The first plant installed was for crushing groundnuts and producing cooking oil. Olivine Industries started off by selling oil and then ventured into making soap. The first soap produced was the famous Big Ben and in 1958 the famous Buttercup Margarine was innovated. In 1982, Olivine Holdings was purchased by Heinz, this led to an increase of Olivine’s well-loved range by adding canned products like baked beans, tomato ketchup, soups, marmalades, and various condiments into the range. In 2007, the shareholding changed with AICO Africa Limited and the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) as the new shareholders.

Due to the volatile market environment ,the company needed to employ the correct technology to achieve business agility. Surface Investments joined operations with wilmar international in 2014 followed by the takeover of Olivine in 2015. The takeover of Olivine Industries Company transformed its business operations by introducing new automated processes and a state-of-the-art manufacturing plant to produce products locally, including products that have a nearly 80% market share in the country.