Payless’ new owner pledges more citizen shelf space
Wholly citizen-owned company, Ellis Retail Group (Pty) Ltd, has set aside 10% of the shelf space in the eight Payless supermarkets it has taken over for local producers as part of initiatives to empower more Batswana.
Ellis Retail is owned by Acute Global Limited, which in turn is owned by Accurate Component with Patricia Moshoke as the main shareholder. Ellis Retail recently announced the takeover of eight Payless supermarkets, becoming the first major retail chain owned by indigenous citizens.
This week, Ellis Retail CEO, Elliot Moshoke said the takeover had saved more than 200 jobs that were on the verge of being lost as the Payless Group struggled to stay afloat.
He said besides saving citizen jobs, Ellis Retail would focus on empowering Batswana to secure shelf space, which in turn would support citizen enterprises in the value chain.
“I am glad that I seized the opportunity to acquire the Payless supermarkets,” Moshoke told BusinessWeek on Wednesday.
“It was an opportunity to assert the ambition of a proudly Botswana citizen-owned retail enterprise thus creating more jobs and wealth for fellow locals.”
Moshoke said he is working with local manufacturers to have their products in the acquired stores.
“We are passionate about empowering local manufacturers.
“We have seen their potential and believe
they deserve a space to sell their produce.
“We have already started engaging some and we look forward to having more locally produced products in our stores,” he said.
Further Moshoke said Ellis Retail has partnered with the Botswana Investment and Trade Centre on the #PushaBW campaign roadshow, an initiative aimed at ironing out bottlenecks between retailers and local manufacturers as well as pushing more production into stores.
“As we go across the tour, we will also be identifying the local producers that we will be working with soon.
“I have set aside a warehouse where we will be buying any produce from local farmers and we will then repackage and sell,” he said.
Currently, Ellis Retail operates eight supermarkets located in Molepolole, Mochudi, Tlokweng and five in Gaborone. According to Moshoke, the company will soon open a Gaborone West shop as well as a liquor store.
Moshoke said Ellis Retail plans to offer more products in future and position itself as a major contender in the supermarket sector.
“We will also be opening more shops across the country as well as franchising others,” he said.
“Inside our stores, you will find fruits, vegetables, fresh meat, perishables, baked goods, canned and packaged goods, non-food items such as kitchenware, household cleaners, just to mention but a few.”