(Business in Cameroon) - On 7September 2017 in Douala, the Cameroonian economic capital, Guinness Cameroon, local subsidiary of the Diageo group, officially presented the first whiskey brand locally produced by the company. It is the Scottish whiskey “Black & White”, for which Guinness Cameroon, after a few years of negotiation with the owners of the brand, was granted all required authorisations for local production.

To achieve this, the management of the company revealed, this subsidiary of the Diageo group had to purchase a liquor production unit. “The introduction of made in Cameroon “Black & White” to our market, comes after the commissioning of a whiskey production unit within Guinness Cameroon. Indeed, six months ago, we presented to the “Cube” to the general public, which is the first portable liquor production and packaging unit in Cameroon and in the Central African sub-region. The goal of this ultra-modern packaging line is to enable Guinness Cameroon to innovate on a larger scale, to meet the consumer demand”, explains Guinness Cameroon.

According to Keith Hayes, Production Director, this investment, whose amount was not disclosed, enables Guinness Cameroon to locally produce “Back & White”, while respecting the international standards, as well as those in force in Scotland, country where this whiskey brand was created in 1902 by James Buchanan.

A brewery which then moved into importing and selling liquor, to diversify its activities on the market largely dominated by Brasseries du Cameroun (subsidiary of the Castel group who controls 74% of the market), Guinness Cameroon is the 2^nd market of the Diageo group in Africa, after Nigeria, and its 4^th market worldwide, revealed Andy Fennel, President for Africa in the group. This was during his visit in Cameroon in August 2014.

Brice R. Mbodiam