The Magadi Soda Company which is Africa's largest soda ash manufacturer is one of Kenya's leading export earners and employs over 450 people. The company recovers trona from one of the purest surface deposits in the base of the Rift Valley and converts it into sodium carbonate (soda ash).

The operations at Lake Magadi are situated 120kms south west of Nairobi. Product is transported by rail to the Port of Mombasa for onward shipping to the markets.

Soda ash is an essential constituent in the manufacture of glass and important in the production of detergents and industrial chemicals. Over 95% of the company product is exported to its principal markets of South East Asia, Indian sub-continent, Africa and the Middle East.

The Magadi Soda Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Brunner Mond Group Ltd. The original Brunner Mond and Company was formed in 1873 and began manufacturing soda ash in the United Kingdom in 1874.

The Magadi Soda company was established in 1911 and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Brunner Mond in 1924. In 1926 Brunner Mond combined with other British chemical companies to form Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd (better known by its initials ICI).

In December 2005 Tata Chemicals Limited of India acquired majority shareholding of Brunner Mond Group.