JOHANNESBURG Stock Exchange-listed Tiger Brands has terminated a 50-year manufacturing arrangement with local pharmaceutical and personal care products manufacturer Datlabs (Private) Limited as the latter launches a new product to grow market share, NewsDay Business has learnt.
Report by Bernard Mpofu
According to a statement issued on Wednesday, Tiger Brands — one of Africa’s largest manufacturers and marketers of fast moving consumer goods — withdrew Datlabs’ licence to produce Ingram’s Camphor Cream, paving way for the latter to launch a new Camphor Cream brand, CamphaCare, to compete on the market.
The new product, Datlabs said, will give the company an opportunity to tap into a $10 million market.
“After recent developments in the relationship, Tiger Brands has withdrawn the arrangement to pave way for Datlabs to produce and market Ingram’s Camphor Cream in Zimbabwe,” the company said in a statement.
It could not be immediately established what prompted the termination.
Datlabs chief executive officer Todd Moyo said once the company learnt of the decision by Tiger Brands, his organisation immediately set to work to find a great camphor cream product of superior pedigree.
“I am happy to report that my team has pulled all stops to give consumers a quality product that we know they will love, a product that is manufactured right here in Zimbabwe. CamphaCare will keep our factory in Zimbabwe running and hopefully save jobs that could have been lost by the termination of the previous licence agreement,” said Moyo.
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“We hope that our valued and loyal trade partners and consumers will support this new proudly Zimbabwean product, which can only be good for the continued employment of our staff and the growth of the Zimbabwean economy.”
Datlabs also has ties with the South African Pharmaceutical giant, Adcock Ingram, which makes and distributes an extensive range of branded and generic prescription and over-the-counter products in a broad range of therapeutic classes.
Datlabs marketing director Clever Mugadza said the organisation’s factory produces 500 000 jars of Camphor Cream every month, adding that in Zimbabwe alone, the market is worth $10 million.
Datlabs is a leading Zimbabwean pharmaceutical and personal care company with many well recognised leading brands such as Cafemol, Panado, Solphyllex and Lanolene Milk. It employs about 200 people at its Bulawayo factory and Harare offices.
Last year, Datlabs applied for export licences from a number of countries in the region as it sought to grow its market share. The applications were sent to Zambia, Malawi, Botswana and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The pharmaceutical industry in Zimbabwe is second only to South Africa in the region in terms of development and sophistication and exports to markets in Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Zambia, Malawi and West Indies.
