Our company
Kawandama Hills Plantations is a 7,500 hectare essential oil plantation – the largest in Southern Africa - based in the middle of picturesque Viphya Plantation in Northern Malawi, three hours North of the capital Lilongwe. We primarily produce lemon eucalyptus oils for export to United Kingdom, South Africa, USA and for domestic sale. We produce lemongrass, E.macarthuraii, E.radiata, & Tagetes essential oil on contract.
In 2020 we established our own brand, Virisafe, a popular natural hand sanitiser that was shown to be effective against Covid19. We have since launched our Repellents for Africa campaign to provide affordable mosquito repellent for Africans. We are also proudly the first legal, sustainable charcoal producer in Malawi, after lobbying the government for two years in 2013 and showing the devastating deforestation effects of illegal charcoal production.
By 2025, KHP expects to produce nearly 50 tons of oil and over 1,000 tons of charcoal annually, reaching its capacity of 85 tons of oil and 2000 tons of charcoal by 2028. We continue tree planting and expanding the distillation facility, having been the beneficiary of two USAID grants since 2016.
KHP has British and Malawian shareholders and is a family-owned business. Our plantation is in Mzuzu District and we have retail outlets in Lilongwe and Mzuzu.
In addition to the 6 million trees we have in the ground, facilities at our Northern Malawi plantation include:
Quality distillation plant and boiler in a factory set up
Fuel storage facility, carpentry and mechanical workshops
100,000+L reservoir for nursery and distillation cooling
Office with board room, safe store and a small laboratory
Staff housing and village, meeting hall and school
Fully equipped fire fighting team and fire breaks system
Large storage facilities for agro materials and equipment
Day time staff shelter, onsite tuck shop and bakery
Fully equipped and trained security team
Kawandama goals
To be the leading essential oil and charcoal producer in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Reach an annual target of 85 tons of essential oils by 2028.
Reach a target of 2000 tons/ year of sustainable charcoal by 2028.
Guarantee quality 100% pure oils that compete on a global standard.
To be creative, innovative and a good example of responsible business.
Plant trees, harvest leaves & distill oil in harmony with our natural environment.
Develop a unique PMD-based sanitiser & repellent range that will be sold SADC wide.
Strategise to maintain a pipeline of new & collaborative initiatives & partnerships
To implement social projects sustainably and with a capable management team.
Social projects in education, infrastructure & tree planting.
Capacity building to ensure sustainability & prosperity.
Complete all our projects with success & integrity.