Manyatta Cider has been named Beverage Partner for The New Pour Summit ’26, bringing one of East African Breweries PLC’s (EABL) newer beverage brands into the July 25 gathering in Nairobi as the summit prepares to bring together beverage executives, strategists, investors, marketers and innovators from across Africa.
The partnership adds a consumer-facing beverage brand to the summit’s growing network of industry partners and aligns Manyatta’s positioning around African taste, culture and new drinking occasions with an event focused on how beverage companies can build for increasingly volatile African markets.
Manyatta is a cider brand produced by Kenya Breweries Limited (KBL), an EABL company. It emerged from KBL’s new microbrewery in Ruaraka, Nairobi, a facility established to expand the company’s capacity for innovation and experimentation. The Sh1.2 billion facility began production in 2023, with Manyatta becoming its first commercial brand.
The brand was subsequently launched in four variants: Manyatta Cider, Lemon & Ginger, Mango & Ginger, and Pineapple & Mint. EABL describes the range as a premium cider offering at 7% ABV and positions Manyatta around African tastes expressed through its flavours and packaging.
That positioning makes the partnership particularly relevant to the summit’s wider conversation about consumer change. Manyatta was developed at a time when EABL was seeking to strengthen its innovation capabilities and respond to changing consumer tastes and preferences. At the launch of the Ruaraka microbrewery, EABL described the facility as a platform for developing new products and experiences rather than relying solely on established categories.
The brand has also connected its product strategy with African culture. At its 2024 launch, Manyatta was presented alongside fashion, food and music, including a collaboration with Kenyan music group Vijana BaruBaru around the release of its Passion Pages EP.
That intersection between product innovation and culture mirrors an important question facing beverage companies across Africa: how do brands create products that are commercially viable while remaining relevant to consumers whose tastes, lifestyles and expectations are changing?
For Manyatta, the answer has included flavour innovation. Its portfolio combines a classic apple cider with variants built around combinations such as mango and ginger, lemon and ginger, and pineapple and mint. EABL’s annual report identifies the brand as part of the company’s innovation pipeline and specifically describes it as an expression of African tastes through pack and flavour. For The New Pour Summit ’26, the partnership brings that innovation story into a broader industry discussion.
The summit is being held under the theme “Liquid Resilience: Africa Future-Proofing Beverage Brands in Africa’s VUCA Market.” Its programme is designed to examine the pressures shaping beverage businesses across the continent, including market intelligence, consumer behaviour, innovation, route-to-market, sustainability, capital, culture and brand growth.
The emphasis on resilience is significant for an industry operating across markets with different consumer cultures, purchasing power, regulatory environments and distribution structures. A product or brand proposition that works in one African market cannot automatically be transferred unc
hanged into another.
Manyatta’s development provides one example of how a major African beverage company is using local flavour cues and cultural positioning as part of its innovation strategy. Its partnership with The New Pour Summit therefore places a consumer brand at the centre of a conversation that extends beyond the drink itself to the question of how beverage businesses identify and respond to changing consumer expectations.
The summit will bring together more than 20 speakers from African markets for discussions spanning market intelligence, channels and distribution, product innovation, capital and investment, advertising, brand and marketing, culture and consumer trends, and business turnaround strategies.
The New Pour Summit ’26 will take place on July 25, 2026, at the Golden Tulip Westlands in Nairobi, with online participation available through its hybrid format.
For Manyatta, the partnership offers a place within a wider industry conversation about what comes next for African beverages. For the summit, it adds a brand whose relatively recent history is itself a case study in how innovation, culture and changing consumer preferences can intersect.
As African beverage companies compete for consumers whose choices are becoming more fragmented and occasion-driven, the challenge is no longer simply creating another drink. It is understanding what makes that drink relevant. That is the conversation Manyatta Cider will join as Beverage Partner at The New Pour Summit ’26.
Read More:
