Olam Agri honoured with 2 awards at  2026 Manufacturing Awards

Olam Agri secured two awards at the 2026 Ghana Manufacturing Awards: Flour Manufacturing Company of the Year and Agro-Processing Company of the Year. The annual awards are organised by Xodus Communications under the auspices of the Ministry of Trade and Industry and recognises excellence across Ghana’s industrial sector.

The double win comes 14 years after Olam Agri Ghana commissioned its Tema wheat mill, a $55 million facility that was among Ghana’s largest single food manufacturing investments at the time. Launched with fortified flour brands First Choice and Royal Gold, the plant has doubled capacity to 275,000 metric tons annually.

Last year, the company expanded into pasta manufacturing with the launch of Ghana’s first locally produced spaghetti.

The Flour Manufacturing award recognised Olam Agri Ghana’s sustained market leadership, food safety record, and regional footprint. The company became Ghana’s leading flour producer in 2019 and now exports to Togo, Benin, Niger, and Burkina Faso — a shift from the net-import position Ghana held before the Tema mill was built.

The Agro-Processing award recognised Olam Agri Ghana’s $40 million pasta plant, which sits adjacent to the flour mill and produces First Choice Premium Spaghetti. Together, the two facilities employ 500 people and represent a cumulative investment of $95 million in Tema’s industrial corridor.

“These awards belong to every team member who shows up daily to produce food that Ghana’s families rely on,” said Baibhav Biswas, Country Head of Olam Agri in Ghana. “More than a decade ago, we set out to build something that would truly matter to this country’s food security. This recognition from Ghana’s own manufacturing community means a great deal to us.”

Olam Agri in Ghana’s milling operation holds FSSC 22000 food safety certification, covering the full production chain from grain storage to packaged product. The company tests flour formulations in an in-house bakery under local conditions before release. Its technical sales team also supports bakeries nationwide — a downstream investment model which the awards panel cited in the Flour Manufacturing category win.

The pasta plant closes a long-standing gap. Despite a strong flour production base, Ghana had been importing virtually all its pasta needs from overseas. First Choice Premium Spaghetti, now available in retail and wholesale distribution, is the country’s first domestically manufactured pasta.

“Ghana is central to our West Africa growth story because we’ve invested here for the long term,” said Soumya Saxena, Business Head. “Two awards in one night is recognition not just of our capacity, but of the consistency our customers have trusted year after year.

Beyond production, Olam Agri Ghana runs several programmes for the country’s baking sector. The ‘My Healthy Baker’ campaign has screened over 8,000 bakers for hepatitis B, hypertension, and breast cancer.

The ‘Grain Hygiene Standards Management’ programme has trained more than 1,400 bakeries in food safety protocols. In September 2025, the company launched the ‘Raising Generations Initiative’ with Ghana TVET, offering professional baking certification and tertiary scholarships for the dependents of participating bakers.

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