Bernard Njoroge is a seasoned business executive with over 15 years of experience in top brands in the country. He served as the director of sales and marketing for Sub Saharan Africa at Del Monte from September 2008 to October 2014 before quitting his Sh1 million a month job to re-introduce Tree Top juice brand to the country.
During his time at Del Monte, he heard consumers mention Tree Top during focus group interviews, and he wanted to reintroduce it to the market. However, his employer was not keen on the idea. In 2011, he purchased the trademark from Unilever, and it took him four years to start the business after quitting his job at Del Monte in 2014 to found Sky Foods.
Some people were sceptical about the success of Tree Top as the juice had been pulled out of the shelves around 1995 due to price controls imposed by the government. The introduction of Quencher, which was cheaper and came in a plastic bottle with different flavors, also meant Tree Top lost a lot of customers. Despite this, Bernard realized that many people and retailers were still nostalgic about Tree Top.
In 2015, Tree Top was successfully introduced into the market in different shapes, sizes, and flavors, including both the ready-to-drink option and the dilute-to-taste. Bernard leveraged his international connections from his time working for a multinational to make this a reality. However, he faced the challenge of sourcing for capital after quitting his job at Del Monte.
