Nigerian Breweries Plc, is the largest brewing company in Nigeria. It serves the Nigerian market and West Africa. History Early years The idea to establish a brewery in Lagos was first promoted by Frank Samuel of UAC prior to World War II. But it was not until the war ended that concrete steps were taken to kick start such a project. Market leaders in the sector were all imported brands with the absence of a locally produced beer. UAC did not have a technical history in beer-making, leading the firm to enter into a technical agreement with Heineken and investments from other merchandise companies in Nigeria including John Holt, GBO, SCOA, CFAO and UTC who all took some equity interest in the new company. Nigerian Breweries was incorporated in 1946. Construction of the brewery began at Iganmu, Lagos in 1947 and was completed in 1949. The first bottle of its brand, the STAR Lager, rolled off the bottling lines of its Lagos brewery in June 1949. NBL utilized consumer market research to understand the demands of the market and developed a marketing strategy around STAR Lager that used advertisements to show a link between drinking beer and modernity. It was one of the early companies to use sophisticated market research skills and to heavily advertise a Nigerian brand. Development Star attained market leadership in 1960 which created a need to build more factories in Nigeria. To get products to consumers, the company gave rights to sell its brand to select distributors and built depots at strategic locations within the country. As the company expanded into other regions, it established more breweries such as Aba Brewery in 1957 and Kaduna Brewery in 1963. By 1971, the company was one of the largest industries within the country in terms of capital investment. In 1982, another brewery was added in Ibadan. In September 1993, the company acquired its fifth brewery in Enugu, and in October 2003, its sixth brewery, sited at Ameke in Enugu. Ama Brewery began brewing on the 22 March 2003 and at 3 million hectolitres is the largest brewery in Nigeria. In addition, NBL introduced assorted non-alcoholic mineral and flavored drinks under Rainbow brand that included, Krola, Tip Top Tonic Water and Sundowner soda water. It also introduced Gulder into the market and acquired rights to market Schweppes bitter lemon in the country. In 1972, it sold its non-alcoholic drink