Schweppes eyes Botswana market
CLOUDINE MATOLA
Schweppes Holdings Africa Limited, a beverages producer, has set its sight on expanding its operations into Botswana, Business Times can report.
This was disclosed by Vulindlela Ndhlovu, the company’s board chairman, during a tour of the Schweppes plant in the capital Harare on Friday by a Botswana delegation.
He said engagements were at advanced stage.
“A significant shift that has taken place in our strategic thinking, in the last six months, is for us to actively consider expanding our food production, food processing operations into Botswana. We are currently in dialogue with Botswana Investment and Trade Centre officials, regarding our plans to expand our food production and processing business.
“And we are very delighted with their support, and their insisting, and this conversation.
“When we started the engagements with our Botswana counterparty earlier this year, we never thought that it would culminate in this high-profile engagement on the sidelines of the 44th SADC Heads of State summit,” Ndlovu said.
He added: “Suffice to say that this engagement is a culmination of the cordial and friendly relationships between our two governments. We honestly hope that today’s visit will buttress the work that has been put together by the teams and what we hope to achieve today in the Citrus value chain. We believe in strong collaborations and skills transfer that we wish to establish between us. But we also believe in growing African brands with other Africans.”
Dr. Lemoganng Kwape, Botswana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, stated that Schweppes will benefit from the investment because Botswana has the largest citrus plantations, producing 70,000 tons of citrus annually.
“I’m here visiting the Schweppes company, which is the home of Mazoe, and they have shown great interest in investing in Botswana,” Dr Kwape said.
“ Just for your information, we have one of the biggest citrus farms in Botswana with a capacity of producing 70,000 tons in a year. And that production needs processing and they have the capacity, as you’ve seen, almost everything here is automated. They have the capacity to do over 60m litres a year, so, we want such an investment done in Botswana.
“They are in negotiations with Botswana, both the financial sector, the land administration sector and the business sector with a view to set up in Botswana, so they are quite advanced,” he said.
“Our hope as government is, we have made the environment conducive. We have made the environment conducive in Botswana for them to invest. And when they invest, that’s jobs for Botswana.
“That is self-sustenance in terms of food production, which the region is aiming for, so I’m quite excited to be here and I want Botswana to receive them with both arms and hands so that they can begin to produce not only for the region, but also for Botswana.”
Sekai Kuvarika, CEO of the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries, added that a number of other local manufacturers were eager to make investments in Botswana since they possessed the knowledge and experience required in the country.
“As Zimbabwean industry we are very keen to invest in Botswana mainly because we do have a long history of experience and expertise in manufacturing which are the capabilities that Botswana is after.
“We do have manufacturing experience dating over 100 years in the country and over the years we have seen expansion and diversification. We have over 80 products, subsectors in our manufacturing sector which is quite diverse. So, we are ready for growth, expansion, internationalization and modernization,” she said.
