adminMichael Tome
Business Reporter
CALTEX Braford, a local dealership for vehicle and machinery lubricants has invested US$200 000 for its new warehouse in Msasa as it moves to bolster its market share in the Zimbabwean market.
The company which is a distributor of original Caltex products from South Africa, says it intends to dominate the market in the distribution and retailing of lubricants.
The company indicated that it had a vision of growing its branch network in the long run but would in the meantime run its operations through distributorship in towns across the country.
Currently, the company has two warehouses in Msasa, Harare and Belmont, Bulawayo.
The Harare branch serves the northern part of the country covering Kariba, Mutoko, Nyanga, the greater part of Mashonaland West and Central provinces while the Bulawayo warehouse caters for the southern part of the country encompassing Victoria Falls and Hwange, Gwanda, Beitbridge, Masvingo, and Zvishavane
Having been in operation for the past 18 years Caltex Braford lubricants now boast a large client base that consist of respectable companies in the country.
In an interview with the Herald Business & Finance, Caltex Braford director George Mudanga highlighted that his company’s operations, just like a host of companies, had been affected by foreign currency challenges but was fighting its way through.
“We figure that there was a demand for oils and lubricants around 2005–06 that’s when we decided to do lubricants at a bigger scale, so we moved to Harare where we opened our first warehouse in April 2006.
“Our vision is to dominate the lubricants market in the country, we want to be better than where we are today, so despite the macro and microeconomic challenges, we have devised a way to weave through them and achieve what we want to achieve.
“For us we import and there are foreign currency challenges in that area, considering that auction disbursements delay sometimes but we just have to make a way because we want to grow our market share,” said Mr Mudanga.
The Caltex brand is a world-renowned petroleum products brand, providing top-quality lubricants for a wide range of operating conditions.
Caltex Braford, the local franchise specialises in the distribution of a wide range of oils which include, hydraulic oils, industrial gear oils, industrial oils, and greases, general industrial and circulating oils.
It also deals with passenger vehicle engine oils, heavy-duty diesel engine oils and gear oils, coolants for railroad transport, agriculture machinery as well as heavy-duty diesel transmission fluids.
Caltex Braford started its operations in 2004, before assuming distributorship under the Caltex franchise for a service station in Chegutu which later changed its name to Engen.
In November 2006 the company approached Caltex South Africa for a distributorship after the Caltex brand had dis-invested from the Zimbabwean market.
Online Reporter