Loop Pet Food / Six Legs Protein Group submission to the International Development Committee Inquiry on Future of UK aid and development assistance, November 2025
1. Executive summary (max 200 words)
Loop Pet Food is a Kenyan circular manufacturing company, held by UK-registered Six Legs Protein Group, producing sustainable pet nutrition for the East African market. Using alternative proteins such as black soldier fly (BSF) larvae and upcycled ingredients from smallholder farmers and aquaculture processors, Loop diverts over 17kg of organic waste from landfill for every 1kg of pet food produced. Products are formulated to UK FEDIAF standards, raising quality in a market where 80% of dog food and 100% of cat food is currently imported.
Our experience demonstrates how UK aid can catalyse private investment when it shifts from a donor mindset to an investor-enabling one. Manufacturing Africa and the Green Business Building (GBB) programme delivered critical transaction advisory support, market intelligence, and growth planning that would otherwise be inaccessible to SMEs in East Africa like Loop Pet Food. This support has positioned Loop to raise £250,000 in early 2026, achieving profitability as well as pave the way for scale across the EAC, regional expansion in Africa, and the UK.
UK ODA’s future should prioritise enabling capital mobilisation, supporting local manufacturing, and addressing the “missing middle” in financing — where impactful, early-stage manufacturing businesses cannot access VC, PE, or affordable debt (specifically in Africa). The MA/GBB experience shows what is possible when aid is catalytic, targeted, and grounded in practical business needs.
2. Company background (max 400 words)
Loop Pet Food is a Kenyan circular manufacturing company held by Six Legs Protein Group, a UK-registered parent entity. Founded and led by a female CEO, Loop was born out of a desire to create nutritious, safe, and proudly local pet food for East Africa—an industry historically dominated by imports and lacking strong nutrition or safety standards. Production takes place at Loop’s facility near Kikuyu town, where the company uses traditional extrusion coupled with innovative, circular ingredients to rethink how pet food is made.
Globally, pets consume around 20% of all meat produced, making the pet food industry a major contributor to livestock demand and its associated environmental impacts. Loop addresses this challenge by replacing conventional ingredients with alternative proteins such as black soldier fly (BSF) larvae and upcycled organic inputs sourced from smallholder farmers, breweries and aquaculture processors. This model enables Loop to divert over 17kg of organic waste from landfill for every 1kg of pet food produced, while enhancing incomes for local suppliers and demonstrating a scalable, climate-smart manufacturing approach.
Loop is Africa’s first circular pet food company and the first producer of locally manufactured cat food in East Africa. All products are formulated to UK FEDIAF standards, setting a new benchmark for nutrition and safety in the region. With 80% of dog food and 100% of cat food currently imported, Loop is directly strengthening regional manufacturing capability and aims to replace at least 1% of imports in the next three years—a meaningful milestone in a £400m regional market.
The company currently employs 15 people, with projected growth to 50 roles within 24 months as production scales. Impacts extend across environmental, economic, and social dimensions: reduced food waste entering landfill (in a context where one-third of food in the region is lost or wasted), enhanced economic resilience for smallholder suppliers, improved pet nutrition, and reduced foreign exchange pressures tied to pet food imports.
Historically self-funded, Loop raised a small angel round of £200,000 in 2025 to establish its factory—necessitated by the absence of contract manufacturing options in East Africa. The company is now preparing to raise a further £250,000 in early 2026, informed and supported by FCDO-backed Manufacturing Africa and the Green Business Building programme. These initiatives played a critical role in Loop’s investment readiness by providing market data, strategic guidance, and technical support otherwise inaccessible to SMEs in the region.
3. From donor to investor: How the UK can add value and mobilise private capital (800 words)
a. Enhancing access to investment and finance
Loop’s fundraising journey reflects a major structural challenge for early-stage manufacturing companies in Africa: the “missing middle.” These businesses generate real economic value and create jobs, yet lack access to appropriate financing. Venture capital is typically geared toward hyper-scalable tech models, while private equity considers companies like Loop too early-stage. Local debt is prohibitively expensive, with interest rates of 15–25%, making growth through borrowing unrealistic. Angel networks provide early support but are overstretched and limited in cheque size. Meanwhile, transaction advisory firms generally only begin engagements at £5m+, leaving SMEs without the support required to prepare for investment.
Manufacturing Africa and the GBB programme directly addressed these barriers. Their support included rigorous market analysis, investor-focused financial modelling, EAC trade assessment, and a structured scaling strategy—covering regional hub models and long-term UK entry. This level of insight and access to market data is typically inaccessible to SMEs, yet essential for credible investment preparation. As a result, Loop is now able to structure its 2026 fundraising round with confidence and target UK-based high-net-worth investors.
The UK’s shift from traditional donor support to an investor-enabling model has therefore been directly catalytic, providing the advisory infrastructure and data-driven credibility required to unlock future private investment.
b. Strengthening enabling environment
For manufacturing SMEs in Kenya and across Africa, the enabling environment is shaped less by regulation and more by the broader industrial ecosystem required to build competitive, high-quality products. Strong local manufacturing reduces imports, increases trust in locally made products, drives demand for local inputs, strengthens supply chains, and creates sustainable employment. For Loop, this translates into greater economic resilience and regional self-sufficiency.
However, scaling remains difficult due to a severe lack of reliable and affordable market data. Decisions around demand forecasting, pricing, and regional expansion carry higher risk because SMEs operate with limited information, weakening both business confidence and investor appetite. In addition, SMEs lack advisory support on operational excellence, productivity improvement, and manufacturing best practice—capabilities that are essential to competing with imported products at scale.
Supply chain development is equally critical. Consistent demand for local inputs is what ultimately strengthens and stabilises upstream suppliers, particularly smallholder farmers and alternative protein producers. This patient, demand-led growth model is what drives long-term resilience—but requires specialised support and accessible finance to implement effectively.
Manufacturing Africa and GBB addressed a number of these ecosystem gaps. They provided Loop with commercial insight and data that are otherwise unaffordable, enabling clearer planning, stronger investor conversations, and a realistic scaling strategy. While regulatory alignment forms part of the wider environment, it was not a primary area of support or impact for Loop.
Future UK ODA should prioritise ecosystem-strengthening interventions: accessible market data, technical capability building, supply chain investment, and financing mechanisms tailored to manufacturing SMEs. These elements are essential to accelerating the growth of African industry and unlocking meaningful region-wide economic transformation.
c. Local partnerships and capacity building
One of the greatest challenges for manufacturing SMEs is the transition from small-batch production to consistent, large-scale supply. This requires not only capital and technical capability but also the collective strength of a supportive local ecosystem.
GBB demonstrated the power of such an ecosystem. By convening founders across sectors, the programme created an invaluable space to “compare notes,” share practical experiences, and learn from others’ pathways. Peer exchanges helped Loop navigate engagement with regulatory bodies, understand operational pitfalls, and fast-track learning curves that would otherwise take years.
The network also generated tangible commercial benefits: Loop has begun purchasing products from other cohort members, strengthening domestic value chains and deepening local economic integration. Additionally, expert sessions led by established Kenyan manufacturers offered insights into scaling, operational discipline, and what truly matters when building a large-scale manufacturing business—guidance that is rarely accessible to early-stage companies.
Capacity building is therefore most effective when it includes not only technical support but also peer-to-peer learning, founder networks, and practical exposure to real manufacturing success stories. Programmes like GBB demonstrate how these approaches build confidence, reduce operational uncertainty, and accelerate the professionalisation required for SMEs to become regionally competitive.
Future UK ODA should centre these ecosystem-driven approaches, which create long-term capability within African manufacturing rather than one-off interventions.
d. Catalytic role of UK ODA
GBB’s support has been genuinely catalytic for Loop Pet Food. By providing strategic insight, market intelligence, financial modelling, and international expansion planning, the programme enabled Loop to chart a credible path from a Kenyan SME to a regionally scalable manufacturer with UK market potential. This depth of support is unavailable locally yet is essential for mobilising private capital.
The catalytic impact is best reflected in the outcomes associated with scaling Loop’s model:
These impacts illustrate how catalytic ODA can unlock private investment, grow manufacturing capability, and drive long-term, locally anchored economic development. Scaling programmes like GBB would significantly expand UK ODA’s ability to mobilise private capital, strengthen women-led manufacturing, and build resilience across African food and feed systems.
Recommendations (max 100 words)
• Expand Manufacturing Africa and GBB-style technical assistance, including an additional sprint that takes founders through to a complete investor-ready business plan to simplify the fundraising process.
• Establish UK-supported blended finance or guarantee mechanisms targeted at the £250k–£3m “missing middle” for manufacturing SMEs.
• Continue convening events and founder networks that connect SMEs directly with investors and strategic partners.
• Improve access to affordable market data and operational advisory support.
• Invest in ecosystem strengthening—supply chains, local advisory capacity, and women-led manufacturing enterprises.