the continent, a select group of private business empires have built vast fortunes through exclusive bottling rights.
Here are seven of the most notable African entrepreneurs behind those fortunes.
1. Malik Karmaly — Habibo Group (Madagascar)
When Castel Group exited Madagascar in 2022, Malik Karmaly saw an opening. By 2024, his family’s Habibo Group had transitioned from exclusive distribution to full national bottling rights for Coca-Cola, Fanta and Sprite—rolling out local production capacity almost overnight. Habibo’s plant in Antananarivo became the heart of a national strategy to compete on availability and freshness. It’s a classic Coke story: global brand, local execution, national dominance.
2. Osama Daoud Abdellatif — DAL Group (Sudan)
In the middle of one of Africa’s most volatile economies, Osama Daoud Abdellatif built DAL Group into a diversified powerhouse—and Coca-Cola bottling is one of its crown jewels. DAL Group, privately owned by the Abdellatif family, is Sudan’s largest private conglomerate. Its food division controls the country’s exclusive Coca-Cola bottling and distribution rights, operating from a modern plant in Khartoum North. While other multinationals fled during cycles of conflict and sanctions, DAL leaned on its vertically integrated logistics—from agriculture to manufacturing—to keep Coke flowing across Sudan. In the process, Osama Daoud became one of the country’s most influential businessmen, attracting global partners and investment even in turbulent times.
3. Reginald Mengi — Bonite Bottlers (Northern Tanzania)
In Northern Tanzania, the late billionaire Reginald Mengi turned Bonite Bottlers into a regional bottling empire. Bonite controls Coke distribution across Arusha, Kilimanjaro, Manyara and parts of Singida, and is also behind the Kilimanjaro Drinking Water brand—one of East Africa’s most recognizable labels. Mengi’s story embodies how regional Coca-Cola franchises—even without full national coverage—can produce significant local fortunes, especially when paired with complementary product lines like bottled water.
4. Bernard Fokou — Sofavin (Gabon)
In Gabon, Bernard Fokou’s Foberd Group made a bold play in 2022, taking over Coca-Cola bottling from Castel’s Sobraga. By early 2025, Sofavin, a subsidiary of Foberd Group, had inaugurated a state-of-the-art plant in Owendo, Libreville. The handover marked a rare local takeover of a major multinational bottling operation, backed by heavy capital investment and ambitions to dominate not just Gabon, but the Central African soft drinks corridor.
5. Jacqueline Dongmo — Coca-Cola Gracedom Bottling Company (Cameroon)
In Cameroon, the face of Coca-Cola bottling is a woman: Jacqueline Dongmo, founder of Gracedom Investment. After a turbulent transition period, Dongmo’s company secured the national Coca-Cola bottling and distribution mandate and restarted production in early 2023. She’s one of the few female Coca-Cola franchise owners in Africa—a position she’s using to aggressively rebuild market share and modernize production infrastructure.
6. Madiou Simpara — Gaselia Group (Mali, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Senegal)
Not every beverage billionaire needs Coca-Cola. Madiou Simpara’s Gaselia Group has built a formidable soft drink business by bottling Monarch Beverages brands (including Planet and Bubble Up) across Mali, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea and Senegal. Gaselia often competes directly with Coke on price and distribution. Simpara’s empire is proof that brand loyalty can be challenged when a local operator understands logistics, affordability and market culture.
7. Ahmed Osman Guelleh — Somaliland Beverage Industries (Somaliland)
In May 2012, Ahmed Osman Guelleh opened one of the boldest Coca-Cola plants on the continent—in Hargeisa, Somaliland, a territory not officially recognized as a state. Somaliland Beverage Industries was built with diaspora capital and a vision to anchor formal FMCG trade in a frontier market. More than a decade later, it remains one of Somaliland’s largest private investments, a powerful symbol of entrepreneurial risk-taking.
