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Sikhulekelani Moyo, mskhulekelani16@gmail.com
WHOLESALER, Budget Cash and Carry, is making remarkable strides in fulfilling its mission of creating more employment opportunities for the locals.
It has successfully recruited 45 members of staff since it was established in 2021. The company is committed to empowering young people by providing training and capacity-building programmes for them.
In an interview at the Belmont outlet of Budget Cash and Carry yesterday, its managing director, Mr Raeez Lunat, said the company’s growing influence is critical for driving youth empowerment in the region.
He said promoting local brands and organising exhibitions is one way of transforming Bulawayo’s economy.
Budget Cash and Carry has a sister concern called So Sweet, situated in the city centre, which specialises in selling sweets, chocolates, and various other kinds of snacks.
“When we started So Sweet in 2012, there were only two of us. Now with Budget Cash and Carry, we are close to 45 people and we have a mixture of people in our employment, with many of them being youths,” said Mr Lunat.
“We also offer our employees some training. For example, we pay for them to get driver’s licences and training to operate machines like forklifts, which will benefit them after they leave Budget Cash and Carry.
“We opened this outlet to bring cheaper and competitive prices to the people of Bulawayo and bring good customer service. We won the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce award in 2022 for good customer service.”
The Second Republic is prioritising job creation as part of its efforts to revolutionise the economy, given that the majority of the working population relies on informal activities due to a lack of formal jobs.
To achieve this, the Government has embarked on several initiatives, including offering incentives to the agriculture, mining, and manufacturing sectors.
On a related note, Budget Cash and Carry’s Mr Lunat, explained that the company is promoting local products through exhibitions and promotions at its Bulawayo premises.
This strategy aims to increase consumer awareness and provide local companies with a platform to showcase their products, thereby reducing the demand for imported goods that have negatively impacted the local economy.
As part of their local content strategy, Budget Cash and Carry has set up exhibition stands that display various locally made products from different regions across the country to encouragecustomers to purchase more locally produced goods.
“We are promoting local products, from sweets and other products as long as they are produced in Zimbabwe,” he said.
“This will not be a once-off thing, it will happen as often as possible with different local companies.”
Mr Lunat said that during the festive season, they are dedicated to offering affordable and competitive prices to the Bulawayo community as they work towards customer-centric initiatives.
Since the liberalisation of the economy in February 2009, Zimbabwe has been battling to contain a negative trade balance that was largely anchored on imported consumer goods.
It is in this context that the Government has promulgated policies that seek to promote local procurement to reduce the country’s import bill.
Such initiatives include the Local Content Policy, which seeks to promote increased domestic production with a focus on value addition. — @SikhulekelaniM1
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