Proton increases workforce

PROTON Bakers has increased its workforce to 127 in Bulawayo in the last three months as the business records positive growth.

Company sales and marketing manager Mr Simba Bodzo said they have added 52 workers to the existing 75 and now the team stands at 127.

He also told Business Chronicle that since the rebranding of their cookies product, production has doubled within a week.

“Since our last update I think we were at 75 employees about three months ago. Currently we are sitting at 127 employees at our Bulawayo depot and that is an increase of 52 employees. We are very happy with the numbers and hope in the coming year we will increase further,” said Mr Bodzo.

“We have also rebranded our cookie line and introduced a kg pack. We invested quite a lot and I’m happy to say that by next week we will be doubling production of the cookies. Also, we are going national in terms of distribution so this means the line is performing well.”

Mr Bodzo said the Bulawayo depot was performing well since its opening in April this year riding on the adoption of different forms of payments like Point of Sale (POS) and EcoCash. He said his firm was now bringing more trucks to increase distribution, which has created more jobs for drivers.

“The Bulawayo depot is performing well and the adoption of mobile money transactions like EcoCash and swipe has also helped us to remain viable. We are planning to increase our distribution by bringing in more trucks and this means we will need to recruit more drivers,” he said.

Mr Bodzo said despite the economic challenges, their plan of opening a plant in Bulawayo was still in the pipeline. Meanwhile, Proton Bakers has been donating 50 loaves of bread to Ingutsheni Hospital for the past month. — @Kiyaz_ Cool.