Haco Tiger Brands has officially added Black Silk to their range of hair care products which include Miadi, TCB and Motions. At the launch ceremony, company chairman Dr Chris Kirubi said the product is the first locally manufactured premium hair care product to hit the East African market.

“These products will be in Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, Ethiopia, South Sudan, they are all dying for it because for the first time, we have a product that is totally focused on us,” he said.

Black silk was developed over a span of three years at a cost of Sh85 million and was developed with the unique characteristics of Afro-ethnic hair in mind.

“If you look at a strand of Afro-ethnic hair you realise it curves, making it harder for sebum to travel from the roots to the ends, therefore it tends to be drier and more brittle,” Trichologist Muli Musyoka said at the launch.

Haco Tiger Brands Marketing Director David Kamau said Black Silk is infused with essential oils which will keep Afro-ethnic hair moisturised:

“We have been in this process for the last five years and every year we speak to about 30, 000 hairdressers and consumers in order to better understand their needs.”

Black Silk which is already on shelves, is the second hair product researched and developed by Haco Tiger Brands which launched Miadi five years ago.

“Miadi is now the fastest growing locally manufactured mass market hair product in East Africa and Black Silk now targets the LSM 8s and above,” Kamau said.

“We decided to make the best because I personally believe in our people,” Dr Kirubi said as he outlined the direction Haco Tiger Brand is taking with its products, “I will continue to innovate new products because it’s time for Africa.”

The Political Counsellor of the South African High Commission, Christiaan Kriek, welcomed the launch of Black Silk and said the partnership between Kenya’s Haco and South Africa’s Tiger Brands represented the African integration envisaged by President Uhuru Kenyatta and President Jacob Zuma.

About Haco Industries:

Haco Industries was established in the early 1970’s as single-product manufacturer.  From those modest beginnings, Haco Tiger Brands is now one of the region’s leading FMCG manufacturers, supplying a wide range of products to the entire East African and COMESA Markets.

Beginning with stationery and shaver products, Haco diversified its operation into personal and home care products in the Mid 1990’s.  Principal to this process were international partners such as Société Bic France, Pro-line International Inc. USA, Alberto Culver Inc. USA, E.T. Browne Drug Company Inc. USA and Jeyes PLC UK.  With the recent Joint Venture partnership with Tiger Brands in 2008, Haco is now one of the leading players in the foods category.  Tiger brands is South Africa’s largest food manufacturer and manufactures food and consumer products such as Beacons, Purity, All Gold, Tastic, Morvite and Ingrams.

Miadi marks the first specially tailored products to be launched from Haco Labs, the company’s Research & Development division.  The launch also comes at the culmination of Haco’s 20 year plus involvement in the hair-care market, associated with leading international brands such as MOTIONS and TCB.