Lessons from Chibuku

pre-independence era.
Tabex and Tobacco Auction Floors rented these flats for their workers. In time, the speed bars spread to Highfield, Glen Norah, Tafara, Rugare and Mufakose.
These bars primarily sold opaque Chibuku beer packed in paper containers that were commonly known as “Shake-shake”.
The term “Shake-shake” is a derived from the fact that the liquids inside tend to separate in the carton, so it needs to be shaken before you drink it.
Chibuku is a traditional sorghum beer, which is brewed with the finest maize and sorghum. The beer is a mixture of reddish- brown colour.
The modus operandi of the speed bars were that women would go to the factory which manufactured Chibuku in Chitungwiza and smuggle the beer into the then Salisbury high- density suburbs.
The women used to walk from Chitungwiza or made use of unconventional transport such as ambulances coming from the satellite town to Harare.
These women would sell the beer under the tree. At any one time, they would have one or two containers in hand and the rest would be hidden in the nearby bush so that if the police pounce on them they would run with little difficulty.
The peak trading periods were between 5.00am and11.00am on Saturdays and Sundays. After 12 noon there was high risk of the beer being confiscated by the police.
Origin of speed bars?
One economist once remarked that “the mother of all black markets is control”.
There was a Liquor Undertaking Act, which controlled the way opaque was manufactured and marketed within municipal areas.
This legislation enabled municipal authorities to enjoy a monopoly in the production and sale of opaque beer within their areas of jurisdiction.
In Harare, then Salisbury, the council ran a company that brewed Rufaro Mhamba, in Mutare there was Kariba beer, Bulawayo Ingwebu beer, Go-Beer in Kwekwe, Ngandure in Rusape and Norton. Therefore other opaque beer sales were prohibited in municipal areas.
In the early 1950s, Max Heinrich launched his “Shake-shake” beer in Zambia. It had low alcohol content and was both food and drink.
The beer was so successful that its wings spread from Zambia into Malawi and Chitungwiza, which was not under the Harare municipal liquor by-laws.
In Rhodesia, it was first brewed in 1962 in Chitungwiza industrial area near Cone Textiles.
One of the places where it was sold publicly was at Chikwanha Bar in Chitungwiza, which was outside municipal jurisdiction.
Because of its popularity in Chitungwiza, it found its way into Harare through the black market popularly known as “speed bars”.
At the speed bars, both the patrons and the proprietors were prepared to run at the slightest detection of police.
Reasons for the success of
Chibuku Shake-shake beer
There were personal risks associated with drinking and selling this type of beer, nevertheless the speed bars increased like veld fires in all high-density suburbs in Salisbury. Why?
The increase in the number of speed bars was a reflection of a serious market for Chibuku.
The speed bars brought convenience to patrons who did not have to travel to Chitungwiza or rural areas to enjoy beer.
The restrictive barriers erected by unfavourable municipal licensing legislation were not good enough to stop people from enjoying the biting taste (due to the continuous fermentation) of this emerging market leader.
On the other hand, this beer was priced well above the price of Rufaro Mhamba and other beers from other municipalities.
This reflects that there was a premium to the beer but this did not discourage the patrons from taking personal risks to enjoy their Chibuku.
This premium beer was doing very well in predominantly low-income markets in high-density suburbs.
This implies that people were willing to spend a little bit more and risk their lives a little bit more (through prosecution) to enjoy their Chibuku.
Chibuku was derived from the word chibhuku, which means a book. It is documented that Max Heinrich insisted on writing down every activity in every stage in the production of Shake-shake beer such the workers ended up calling him Chibhuku. Chibuku was later to become the trademark of the beer.
Writing down every stage in the production of the beer succeeded in achieving a highly developed brewing process that ensured quality and consistency.
This is amply testified by the premium price it commanded. This was lacking in competitor brands such as Rufaro, Kariba to name but a few.
Rufaro’s taste was not consistent week in week out. Unconfirmed reports suggest that Rufaro’s workers also contributed to the bastardisation of their brand by diluting the beer with water so as to achieve personal economic rent.
Mixing the beer with alcohol diluted the content and the fermentation process of Rufaro such that at times the beer was highly intoxicating and at times the beer was flat.
Rufaro’s beer was known to be, sometimes nice in the morning and bad in the afternoon, good taste on Monday and bad on Wednesday.
In addition, water diluted the thick texture, foam and colour which are associated with opaque beer. This affected its attractiveness to the patrons. In short, Rufaro and other municipal owned brands did not consistently meet the needs of its customers it terms of its quality and consistency.
The Chibuku beer offered its customers flexibility of consuming it at home or in the bush or at the speed bar.
One of its major innovations was the packaging, which enabled this flexibility. It was and is still packaged in attractive white, blue and red carton.
On the other hand, beer manufactured by the municipal authorities had to be consumed in the bar only as patrons were not allowed to take away the plastic mugs.
Due to the phenomenal success of Chibuku in the region, SABMiller (Southern Africa’s largest brewery) bought the brand.
The Competition Act of 1996 Chapter 14:28 repealed the Local Authorities Monopolies Act which was in existence then.
This Act effectively ended the monopolies, which were enjoyed by various local authorities.
This paved way for Chibuku to be sold in all municipal areas. To date, Delta has 14 breweries throughout Zimbabwe.
The success of Chibuku brand in the region was also a source of inspiration for budding entrepreneurs.
Chibuku inspired a Liverpool entrepreneur (on his visit to Malawi) to the extent that he named his Liverpool dance club Chibuku.
No amount of intimidation or restriction can stop anybody from marching on if they pay attention to quality.
May quality be your forte and several speed bars will spread like wild fires to support you.
Quality and consistency overcome any barriers that might be restricting your movement.