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Table of Contents
When Did Tropical Heat Get a New Owner?
In 1986, the company was bought by the present day owners of Tropical Heat Kenya—Navin Shah, Nilesh Shah and Smita Shah—and relocated to larger premises in Nairobi.
Tropical Heat Kenya Owner: Sawan Shah (Director)
Tropical Heat Owner: Nilesh Shah (Chairman)
Who Owns Tropical Heat? : Navin Shah (Managing Director)
Tropical Heat Contacts
Primary address: P. O. Box 44804–00100, No. 2 Serem Road, Industrial Area, Nairobi, Kenya
Tel: +254-722-206010/+254-733-639799/+254-780-994440
Email: [email protected]/[email protected]
Website: www.tropicalheat.co.ke
Deepa Industries
Deepa Industries is a long-established Kenyan food manufacturing company whose name is closely associated with the Tropical Heat brand.
It is an interesting Kenyan business because it grew from a tiny home-based snack operation into a substantial regional manufacturer of spices and snacks.
How Deepa Industries Started
The business dates back to 1973, when it began in Thika as a small cottage industry making ethnic snacks. Early accounts describe only two or three people producing snacks from a home kitchen.
The business was subsequently taken over by the Shah family in the 1980s.
It expanded from its original Thika operation and eventually moved to Nairobi’s Industrial Area, where it developed a much larger manufacturing operation.
One particularly interesting part of its history is the development of the Tropical Heat name.
The company’s original business was Deepa Industries, but Tropical Heat became the consumer brand that people came to recognize on supermarket shelves.
By 1992, the Tropical Heat brand name had been secured.
What Does Deepa Industries Make?
The company has traditionally had two major sides to its business: snacks and spices.
Its snack range has included:
- Potato crisps
- Crinkle/wavy crisps
- Masala sticks
- Kenyan chevda
- Peanuts
- Fried peas
- Popcorn
- Rice cakes
- Extruded snacks
- Other traditional savoury snacks
Its spice business includes:
- Pure spices
- Herbs
- Seasonings
- Masalas
- Salts
- Spice blends
So when you see Tropical Heat products such as Tea Masala, Pilau Masala, ginger, cinnamon, mixed herbs or various snack products, you’re essentially seeing the consumer-facing side of the business that grew out of Deepa Industries.
It Became Much Bigger Than a Kenyan Snack Company
Deepa Industries didn’t remain focused solely on the Kenyan market.
It began exporting to Uganda in 1990 and Tanzania in 1992, followed later by markets including the UK, Australia and the United States.
More recent company information says Tropical Heat products are exported to Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, the UK and the USA, while a 2024 profile described the brand as having a presence in about 30 countries.
That is quite a transformation from a few people making snacks in a house in Thika.
The Company Also Invested Heavily in Manufacturing
The business eventually built a purpose-designed manufacturing facility in Nairobi’s Industrial Area.
The company describes its manufacturing processes as automated, with the facility operating under HACCP and ISO 22000 food-safety standards.
It has also invested in its supply chain. At one point, the company worked with potato farmers and explored ways of improving storage so that fluctuations in raw-material availability would have less effect on production.
Deepa Industries vs Tropical Heat Limited
This is where the name can get confusing.
Deepa Industries is the historical name of the business, while Tropical Heat is the brand most consumers know. More importantly, the company subsequently changed its corporate name from Deepa Industries Limited to Tropical Heat Limited.
A 2025 Kenyan court decision specifically refers to the company changing its name from Deepa Industries Limited to Tropical Heat Limited in 2016.
So if you encounter:
Deepa Industries Limited
Tropical Heat Limited
Tropical Heat
they are not necessarily three unrelated businesses. They are connected to the same business history, with Tropical Heat Limited being the later corporate name and Tropical Heat the consumer brand.
Who Runs It?
The Shah family has been central to the company’s development. Sawan Shah has been identified as a director and, more recently, as CEO of Tropical Heat Group.
A 2024 profile of the company described Sawan Shah discussing the business’s 51-year history and its strategy of steady expansion rather than simply chasing rapid growth.
What I find particularly interesting about Deepa Industries is that its story is not really a story about a snack company becoming big overnight. It is a fairly classic East African family-business story: start very small, develop products for a specific community, build a reputation, gradually mechanise production, expand the product range, establish a recognizable brand, and then use that brand to move into regional and international markets.
And Tropical Heat is a particularly good example of how a Kenyan brand can become much more widely recognized than the corporate name behind it.
Tropical Heat Cast
- Rob Stewart as Nick Slaughter
- Carolyn Dunn as Sylvie Girard
- John David Bland as Ian Stewart (1991–92)
- Ian Tracey as Spider Garvin (1992–93)
- Eugene Clark as Ollie Porter (1991–92)
- Pedro Armendáriz Jr. as Lt. Carillo (1991–92)
- Ari Sorko-Ram as Sgt. Gregory (1992–93)
- Allen Nashman as Rollie (1992–93)
- Graeme Campbell as Rupert
Spices in Uganda
You can easily find spices in Uganda at supermarkets, markets, or grocery stores.
Tropical Heat Spices Prices in Kenya
Tropical Heat spices are very inexpensive and well priced.
You can find 100 g of most Tropical Heat spices from anywhere under 100 Ksh to 200 Ksh.
Tropical Kenya
Tropical Kenya is a real estate company that deals in vacation rentals at beach and bush destinations across the country.
You can find their Instagram account at the following username: @TropicalKenya.
Tropical Heat Products
Tropical Heat Crisps Prices
You can buy a 200g packet of Tropical Heat crisps at Ksh. 200 from Carrefour.
Paprika Tropical Heat & Other Spices in the Tropical Heat Collection
Here is a list of the spices–not herbs or seasonings but pure spices–currently produced by the Tropical Heat brand:
- Black Pepper
- Cardamoms
- Cayenne Peppers
- Chillies
- Cinammon
- Cloves
- Coriander
- Cumin Seeds
- Garlic Powder
- Ginger
- Nutmeg
- Paprika
- Turmeric
- White Pepper
- Chilli Flakes
Tropical Heat Tea Masala
In my post on African tea, I mentioned that I like spicing my tea with a couple of herbs and spices, including tea masala.
It seems that tea masala really resonated with you, my readers, because that’s the product you now purchase most on Amazon through my blog.
If you have been reading me for a while (and I hope you have 😉 ), then you know that I monetize this site through the Amazon Associates program.
For those of you who don’t know what that means, it means if you click a link on my site that takes you to Amazon, and you purchase something there, I get a small commission on your purchase.
When I first joined the Amazon Associates program, I’d only see a product purchased occasionally.
The longer I stay in the program, though, and the bigger my blog grows, the more purchases I see more regularly from you folks.
Of course, I love to roll over and grab my phone first thing in the morning to check what cool things you guys have bought while I slept—okay…and what commissions I have made in that time.
But recently, when I checked my phone one morning to find that one of you had purchased a French press—an item I’ve been meaning to purchase for EONS—I became interested in those Amazon purchases for a completely different reason.
It occurred to me, that day, that you and I might have a lot more in common than I think.
After all, perhaps that’s why you read my blog.
I decided then and there to start a series showcasing the most popular of these Amazon purchases in case you, my readers, might be just as interested as I am to see what other like-minded people are buying.
Today, I present you the first post in that series.
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Disclaimer
Just to be clear: although I know what you are buying and in what quantities after clicking through to Amazon from my blog, I have no personal information about who is making the purchase.
The data is completely anonymous!
I hope you enjoy this list as much as I enjoyed compiling it.
If any of these products means anything special to you, then please let me know by leaving a comment at the end of this post.
Without further ado, here are the most popular items that you, my readers, purchase on Amazon through my blog.
1. Tropical Heat Tea Masala
In my post on African tea, I mentioned that I like spicing my tea with a couple of herbs and spices, including tea masala.
It seems that the tea masala really resonated with you folks because that’s the product you purchase most of.