The homegrown company recently secured a deal to supply Shoprite stores with LED bulbs. According to Bulb World Sales and Distribution coordinator, Keamogetse Kgomela part of the deal will include supplying about 2,300 shops across Africa.
“We can now sell our products to Shoprite, Checkers, U Save, and OK Foods and Furniture. We are currently going into each country and submitting our pricing list for each country. We are hopeful that at least by the beginning of next year, our bulbs should be in almost all of these stores,” she said.
To meet the demand, she said they will go to 100% capacity as well as open a second factory in Rustenburg, SA which will be a supplementary factory to help supply the African region. The Selebi-Phikwe-based plant can produce 20,000 units per day and currently produces according to demand. “We have only been utilising a quarter of that to supply the local market,” Jacobs said.
He added they have plans to develop new LED products. However, she said Shoprite Botswana was instrumental in assisting them with securing a deal at a regional level.
Established in 2019, the company has become the symbol of successful citizen-owned enterprise and innovation. Bulb World produces an array of lights for household and commercial use including A60 (screws and pins), downlights, filaments, tubes, tower lights, and street lights. The Selebi-Phikwe business also produces customised lights upon special request/specification.
The determined CEO once told this publication that his expansion strategy includes penetrating Namibia, Mozambique, Lesotho, Swaziland, and Malawi. On average Bulb World’s projected revenue for the next five years is P100 million.
As the industry is making strides towards eco-consciousness, LEDs have become a popular choice in the production line. Compared to traditional lighting solutions such as incandescent and fluorescent bulbs, LED consumes much less energy.
Over the years, manufacturers have realised the brilliance of LED lights for business, which include their energy efficiency, low replacement rates, low heat output, and high quality.
