Lake Harvest

What Lake Harvest does

Lake Harvest, founded in 1997 and headquartered in Harare, Zimbabwe, is a privately-held integrated aquaculture operator and part of the African Century Foods Group. It breeds and farms Nile tilapia (Oreochromis Niloticus, marketed as Kariba Bream) in floating cages on Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe and Zambia, and on Lake Victoria in Uganda through its Source of the Nile subsidiary. The group operates a vertically integrated stack: a hatchery producing 2.5 million eggs per week, a 30,000-tonne-capacity feed mill in Zambia operated as a joint venture with Nutreco/Skretting, processing plants, and owned distribution businesses in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, and South Africa, with exports to Botswana, Mozambique, DRC, Tanzania, and Rwanda.

Its core revenue engine is fresh and frozen tilapia products — whole gutted fish in 100–300g, 300–600g, and 600g+ weight classes, plus skin-on and skin-off fillets — sold wholesale at ~$23 per 5kg unit and through its own cold-chain fleet to supermarket chains including Pick'N'Pay, OK/Bon Marche, and Foods Lovers Market. The group also runs a direct-to-consumer e-commerce shop and an increasingly diversified third-party distribution franchise (Surrey Group chicken products in Zimbabwe, Dendairy dairy in Zambia, plus Kapenta, Mackerel, and Crocodile meat), repositioning the retail outlets as broader protein centres rather than single-category fishmongers.

The business model combines B2C retail across roughly 38 outlets, B2B supply to major supermarket chains, D2C e-commerce, and distribution-franchise fees from complementary protein brands, all under a vertically integrated aquaculture cost base that targets quality and traceability rather than purely volume. With ~793 employees, a graduate trainee programme delivering 80% managerial retention, and stated production capacity of up to 9,000 tonnes per annum in Zimbabwe alone, Lake Harvest sits as one of the largest integrated tilapia operations in sub-Saharan Africa.

Name

Lake Harvest

Legal name

Lake Harvest

Website

https://lakeharvest.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1997

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

Lake Harvest is a privately-held integrated tilapia aquaculture group operating fish farms on Lake Kariba and Lake Victoria, with owned cold-chain distribution across six African countries serving supermarkets, retail outlets, and D2C customers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Aquaculture / Seafood Production

NAICS

Finfish Farming and Fish Hatcheries (112511), Aquaculture (1125)

SIC

Agricultural Prod-Livestock & Animal Specialties (200), Prepared Fresh Or Frozen Fish & Seafoods (2092)

akta.pro primary industry

Finfish Farming (e.g., salmon, tilapia, catfish) (AFAEAAAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Aquaculture Processing & On-Farm Value-Add (primary handling, icing, packing) (AFAEAAAN), Aquaculture Harvest, Processing & Packing (Farmed Finfish/Shellfish; On-Farm Plants) (AFANADAL), Tilapia & Warmwater Fish Hatcheries (e.g., Catfish, Carp) (AFAEAKAE)

Keywords

• Tilapia aquaculture
• Fish farming operations
• Cold chain distribution
• Seafood processing
• Aquaculture products

Headquarters

HQ city

Harare

HQ country

Zimbabwe

HQ region

Africa

Offices6 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Supply Chain, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Fresh and Frozen Fish Products: Primary revenue from selling fresh and frozen tilapia and bream products including whole gutted fish, skin on/off fillets, and other value-added products through own distribution channels and retail partnerships.
2. Third-Party Product Distribution: Distribution of third-party food proteins and products including Surrey Group chicken products, Dendairy products, mackerel, sardines, and other fish products through their extensive retail network.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Lake Harvest is one of the largest integrated tilapia aquaculture operations in Africa, breeding its own fingerlings from indigenous African fish, growing fish in floating cages on Lake Kariba and Lake Victoria, processing them in owned plants, and distributing fresh and frozen fish products through its own cold chain network across sub-Saharan Africa. Operations span fish farming in Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Uganda, a feed mill joint venture in Zambia, processing facilities, and owned distribution companies with retail outlets in multiple countries.

Product overview

Lake Harvest is an integrated aquaculture company operating across Sub-Saharan Africa, comprising fish farming operations in Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Uganda, along with processing facilities and owned distribution networks. The product portfolio centers on sustainably farmed Nile tilapia (Oreochromis Niloticus), branded as Kariba Bream, offered as fresh whole round, fresh/frozen gutted fish (in 100-300g, 300-600g, and 600+ gram sizes), and skin-on/skin-off fillets. The company also distributes complementary products including Kapenta, Mackerel, Sardines, and Crocodile meat through its e-commerce platform, while offering third-party products via distribution partnerships (Surrey Group chicken products in Zimbabwe, Dendairy dairy franchise in Zambia). Distribution is managed through company-owned cold chain networks across Zimbabwe (LHD with six retail outlets), Zambia (LKHCL with 26 outlets), and Kenya (LHK with three outlets), supplemented by retail presence in Malawi, South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique, DRC, Tanzania, Uganda, and Rwanda. Lake Harvest is part of the African Century Foods Group.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Kariba Bream: Product brand name for Lake Harvest's sustainably farmed Nile tilapia (Oreochromis Niloticus), also known as Bream.

Products and services

• Tilapia (Oreochromis Niloticus)
• Kariba Bream
• Whole Gutted Fish
• Tilapia Fillets (Skin-On and Skin-Off)
• Kapenta
• Mackerel
• Crocodile Meat (Croc)

Quantifiable outcome

• Harvest volumes capacity of 9,000T per annum in Zimbabwe operations
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Skretting ZambiacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 June 2017Joint venture feed mill partnership with Nutreco (Skretting) in Siavonga, Zambia. Commissioned June 2017 with feed capacity of 30,000T. Provides feed for Kariba Harvest Limited fish farm operations.
• Surrey GroupminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 January 2017Partnership formed in 2017 where Lake Harvest Distribution (LHD) retails Surrey Group chicken and other frozen products to become a more rounded protein retail centre.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Regal Springs: Regal Springs is one of the world's largest fully integrated tilapia producers, operating cage farms in Honduras, Mexico, and Indonesia and exporting globally under premium brands. It is the global incumbent benchmark for vertically integrated, branded tilapia at scale, comparable to Lake Harvest's model and aspirations.
• Genomar: Genomar is a leading global tilapia genetics and aquaculture company (parent of AquaGen and GenoMar Genetics) supplying improved tilapia strains worldwide. It is comparable to Lake Harvest on the breeding/hatchery layer where Lake Harvest operates its own indigenous fingerling program.

Regional players

• Trofish: Trofish is a Zambian aquaculture and fisheries operator focused on capture and farmed fish supply in Southern Africa. It overlaps with Lake Harvest on fish protein supply across Zambian and neighboring markets, though it is more weighted to capture fisheries than full cage integration.

Direct peers

• Victory Farms: Victory Farms operates one of the largest tilapia operations in East Africa, farming tilapia on Lake Victoria and distributing through cold-chain to retailers in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Tanzania. It directly competes with Lake Harvest in East African tilapia supply and supermarket channels.
• Chicoa Fish Farm: Chicoa Fish Farm is a Mozambique-based tilapia aquaculture operation on Lake Cahora Bassa that grows, processes, and distributes tilapia across Southern Africa. It is also backed by Aqua-Spark's Africa fund, making it a direct competitor to Lake Harvest across overlapping African tilapia markets.
• Yalelo: Yalelo is a vertically integrated tilapia producer on Lake Kariba in Zambia that breeds, grows, processes, and distributes tilapia under its own brand across Zambia and the region. It competes directly with Lake Harvest's Kariba Harvest operations in Zambia and in shared regional retail channels.

Emerging players

• Aquarech: Aquarech is a Kenya-based aquaculture platform supporting smallholder fish farmers with feed, training, and market access. It is also backed by Aqua-Spark's Africa fund and overlaps with Lake Harvest's broader African aquaculture growth thesis, though it operates via smallholder model rather than fully owned cage farms.

Others

• African Century Foods Group: African Century Foods Group is the parent company of Lake Harvest, with investments across African food and protein businesses. As the group-level platform, it is the natural reference point for portfolio synergies, capital allocation, and strategic direction affecting Lake Harvest.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/playlist?list=PLRWadHDePC7JJUfNx11u5jGF9egORVKSj
• Facebookfacebook.com/pg/lakeharvest/about/?ref=page_internal
• Instagraminstagram.com/lakeharvestzimbabwe
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/lake-harvest-aquaculture

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Lake Harvest