The ManicaPost
Business Correspondent
AFRICAN Distillers Limited, Zimbabwe’s largest spirits, ciders and wine manufacturing company is confident about the future of its low end standard whiskies against similar imported whiskies. Afdis eastern region manager, Mr Martin Nyaundi, said this on the sidelines of last Saturday’s third and final draw of the Afdis Gold Blend ‘Think out of the box and win a house’ promotion held in Mutare.“The brand (Gold Blend) which is one of our many whiskies has been there for some time, but we have been trying to enhance its performance on the local market. We are pleased that of late it has been performing well against other low end imported whiskies and we are expecting it to do even better,” said Mr Nyaundi.
He said this on the back of stiff competition from cheap imports and recent depressed sales due to prevailing economic hardships which has resulted in little disposable income for local guzzlers.
During the promotion, Afdis slashed prices for the Gold Blend whisky by seven and three percent for the 750ml and 250ml respectively. The Mutare draw which was won by a Bulawayo man, Prince Ncube was the last of the nationwide promotion.
Ncube who was not present for the draw was expected to receive his house this week during the official handover ceremony. The Mutare draw followed after Brighton Ndlovu from Bulawayo and Tinarwo Tapfumanei from Macheke won the Harare and Bulawayo draws held in June and August respectively.
The promotion ran from April 19 to September 30, 2016. The three lucky winners each won four-roomed houses valued at $40 000 located in the high-density suburb of Budiriro in Harare. Mr Nyaundi said this was their way of giving back to the community and to incentivise consumers on the importance of promoting the Buy Zimbabwe to support local companies.
“By coming up with such initiatives to give back to the community we are also showing people the importance of supporting local companies through the Buy Zimbabwe Campaign. By buying local products, we are creating an extra job locally and helping turnaround our economy,” said Mr Nyaundi.
He added that the promotion also supported the housing for all initiatives under Government’s economic turnaround blueprint, the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation.
To enter the promotion, which was strictly for Zimbabweans aged 18 years and above, participants had to buy one 750ml or two 200ml bottles of Gold Blend Whisky, complete the entry form on the neck tag attached to the bottles, then make an envelope out of the tag and enclose the bottle closures.
