adminNew Delhi — Savanna Tobacco has partnered an Indian cigarette manufacturer in pursuit of a strategy to grow its footprint outside Africa, a senior company official has said.
Savanna executive chairperson Adam Molai told New Ziana here on the side lines of the third India- Africa Forum Summit that the cigarette producer intended to grow beyond Africa.
“We’re looking at other opportunities, what we’ve done is we’ve teamed up with a very big producer in India and we’ve gone into a joint venture and within the next few weeks we’ll be making an announcement about a significant investment that we’ll be spearheading,” he said.
Asked to shed more light on the partnership, Molai said: “It’s premature, we still need to make sure that we’ve made the relevant authorities aware and then we’ll come through and make a public announcement.”
He said the company was currently expanding its presence in Africa and had last month appointed a global chief executive officer and a chief marketing officer in pursuit of that endeavour.
He said currently Savanna had a significant presence in Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique, where a new plant was installed recently.
“We’ve actually started a roll out into the broader African market,” he said.
Established in 2002 as a threshing company, Savanna Tobacco Company has evolved over the years into a significant producer of tobacco products and brands in Zimbabwe.
Starting from an average monthly output of 3,000 master cartons in 2004, the company now produces between 35,000 and 40,000 master cartons per month.
It has made serious inroads in a market previously dominated by British American Tobacco (BAT Zimbabwe) which produces popular brands such as Madison and Kingsgate.
Savanna, which currently produces over two billion cigarettes sticks per annum, manufactures several brands, including Pacific Blue, Pacific Storm and Pacific Breeze. — New Ziana.
Online Reporter
Bongani Ndlovu