KIGALI – A growing selection of international beverage brands has found a new point of contact with Rwandan consumers at the 29th Rwanda International Trade Fair, as the country’s expanding hospitality and retail sectors create demand for a wider choice of premium drinks.
The brands are being showcased by Astra Beverages, a Rwanda-based beverage importer and distributor whose portfolio spans Irish whiskey, spirits, and others sourced from different international markets. At its Expo stand in Gikondo, visitors can encounter a range of these products.
The company says it has more than 500 references and serves Rwanda and the wider region.
Sharon Mutesi, the Marketing Coordinator at Astra Beverages, says the exhibition offers an opportunity to bring the portfolio closer to consumers while also introducing the company to businesses looking to broaden their beverage offerings.
“People may have seen some of these brands before, but seeing them here gives us an opportunity to tell the story behind them and explain what makes each one different,” Mutesi said.
A Market Seen Through Hospitality
For Astra Beverages, the opportunity goes beyond consumer curiosity.
The company’s portfolio includes products suitable for hotels, restaurants, bars, lounges, wholesalers and retailers, making the hospitality sector an important part of its market.
The company website describes the business as providing assortment advice, availability, compliance and delivery planning for professional customers.
That makes the trade fair a useful meeting point between international beverage producers and businesses looking for products suited to Rwanda’s hospitality and retail market.
“We are interested not only in consumers but also in businesses that want to understand our portfolio and explore opportunities to work with us,” Mutesi said.
Some of the products also illustrate the range of choices Astra Beverages is bringing into the market.
Its products include Forest Hill, Irish Whiskey, Vodka. It also distributes Power Malt , an alcohol-free malt beverage. For consumers, that variety creates an opportunity to encounter products that may not normally sit alongside one another in the same retail setting.
“I know some of these brands, but I have never really had the opportunity to see so many of them together. It is interesting to compare them and also learn what makes one different from another,” said Adolphe Mutambuka, a visitor to the stand.
More Than a Shop Window
The wider significance of Astra’s participation is the changing role of Expo itself.
With businesses from Rwanda and more than 20 other countries, the 2026 edition is increasingly becoming a place where products meet not only consumers but also distributors, retailers, hospitality operators and potential business partners.
For an importer such as Astra Beverages, that creates an opportunity to test interest in a broad international portfolio while building relationships with the businesses that ultimately put those products in front of consumers.
“The Expo allows us to engage directly with people, listen to their questions and understand what they are looking for. Those conversations are important because they help us connect our portfolio to the market,” Mutesi said.
For visitors, meanwhile, the experience is simpler: a chance to discover products from different markets in one place.
And for Astra Beverages, the real measure of Expo may come after the exhibition closes, when the conversations started in Gikondo translate into new customers, new partnerships and a stronger presence for international beverage brands in Rwanda.
