MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE

Nyanza Bottling Company

“We are one of the largest Coca Cola franchises in East Africa, we’ve built this organisation up over the years and in some arduous operating conditions,” says Christopher Gachuma, MD of GMG Group of Companies. “We’ve grown to be one of the largest companies in our zone and continue to provide employment opportunities and social responsibility to a high number of people.”

In 1986, the Sumaria Corporation and the CMG Group of Companies established Nyanza Bottling Company Ltd in Mwanza, Tanzania. Since then they have grown to become the leading bottler and distributor of Coca-Cola products in East Africa.

Christopher collaborated GMG Group with the MD of Sumaria, Jayesh G Shah and together they have achieved and sustained 80 percent of the market share in Lake Zone of Tanzania for 23 consecutive years. RK Bala joined NBCL in 2010, serving as the CEO of the organisation.

Ankush K Shah later generation of Sumaria family joined NBCL in 2010 as Director and joined the NBCL Board with CMG and JG.

Both GMG Group and Sumaria are well known for their presence in numerous industrial verticals. Multi-national Sumaria Corp. is active in areas such as plastic pharmaceuticals, manufacturing and agro-processing while CMG Group has a presence in construction, food processing, hotels and trading.

In 2001, NBCL invested more than $10 million in infrastructure, “We had a very healthy three years and that allowed us to look at the next five years. We expanded our production line with a new blender and chiller and have added 65 new heavy-duty trucks of 30 tonne capacity to the existing fleet of 160,” Chris explains.

Market dominanceTheir obvious strength stems from their association with

the Coca-Cola name and ancillary products such as The Fanta Family, Sprite, Krest Family and Dasani mineral water. “They are the best known brands in the world,” Christopher explains, “so we have a huge advantage in having one of the best brands.”

Producing and selling over 1.1 million glass and PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles of beverages and drinking water each day, with 1100 direct employees and over 20 000 small community businesses that generate income by selling Coca-Cola products, NBCL is a pillar in the industrial world.

Nyanza Bottling Company

“Our unwavering market share is a clear indicator that multinational competition in the beverage sector presents in Lake Zone of Tanzania,” Christopher continues, “and the range of local products is not as well equipped as us to service the community. That is due in no small measure to the company’s commitment to quality and attention to detail.”

“Our operating standards separate us from our competition,” says Christopher. “We have never compromised on technology, or our staff training, or the stringent auditing standards we employ.”

NBCLs facility is situated on 16 acres in Mwanza’s industrial region. The company was Coca Cola’s “Bottler of the Year” in 1995 and has been awarded the Coca Cola Africa Gold and Silver Achievement awards many times.

“We set a new standard for ourselves every year to ensure improvement,” Christopher points out. “We want to stay current and up to date with the fast developing technologies and manners of management. It does no good to stagnate.”

As part of their offering they sponsor employee education at various levels; this is something that helps build the internal part of the organisation and determines who will be coming along for a long time.

“We also bring in people from various industries to help train our people,” he adds.

In this vein, world-leading German packaging and bottling machine manufacturer Krones AG provides technical training for the operators of the three Krones glasses, boasting a capacity of 100 000 bottles per hour and single PET at 24 000 bottles per hour, bottling lines that NBCL has in place.

“We have fostered an associate-like relationship with our suppliers and vendors,” Christopher continues. “We go to their plant to understand what they do and they visit our plant to see what we are doing. This sort of relationship building helps develop transparency and mutual processes and efficiency improvement. By not treating them as suppliers and service providers we’ve been able to enhance the respect in the relationship.”

NBCL also operates in-house support facilities such as a fully equipped garage and fuel station for its transport fleet that covers an enormous geographic area and serves a population of over 13 million.

Technology lags in East Africa and very few companies use sophisticated ERP systems. NBCL, though is taking that step.

“We have taken it upon ourselves to embrace ERP so the whole organisation is being trained. When it comes to the management of the technology, it is about the people who are using it and we are developing the skills to achieve this,” Christopher says.

Additionally, NBCL is now running a biomass-fuelled boiler at its production site that yields enough steam energy to power operations for the foreseeable future. Sourced locally, this biomass fuel is made up of matter that would otherwise be considered food waste.

The company has also invested close to $4 million in a PET pre forms plant that will allow it to produce its PET bottles for both the domestic and international markets.

“Our short term aim is to double our volumes and revenues. We will try for a little more in the new industries like our power project. If we can introduce other business as well, I can see us growing more than double in the next five years.”

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A partner of Nyanza Bottling Company

Nyanza Bottling Companywww.nbcl.biz+255 282 571 447

Written by Jack Slater

www.littlegatepublishing.com