Retailing powerhouse looks for new opportunities on Tanzanian frontier

LUSAKA, ZAMBIA – Excitement gripped Nakonde as huge crowds turned out to celebrate the opening of Zambeef’s new macro outlet in the town on Friday.

The latest store complex has already sparked a massive increase in the retailer’s border trading activity, catering to customers in the town and surrounding areas, with neighbouring Tanzania presenting potential additional markets.

The Nakonde outlet, which opened ahead of the Christmas and New Year holidays, is the first in Muchinga Province, with the abattoir in Mbala being the other major presence of the food retailer in the area.

Zambeef also has outlets in Kasumbalesa, Livingstone and Chirundu, and Chipata which share borders with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Zimbabwe and Malawi respectively.
“The opening of the outlet, and others such as this one, has enabled Zambeef, and ultimately Zambia, to position itself as a regional player in the food retailing business by increasing the accessibility of Zambian produce to neighbouring countries, while also creating a platform and increased opportunity for trade for our farmers,” said the firm’s joint chief executive officer Francis Grogan.

“More importantly, we are linking our local farmers to the end consumer and to new markets.
“At Zambeef, we strongly believe in the capacity of our farmers and Zambia to not only feed itself but also the wider SADC and COMESA region which has over 400 million people that can translate as ‘400 million opportunities’.”

He added: “Zambeef looks forward to continued investment in Zambia as we work to move from not just feeding the nation but to feeding the region and, in the process, positively impacting the social and economic wellbeing of the country through job creation, the remitting of tax revenue and generating much-needed foreign exchange through increased export trade.”

The Nakonde District Commissioner Mr Field Simwinga commended Zambeef on the investment, saying: “This is an example of the positive response from the private sector to partner with government in driving development and economic growth in the country. The coming of Zambeef to Nakonde shows the potential for trade that the area possesses and we hope to see more businesses take up operation here so the areas can develop even further.

He reiterated the government’s commitment to developing infrastructure that advances and aids trade in the country and regions such as the Nakonde-Tunduma one-stop border post (OSBP).
This is in line with the aspirations of the African Union (AU), Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and Southern African Development Community (SADC) of promoting regional trade and integration.

Mr Grogan noted that regional trade integration remained a key component in the pursuit of economic self-sustenance and had the capability of contributing to the reduction of poverty and driving growth.

He also noted that Zambia’s strong commerce and trade ties with its neighbours in agricultural commodities such as potatoes, beans and wheat, among others, should be viewed as stepping stones to increased trade activity in the region with the food retailing company ready to offer world-class cold chain products such as beef, dairy, poultry and pork, as well as stockfeed and day-old chicks.

About Zambeef Products Plc

Zambeef Products Plc is the largest integrated cold chain food products and agribusiness company in Zambia and one of the largest in the region, involved in the primary production, processing, distribution and retailing of beef, chicken, pork, milk, eggs, dairy products, fish, flour and stockfeed, throughout Zambia and the surrounding region, as well as Nigeria and Ghana.

The Group is also one of the largest cereal row cropping operations in Zambia, with approximately 7,787 hectares of row crops under irrigation which are planted twice a year, and a further 8,694 hectares of rainfed/dry-land crops available for planting each year.

The company slaughters around 78,000 beef cattle, 7.3 million chickens and 60,000 pigs per annum, while also processing 19 million litres of milk, producing 154,000 tons of stockfeed, 69 million eggs, 68,000 pairs of shoes and processes 100,000 hides in its tannery per year.
It has 196 retail outlets throughout Zambia and West Africa.

Zambeef employs over 7,000 people with a total of K357 million paid in remuneration and benefits in the last year.

More information is available at www.zambeefplc.com