The wholesaler’s Head of Marketing and Communications Thapelo Mmono told journalists recently at a media engagement session and tour of its retail wholesale store in Gaborone (Old Lobatse Road) that Trans has opened its doors for local entrepreneurs to bring their products for sale at their stores. Local producers and government have been putting pressure on retailers to create space for local products as they struggle to access the market. There are persistent allegations that local retailers prefer to offer shelf space to foreign products over locally produced ones. To improve local production and push local goods uptake, government has placed a ban on the importation of some horticultural products as well as other commodities. On the other hand, retailers say local products are often of poor quality, priced too high, and many producers struggle with capacity and scaling.
However, Mmono said Trans Africa has made a deliberate decision to support local SMMEs by allowing them shelf space. She said the wholesaler supports the #PushaBW initiative, which was launched by the Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC) a few years back. The #PushaBW Campaign was launched in 2018, as a marketing initiative with the ambitious objective of driving a national paradigm shift towards the uptake of local products, to create employment and grow the national economy. The #PushaBW seeks to reduce the high import bill through the uptake of locally produced goods and services. In addition, the initiative further seeks to improve the production capacity of local producers, which directly contributes towards the creation of more job opportunities and economic diversification. Meanwhile, Trans Africa (Old Lobatse Road) Store manager, Bushy Wally said they are looking at expanding their supermarket section to stay ahead of the competition.
However, he said they would maintain the wholesale business. Trans Africa is one of the oldest wholesale and retail distributors of Fast Moving Consumer Goods in Botswana. The wholesaler has a presence in different towns across the country and employs thousands of Batswana.
