The Sunday News
Dumisani Nsingo, Senior Business Reporter
THE country’s fast growing retail firm, Choppies Zimbabwe will add new products at its water bottling plant in Bulawayo as it seeks to diversify and increase its foot print in the country.
Choppies Zimbabwe managing director Mr Siqokoqela Mphoko said the company would soon start manufacturing vinegar.
He said although the company’s focus was primarily on the retail business, it has set in motion plans to manufacture a considerable number of products.
The Bulawayo-headquartered company started manufacturing and marketing its bottled water last year and plans are underway to include vinegar on its production line soon and thereafter it is considering producing smoothies and eventually non-alcoholic beverages in the near future.
A smoothie (occasionally spelled smoothee or smoothy) is a thick beverage made from blended raw fruit or vegetables with other ingredients such as water, ice, dairy products or sweeteners.
“We set up a water plant and we have been producing (bottled) water for a year now. We are also going to be pushing our own vinegar, Choppies vinegar, through that plant. The plant used to be BSI Steel and it shut down here (Bulawayo) and we saw an opportunity there and went up and set up a plant. We have created jobs, we employ 25 people and two shifts are run there to make the job easier. We will be starting the smoothies and at a later stage sometime next year, hopefully we will be producing Choppies cherry,” said Mr Mphoko.
He said the company has confidence in the country’s retail sector and economy as envisaged by the continuous growth of its business. The company started operations in Zimbabwe late in 2013 when it opened eight retail outlets in Bulawayo. However, it now has 32 shops of which 17 are located in Bulawayo while others are dotted around various parts of the country with a workforce of 2 300. It is set to take over one of Bulawayo’s up-market shopping complex in Parklands after signing a lease agreement with the managers of the Knight Frank three weeks ago.
“We are the new kid on the block, we are an institution that started out in Botswana, grew to South Africa then expanded to Zimbabwe. Now in Zimbabwe, we are identifying new sites, creating brand new jobs and mind you, we are not refurbishing. Pick and Pay is refurbishing, the footprint already exists; they already have the prime time sites country wide . . .
“OK Stores also has prime sites, they have been here forever. We have been here for the past four years. So as we grow, for what we have achieved in those four years, I think it’s outstanding. The retail sector has become more competitive because Choppies is here. I think even for us having a lesser footprint and being the new kid on the block we are giving them a run for their money,” said Mr Mphoko.
He said the company was intending to open more shops in various parts of the country as it seeks to tap into new markets segments.
“We have confidence in the Zimbabwean economy, retail market, Government and consumers. Look by just operating, look at the footprint, it speaks for itself and we are still growing. We haven’t still tapped into Zvishavane, Masvingo, Tsholotsho, Lupane, Victoria Falls, Nkayi and so many other places like Chivhu, Murewa. Currently we are talking to people in Chipinge, we are negotiating, so the opportunity is vast, its second to none,” said Mr Mphoko.
He said the company was embracing the Buy Zimbabwe Campaign as realised by the fact that most of its shelves are filled with locally produced products.
“We are a big supporter of Buy Zimbabwe. If you look at our products, 95 percent of our products are all local, we support Buy Zimbabwe and we are a strong believer in that,” said Mr Mphoko.
He said there was a need for retailers to adhere to the country’s monetary regulations, further stating the need for the public to embrace the use of plastic money.
“We were one of the first people to say let’s embrace the bonds . . . (bond notes) and even the use of plastic money has also increased our sales very well. We are just appealing to the banks to make sure that the Point of Sale machines do not ‘crush’ because most of the times . . . it is (plastic money) a safer way of transacting without carrying cash,” said Mr Mphoko.
He said the import management programmes introduced by the Government were a noble move towards protecting the local industry.
“That’s (imports management programmes) a very good move by Government because other governments also protect their manufacturers — they protect their local products. It creates employment, we support that,” said Mr Mphoko.
He, however, cited some inconsistencies in the application of the law saying: “the playing field must be fair because sometimes we have incidents whereby we aren’t supposed to import mayonnaise and we adhere to it , but you would find mayonnaise being sold at other shops. When we approach the Minister of Industry and Commerce (Dr Mike) Bimha or Deputy Minister they say they have no idea and then we go and talk to their officers and we don’t get a satisfactory response thus you can tell there are some underhand dealings that are being done. So if we are saying the Statutory Instrument is saying this is not supposed to be imported it must be like that and this must apply to everybody so that there is no one who has competitive advantage which is illegal. We have four manufacturers who are manufacturing mayonnaise some in Harare and we have one here (Bulawayo).”
Besides Zimbabwe Choppies has 74 outlets in Botswana, South Africa (40), Kenya (10), seven in Zambia and one in Mozambique.
@DNsingo
