Bidco Africa

Bidco Africa, previously Bidco Oil Refineries Limited (BORL), is a multinational consumer goods company headquartered in Thika, Kenya with subsidiaries and distributorships across 16 countries in East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Its products include edible oils, fats, margarine, laundry bars and detergents, personal care products, and animal feeds. Bidco Africa owns over 40 brands and is the largest producer, marketer, and retailer of consumer goods in the region.

Bidco Africa has manufacturing factories in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The Group's products are marketed to 13 African countries. In November 2014, Forbes dropped Vimal Shah from the list of Africa's 50 richest people but retained the combined figure of $700 million as the net worth of Bhimji Depar Shah, then aged 82, together with Vimal Shah, then aged 55, and Vimal's younger brother Tarun Shah.

As of 2015, Bidco Africa was the leading edible oils and fats manufacturer in Kenya, controlling 24 percent of the market. Some of Bidco’s most well-known oil and fats brands include Elianto, Kimbo, and SunGold.

In April 2015, Bidco Africa announced plans to quadruple business volume before 2020, by building new manufacturing factories in Mozambique, Madagascar and Ethiopia in addition to existing operations in Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda.

Bidco Africa was founded in 1970 by Bhimji Depar Shah to manufacture garments. The company ventured into soap production in 1985 and launched edible oil manufacturing in 1991. In 1998, Bidco acquired the Elianto unit from Unga Group, a firm listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange. This was the first acquisition by Bidco.