Nestlé will invest $200 million to boost its business in South Africa over the next five years, CEO of the food and beverage company in the country, Ian Donald has said.

The five-year investment plan is line with the existing plan in contributing towards rural development and capacity efficiency.

Donald who will succeed Sullivan O’Carroll at the end of September says the new investment will see Nestle put in funds for capacity building and general renovation; including converting Nestlé’s Mossel Bay dairy factory to a water neutral one.

Its coffee factory in Kwa-Zulu Natal is also one of its investment targets, as Nestle intends to make South Africa its coffee export hub for the African region.

Although Nestlé already has about five hundred factories, including nine in South Africa; Donald says his company is hoping to build new factories in other African nation including Mozambique and Ethiopia.

The company already makes 4 percent of its sale in Africa but hopes to increase it to about 10 percent.

“We’re being realistic with sub-Saharan Africa. We realise that we are going to have to walk before we run, so, we are still building businesses that should contribute significantly to group revenue in the future,” he said.

Donald, who prior to his appointment, was the Market Head for Nestlé in the Equatorial African Region “brings back to the country a wealth of experience in emerging markets,” Nestle said in a statement.

The South African returns home, where his career with Nestlé began in 1972, before going on to work in various countries including Philippines, Pakistan and Malaysia .