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AHM Ehsannuzzaman

Lovemore Zigara Midlands Correspondent
THE country’s biggest shoe manufacturer, Bata Shoe Company, is seeking to explore the European and Asian markets following the successful penetration of the Latin American market last year.

The company made an initial shipment of 3,000 pairs of export safari shoes (popularly known as the “farmer shoes” locally) to Chile last year and announced that it would take advantage of its presence in some of the countries in that region such as Venezuela and Bolivia to consolidate its market share in Latin America.

Bata managing director, AHM Ehsanuzzaman, told Chronicle Business that the shoe manufacturer has improved the quality of its products and will be exporting more shoes to Latin America and exploring avenues in Europe and Asia.

“We exported about 3,000 pairs of shoes to Chile last year, something which we’re proud of. This year we’ve improved our collection in terms of Safari Shoes and Tommy. We’re now communicating with our sister companies in Latin America and within Africa so that we can export shoes to these countries,” said Ehsanuzzaman.

“We’re also in contact with countries in Europe and Asia who’re also interested in our footwear. We expect some orders from there and our competitive edge is that we’re producing world acclaimed quality shoes,” he added.

Ehsanuzzaman said there is renewed interest in the company’s products in the region with Botswana, Zambia, Malawi and South Africa wanting more orders from the Gweru based firm.

He said local and foreign demand for the company’s products had increased and the company is likely to surpass the two million pairs of shoes it has been producing for the past five years.

Bata employs about 1,100 employees and produces 2.2 million pairs of shoes annually. It is operating at 95 percent capacity utilisation.