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Zimbabwe rising: emerging tobacco empire sets sights on pan-Africa | #ebizradio | #insights | Nick Hales

Zimbabwe rising: emerging tobacco empire sets sights on pan-Africa | #ebizradio | #insights | Nick Hales

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Savanna Tobacco, the first significant African tobacco empire, is on a fast track to pan-African FMCG category leadership.

In the face of fierce competition, Savanna Tobacco is beneficiating Zimbabwe’s tobacco farming sector, has broken the local tobacco monopoly and is rapidly building a pan-African tobacco empire.

Savanna Tobacco is targeting fast-tracked expansion across the continent, supported by the appointment of veteran international tobacco industry executive Nick Hales as Savanna Tobacco’s new Global Chief Executive Officer and the construction of a new $2 million packaging facility in Mozambique.

Hales, who formerly headed British American Tobacco (BAT) operations in West and Central Africa, is tasked with driving Savanna Tobacco’s growth both across Africa and into global markets. With 27 years of experience in market development, factory builds, brand launches and global tobacco operations, Hales will manage the next phase of Savanna Tobacco’s phenomenal growth.

Nick Hales – CEO Savanna Tobacco

In only a decade of operations, Savanna Tobacco has increased its capacity to two billion sticks produced per annum and built a reputation as the manufacturer of Zimbabwe’s finest cigarettes. The current output of up to 40,000 cartons a month represents only around 72% of its full current capacity, and production is now being scaled up in both Zimbabwe and Mozambique to meet growing regional demand. Over 85% of the company’s output is destined for regional and international markets. Savanna Tobacco’s growth has also benefited local agriculture – turning over 50 000 subsistence tobacco farmers into middle income suppliers.

Hales attributes the company’s rapid growth to a number of factors: the high quality of Zimbabwean tobacco, low production costs which allow for highly competitive pricing through the channel to the end consumer, and the fact that Savanna Tobacco produces the first significant ‘made in Africa’ tobacco brands.

Behind the scenes – Founded in 2002, Savanna Tobacco prides itself on manufacturing Africa’s finest cigarettes. Savanna Tobacco is the leading cigarette manufacturing company in Zimbabwe. Head-quartered in Zimbabwe, Savanna Tobacco also has a presence in South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia, Lesotho, Swaziland, Malawi and DRC, through its Pacific, Pegasus and Branson brands.

http://www.savannatobacco.com/

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