Made in Zim: Wezhira Wine a promising new generation of wild fruit beverages
nationally, then enter the global village. ST: How do you intend to grow this project? What is the level of capital you will need to operate optimally?
GZU: Our strategy is to launch our products and organically grow our market share. This is to avoid over-investing in a business that may fail the test of time viability ST: Do you have sufficient hute stocks to sustain this project? If not, how do you intend to ensure there is enough stocks to sustain the Wezhira Wine making venture?
GZU: Currently feedstock mapping is ongoing and we have located places like Bikita, Marondera and Seke as areas where hute trees are concentrated. To ensure the sustainability of the project we have proposed the development of plantations for all the fruits that we will be using to develop our wines. Also, we will use different fruits (depending on those that will be in season) to develop different wines under the Wezhira brand. As we establish the plantations of demand trees we will carry out studies on “potency” of fruits of plants from various regions so that we select the best trees for wine production. is it from the ones on the Zimbabwean market now?
GZU: The uniqueness of the Wezhira brand is that we are using traditional (indigenous) fruits to develop our wines (eg hute, baobab, mazhumwi, nhunguru, etc.) which present unique tastes to the winery industry. The deviation from grape based wines will appeal to the market.
ST: Once the project is fully operational, how many jobs will be created? What are the potential earnings of the wines? GZU: The project will create jobs starting from the plantations, manufacturing industry, and the sales and marketing units. Other jobs include plantation workers and managers, manufacturing workforce (eg Laboratory technicians, brewmasters, etc), distribution and sales team (e.g. sales and marketing officer, customer service, executive, accountants/cashier and so on. Supporting services for logistics, transportation, packaging, and maintenance may also create jobs.
ST: Looking into the future, how do you intend to boost the Wezhira Wine making venture?
GZU: We intend to diversify our products by producing blended wines and also by making distilled products such as whisky, gin, vodka and brandy.