Gold Leaf Tobacco Zimbabwe is targeting a 20% market for its cigarette brand, Rudland & George, as it has given the market a premium offering at affordable prices, an executive said yesterday.
BY BUSINESS REPORTER
Tanaka Matimbe, Gold Leaf Tobacco Zimbabwe country manager, told NewsDay yesterday on the sidelines of the cigarette brand launch that the 20% market share would be attained in 12 to 18 months. He said the product was coming from South Africa and there are plans of setting up a plant in Zimbabwe.
“We are looking at setting up a manufacturing concern in the country in the next 18 months. We have given the market a premium offering at an affordable price,” he said.
The company has three cigarette brands — Rudland and George Red, Rudland and George Menthol and Rudland and George Blue.
He said the company was buying 80% of the tobacco from the Zimbabwean market and the cigarettes were being manufactured in South Africa. Matimbe said the Zimbabwean operation would be used as the launchpad into other Southern African countries.
“We will use it as a springboard into Zambia, Mozambique and Malawi. It will be better to serve Africa from Zimbabwe,” he said.
Matimbe said his company was buoyant about the outlook, as it had caused a stir in the market and “we are going to up our game as we deliver an even greater cigarette experience to the consumers”.
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“We are not apologetic for being game changers and innovators within our space of trading. We have come up with an innovative rounded pack, a concept which is pretty new in the region,” said.
The brand had entered the market as RG last year, but was pulled off after the High Court ruled that Gold Leaf Tobacco Zimbabwe could not use RG on its cigarette brand, as it was similar to the one used by Remington Gold. Gold Leaf Tobacco appealed to the Supreme Court and the case is still to be heard.
Some of the top players in the cigarette manufacturing business are BAT and Savanna among others.
