F/town Knitters to double production
Chakalisa Dube | Friday November 10, 2017 15:36
The company manufactures school uniforms, industrial wear and sports wear amongst others. However, currently the firm, which has been in existence since 1982, has a special focus on producing school uniforms. The company currently has a turnover of nearly P9 million and employs over 100 people across its functions.
The company produces 74,000 units of uniforms, industrial, corporate and sports wear annually. Uniforms account for around 62,000 units of the company’s annual production. “We have just completed drafting a detailed expansion. The expansion of the factory will require around P4 million and we are working on sourcing (with the assistance of the Local Enterprise Authority (LEA) funding from one of the local financial institutions,” said Peter Mathambo who is one of the senior managers at Francistown Knitters. Mathambo was addressing members of the media during a tour of the company factory at the Aerodrome industrial area this week. The tour was organised by LEA.
He said the expansion plan is subject to availability of funds.
“We hope that we will secure the funds soon to expand because the roll out plan is ready. I am very optimistic that the expansion plan will take off soon.”
Most of the P4 million will be invested on machinery, according to Mathambo.
“Through the expansion plan we intend to produce more corporate, sports wear and fashionable clothing amongst others. The market for the uniform industry is now saturated which is why there is need to fully diversify our products.”
Mathambo would not go much into very technical details of the plan ‘in fear of exposing’ the company’s’ strategy to competitors.
Mathambo further highlighted that the company recently purchased a plot for the expansion of the factory. He said the plot is directly connected to the company’s factory.
“We have started engagements with officials from the Edcon group. We want to convince them to start purchasing our products once the expansion plan has taken shape. Our interactions regarding working with each other are still at an early stage.”
The Edcon group is one of the prominent clothing and footwear companies in Africa and owns retail shops in Botswana amongst them Edgars and Jet.
Mathambo added that the expansion plan is meant to help boost the company’s capacity to export and access international markets such as the one under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).
“We have also not fully explored the market in the southern part of the country. Part of our expansion plan is to fully penetrate the southern part of the country,” Mathambo noted.
Francistown Knitters also has nine retail outlets scattered in the northern part of the country. The retail outlets employ 25 workers while eight employees work at the company warehouse. Sixty-eight employees work at the company factory.
In a bid to fight threats, the company is also working on a comprehensive re-branding exercise that is coordinated by LEA, Mathambo said.