This follows the implementation of the statutory instrument on school uniforms which prohibits the importation of school uniforms into the country.
Speaking to Tecla Evans, the ATAB president, through this partnership he said, they aim to bring together designers, manufacturers, suppliers, and retailers to promote their business and their industry both in Botswana and internationally.
She said as an association, they are working around the clock to ensure that they have a conducive environment to work in.
"Following the implementation of the statutory instrument on school uniforms which prohibits the importation of school uniforms into the country, as the mother body of the industry we took it into our hands to help local school uniform manufacturers produce school uniforms and find a place to sell these uniforms," she said.
She added that they needed a place that would accommodate every manufacturer despite their business size, looking at capacity to produce and a place that was within reach to all manufacturers to reduce transport and logistics costs without also having to restructure any process. Therefore, a retailer was the perfect solution as the likes of Local Enterprise Authority (LEA) or other well-distributed organisations were not retailers. They needed someone who would accept the prices the manufacturers had proposed.
"Choppies ticked all the boxes and took this on as their Corporate Social Initiative (CSI) allowing the 90% women manufacturers to distribute through their stores to the capacities the manufacturers could handle. "Choppies was keen to assist the nation in ensuring the availability of school uniforms and also supporting these women in business as Choppies understood what giving them this platform to sell would do for their livelihoods," Evans said. The president said they sat and drafted how best this would work and as such how they would identify every manufacturer's product and sales saying the association has little funds to its name. Choppies further offered every company its unique barcodes. This ensures smooth transactions of every product. She added: "A value proposition that the association and its members were thrilled to be a part of. This partnership allows manufacturers to cluster and distribute through any of their chosen Choppies stores. Should a manufacturer decide to reach out to other stores out of their reach, Choppies at a six percent fee provides transport and logistics for that request".
The association believes the Choppies deal is a game-changer for local manufacturers and they hope that they will continue to work with Choppies in the coming seasons regarding school uniforms.
Choppies CEO Ramachandran Ottapathu confirmed this development and said Choppies got an agreement with the ATAB women’s textile association by allowing them to sell school uniforms through their outlets. "Choppies supports the initiative of empowering Botswana women," Ottapathu said.
