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Sikhulekelani Moyo, [email protected]

PROTON Bakers is planning on increasing its output and capacity as it seeks to spread its footprint to most parts of the country, chief sales officer Mr Daniel Chipato said.

Speaking during the seventh anniversary operating in Bulawayo on Friday, Mr Chipato said the firm will continue investing for increased growth driven by demand for products.

“We continue to look at future investment in terms of adding our capacity. We recently opened a new plant, which has enabled us to increase our capacity, but we look at increasing our output, which will enable us to service all corners of the country,” he said.

“We have not been able to service places such as Masvingo, Chiredzi, but obviously,if the Government assists us in terms of plant equipment, we will invest in those areas.”

Proton Bakers head office is in Marondera, where all the manufacturing takes place and then distributes its products through the Harare and Bulawayo depots.

Mr Chipato said Proton Bakers employs about 1 500 individuals nationally and of those, 170 are from Bulawayo.

He said the employment figures are set to increase as they forge ahead with expansion initiatives.

“It is important to note that the local institutions such as Bulawayo Polytechnic have been very pivotal in availing the much-needed skills in our various departments. We have graduates from Bulawayo Polytechnic who came through the ranks and now occupy managerial level positions at Proton Bakers,” he said.

“We are so grateful to the institutions for that contribution.”

Meanwhile, Mr Chipato hailed the Government for availing an enabling business environment.

“We have been facing some challenges in terms of acquiring certain raw materials, but one thing we want to mention and applaud is, we have been getting good Government support in terms of several programmes they do to support the business community.”

Some of the challenges which businesses face, is access to foreign currency, which has also seen the Government introducing the forex auction system, which has been in operation since 2020.