Nyaradzo group has committed more than $10 million towards expansion and increase of its branch network throughout the country.
More than 500 jobs have so far been created. Group chief executive officer Phillip Mataranyika said money had been spent on setting up the infrastructure and equipping their country-wide branch network.
The branch roll-out has taken Nyaradzo beyond its traditional centres — Harare and Bulawayo — to other strategic areas such as Mutare, Chiredzi, Redcliff, Nyanga and Chinhoyi.
Work is currently underway towards the official opening of its Mhondoro-Ngezi and Rusape branches before turning its focus on having a presence in Kariba, Bindura, Chitungwiza, Hwange and Beitbridge.
Mataranyika said the company had been cautious in its approach, preferring to fund the expansion programme from internally-generated resources as opposed to borrowing at the prevailing high interest rates.
“We have been avoiding debt financing because of the exorbitant costs involved, except where one has access to offshore funding,” he said.
“So far, we have been using internally-generated resources to fund our growth.
“Now that the projects we are embarking on are getting bigger, we may start looking at external sources of funding, including borrowings.
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“The availability of resources will give us latitude to broaden our growth prospects.”
Mataranyika said the decision to invest in smaller towns was premised on economic prospects and balancing the group’s obligations to existing and new customers.
“We always appraise all investment options before we plunge head-on into any one of them including our presence into the so-called small towns.
“Our investment in Redcliff is as strategic as our investment in Gweru, Bulawayo or Mutare,” he said. “If the economic sense is not as clear as day, then the presence of human beings in these so-called small towns is itself reason enough to have Nyaradzo where people are, for we are a people-based organisation.”
Mataranyika said it was still too early to consider unbundling the group’s units.
The group currently operates Nyaradzo Funeral Services, Nyaradzo Funeral Assurance Company, Calundike Exports and Eureka Insurance Brokers.
He dismissed speculation that Nyaradzo could soon list on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE).
“I wouldn’t want to worry about things that might happen. I worry only about things when they happen or rather when they appear on our radar.
“For now, ZSE listing is not one of them,” he said. Asked why Nyaradzo had not been keen on growing its business through mergers and acquisitions, Mataranyika said the company strongly believed in organic growth.
