‘Zambia has unexploited potential in food sector’

‘Zambia has unexploited potential in food sector’
Written by Florence Bupe
Monday, January 12, 2009 6:45:17 AM

BAKHRESA Food Products Limited operations manager Soumendou Barnejee yesterday said Zambia has massive unexploited potential for investment in the food sector. And Barnejee has urged business houses to embrace policies that will cushion their investments against external economic shocks and currency fluctuations. In an interview, Barnejee said Zambia’s conducive investment atmosphere should be exploited to promote production and distribution.

“Zambia still has some of the friendliest investor policies in the region, and that’s why we chose this country as one of our investment destinations. We have seen that Zambia has the potential for market growth, and the buying capacity of consumers is likely to increase over the next few years,” he said.

Bakhresa Food Products Limited is a subsidiary of Bakhresa Tanzania, established over 30 years ago.

The Zambian subsidiary distributes ice cream, but Barnejee disclosed intentions to set up a milling business as soon as negotiations with the Zambian government are concluded.

“We are engaged in grain milling in Uganda, Tanzania and Malawi. In Zambia, we are currently concentrating on ice cream, nectar drink and mineral water production, but we do have intentions of diversifying further,” he said.

Barnejee also said the company was exploring prospects of covering other provinces of the country apart from Lusaka.

The Zambian subsidiary is a US $500, 000 investment, but Banergee said the company would eventually grow its capital base.

He said his company was well placed to compete on the market, and pointed out that positive competition was vital for the enhancement of the food industry.

“We do face a lot of competition from local manufacturers, but we see competition from a positive angle, and we intend to use this competition to increase our market base,” he said.

And Barnejee has advised business houses in Zambia to put in place measures to mitigate currency fluctuations.

He said it was unrealistic for businesses to expect financial market trends to be stagnant, adding that currency movements should be anticipated either upwards or downwards.

“I believe as a business, you need to be ready for currency fluctuations. These are norms that will always be there, you don’t expect that the foreign exchange market will record the same trends for years,” he said.

Barnejee expressed optimism that consumers’ purchasing capacity would increase once the impact of the global economic recession eased.