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Fradreck Gorwe
Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) listed quick service restaurants (QSR) business, Simbisa Brands Limited Group, has a long history that dates back to the establishment in 1987 of an inaugural Chicken Inn outlet along Speke Avenue in Harare. The first establishment constituted Innscor Africa Limited’s initial entry operations.
Innscor Africa Limited is a focused group of light manufacturing businesses which produces a number of Zimbabwe’s iconic brands in the consumer staple and durable product space. The standalone entity Simbisa Brands is a product of Innscor Africa.
Major brands include Chicken Inn, Pizza Inn, Creamy Inn, Bakers Inn, Fish Inn and RocoMamas. The company further holds the master license to other brands like Galito’s Africa, Nando’s (Zimbabwe), Steers (Zimbabwe), and Vida E Caffé (Mauritius only).
When Innscor got listed on the ZSE in 1998, the QSR business was actually instrumental in paving the company’s way into the regional market with Chicken Inn, Pizza Inn, Bakers Inn and Creamy Inn being opened in Zambia, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Mozambique.
Later the QSR business established in many other African countries like DRC, Malawi, Namibia, Mauritius and Swaziland. This market conquest transformed the business into a Pan-African operation.
The Nando’s franchise was secured in 1998 and was followed in 1999 with the acquisition of the Steers franchise and the opening of the first Steers outlet in Harare. Galisto’s franchise was secured later in 2011.
Formation of Simbisa Brands Limited group initially came with an Extraordinary General Meeting held by the Innscor board on May 22, 2015 whereupon directors and shareholders approved the unbundling of the QSR Business off Innscor. The aim was to make a stand-alone entity to benefit from renewed and specific focus.
Accordingly, Simbisa was incorporated as a wholly-owned subsidiary on August 5, 2015. It was effectively unbundled off Innscor on October 1, 2015 after acquiring through a scheme of reconstruction all the assets and liabilities of the QSR Business from Innscor in exchange for 541 593 440 shares.
On November 6, 2015, Simbisa Brands got listed on ZSE as a standalone business. Upon release of the inaugural 2016 annual report, the counter had a sound market capitalisation of $72 382 022.
Since then, Simbisa Brands expanded through various strategies with the major one being well-thought location of outlets. Restaurants are strategically located along busy routes in central business districts (CBDs), urban areas and in food courts for consistent access to large volumes of consumers.
At present Simbisa brands’ “owned and operated markets” include Zimbabwe, Kenya Zambia, Ghana, Mauritius and Namibia. Three “licensed markets” include Swaziland Malawi and DRC. 438 quick service restaurants are operated in the nine countries with plans to expand further across the region and beyond with a vision to spread the risks over varied markets.
“Going strong” best summarises the prospects since the Shona name “Simbisa” carries with it overtones of strength and empowerment.
Current focus is more confined to transformational projects in tandem with the digital tide namely, the expansion of Dial-a-Delivery services including online ordering platforms; roll out of a new ERP system, and continuous improvement in training and talent management to upgrade human capital.
The company held a market capitalisation of $771,598,622 and a share price of 137,25 cents as updated on October 28, 2019.
Basil Dionisio is the group chief executive officer.
Online Reporter