adminright to manufacture Ingram’s Camphor Cream.
The new product, CamphaCare, was developed when Tiger Brands of South Africa cancelled an arrangement under which Datlabs Zimbabwe’s Bulawayo firm had manufactured the popular Ingrams’ Camphor Cream for about 50 years.
Datlabs chief executive Mr Todd Moyo said the terms of their contract with Tiger Brands had only allowed them to market the product within Zimbabwe so they had not been able to export the product.
“However, this new cream is exclusively ours and we can export it and we have already started with the South African market,” he said.
He said the company had already exported 10 000 units of camphor cream worth US$22 000 to South Africa and noted that they expected to receive more orders in the near future. Mr Moyo said Ingram’s Camphor Cream had constituted 50 percent of their total sales and they expected the new cream to contribute more since they were no longer limited to the local market only.
He added that they expected to rake in more than US$5 million a month from exports only once they had penetrated the African market.
“We have also sent samples to Kenya and we will be launching our product by the end of May and we are also sending samples to Ghana and Nigeria where our sister companies will market the product for us,” said Mr Moyo. He also said the company would extend the range of CamphaCare to include shaving lotion and body creams.
“The product has been well received by the consumers who have always preferred to use our original camphor cream and if it continues to do well we will produce more and create more jobs,” he said.
Datlabs is currently operating at 72 percent capacity up from last year’s 65 percent with a workforce of 200 employees. Mr Moyo noted that fake products that had infiltrated the market affected their sales and this was why they had created a protection seal for their new creams.
“There were some individuals that were producing substandard creams and putting them in our jars to pass them off as ours and they succeeded because some of these products found their way onto large supermarket’s shelves. But we have put seals and bar codes on our jars to try and avoid imitations,” he said.
The organisation’s factory produces half a million jars of camphor cream every month. Datlabs is a leading Zimbabwean pharmaceutical and personal care company with many well recognised leading brands such as Cafemol, Panado, Solphyllex and lanolene milk.
The company has ties with the South African Pharmaceutical giant, Adcock Ingram, which makes and distributes an extensive range of branded and generic prescription and over-the-counter products in a broad range of therapeutic classes.
Last year Datlabs applied for export licences from a number of countries in the region as it sought to grow its market share.
The pharmaceutical industry in Zimbabwe is second to South Africa in the region in terms of development and sophistication and exports to markets in Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Zambia, Malawi and the West Indies.
Online Reporter