adminYoliswa Dube Features Reporter
WHAT started out as a “club” to meet and eat inhloko turned into a lucrative business after five pensioners in Hwange came together to invest in what is now a flourishing butchery. The five; Chief Nekatande, Lazarus Kwindini, Aaron Knock, Rex Chipembere and one Hlomani decided to start the butchery following the realisation that it could be a worthwhile venture during the usual Saturday meeting, at which they would enjoy inhloko from one of the gentlemen’s house in the townships of the coal mining town.
UNsholo Butchery in Number One provides fresh meat to scores of residents in the area on a regular basis.
The name of the butchery, “UNsholo” simply means “inhloko” in native Nambya. However, the heads of cows are not the only kind of meat sold in the slaughter house.
“We started off just as a couple of friends meeting every Saturday to enjoy some meat until we realised we could make serious money if we started something serious.
“Each one of us contributed towards a beast in order to start the butchery.
“The next step was to look for premises and the appropriate licence to sell the meat,” said Rex Chipembere, one of the partners.
Chipembere said being pensioners, age was not a limiting factor and the time on their hands was an enabler.
“All five of us are no longer formally employed, we’ve since retired. This has also dispelled perceptions that once one has retired, all they can do is sit at home and do nothing.
The former Hwange Colliery Company Limited ambulance driver said to keep the business going, a beast is bought every week ranging from $600 to $700, depending on its size.
Chipembere said despite fluctuating profit margins and decreasing demand, a beast could be sold at $5 per kilogramme and be finished within a few days.
“The butchery mainly sells beef but other forms of meat and kapenta are available as options. If we buy one cow, it takes less than a week for the whole beast to be sold. It’s not bad business at all considering we’re located away from the business centre of the town. I’m happy that I can sell a whole beast in a week. That also gives leeway to buy more beasts in that one week,” he said.
The butchery business, which is a greater risk than most businesses, requires being meticulous and sanitary.
UNsholo Butchery, which mainly services Number One residents, can be classified as a “village butchery” which is encouraged as it provides a market for smallholder cattle and gives local people a chance to eat fresh meat once or twice a week, which is healthier.
“Some weeks are tougher than others when it comes to the profitability of the business.
“We sometimes buy a cow without weighing it, which makes it difficult to determine how much profit one can get from the beast. You end up getting about $200 profit per week as a result,” said Chipembere.
The business aspects of a “village butchery” are important, as the butchery has to pay farmers for cattle, process them, and sell the meat at a profit.
If one kills an animal, and removes its head, feet, skin and gut, its weight will only be half of what it was when it was alive.
“This weight is known as the carcass weight, and is 50 percent, or half, of the live weight of the animal.
On a carcass, there is edible meat, and bone. The bone is 40 percent of the carcass weight, while the meat is 60 percent of the carcass weight.
The weight of the meat which is left is known as the recovery weight.
In order to make a profit, the money received from selling the meat must be greater than the money spent buying the animal from the farmer in the first place.
Because 40 percent or almost half the carcass weight is bone, which cannot be sold for much, the meat, which is 60 percent of the carcass weight, is where the profit is made, so the meat has to be sold at a price which allows a reasonable margin of profit.
The profit only comes from the meat.
“The last cow we got was for $450 and it gave us about 131 kilogrammes, which translates into significant profit considering that our expenditures are very low.
“Our expenses include transport to bring the cow which we hire for $60; we pay $15 and $10 for veterinary and health inspection per beast respectively and a meagre $56 for rentals per month.
“We get our cattle from local farmers,” said Chipembere.
The economic climate in Hwange emanating from poor remittance from Hwange Colliery Company Limited, the largest employer in the town, has not dwindled sales at UNsholo Butchery.
“We’re still making good money because there are other miners in the town aside from those at Hwange Colliery.
“At 60, I don’t really have projections for the future but I think we’ve done very well in earning a decent living and meeting our day-to-day expenses as well as providing a service to the people.
“The butchery has been very helpful and we hope it continues to grow even after we are too old to run it or by the time we are dead.”
derick.khumalo