Whitedent competes well with products like Colgate and Aquar Fresh
Martin Kadzere Senior Business Reporter
CHEMICOTEX, one of east Africa’s top fast moving consumer goods manufacturers in partnership with a local company, Merzin Industries intends to set up a Whitedent toothpaste plant in Ruwa at a cost of $4 million, one of the project promoters has said.
Installation of the plant will begin early next year and is expected to create more than 2 000 jobs, Merzin managing director Mr Paul Musodza said in an interview yesterday.
ChemiCotex is based in Tanzania.
“Some of the equipment (toothpaste containers) has already arrived and the plant will be supervised by technicians from Germany, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. A line of credit to finance the projects is being arranged from Germany,” added Mr Musodza.
Whitedent toothpaste brand originates from Germany but it is produced by ChemiCotex under the license of Whitedent Germany. It is widely used in Europe, Middle East and Africa. Presently, Merzin are the local licensed distributors of Whitedent.
The new plant will enable the company to distribute the products in Mozambique and South Africa.
“Our strength is that we have infrastructure and the plant is scheduled for installation in January 2015, that is about five months from now,” said Mr Musodza.
US company, Colgate-Palmolive, once the country’s largest toothpaste producer shut down operations in Zimbabwe citing corporate prohibitions on dealing in the parallel foreign exchange market. Colgate is still distributing products in Zimbabwe from its centralised production site in South Africa to maintain the brand on local market.
In 1999, Colgate-Palmolive employed 410 people. Apart from manufacturing toothpaste, it also produced soap, detergent powder and fabric softener, according to reports.
Mr Musodza said the new plant will create 2 000 jobs directly and indirectly. “Through a wider distribution network, we are hoping to create 2 000 jobs,” he said.
Whitedent competes well with products like Colgate and Aquar Fresh, but the brand is still growing on the local market. Whitedent is the clear market leader in Tanzania and is also available to consumers in Rwanda, Kenya, Zambia, Malawi and South Africa.
ChemiCotex has seen significant investments in the past years. In 2003 the company invested in building its own distribution network in Tanzania. In 2009, the company started exports in 2009 and now has a full subsidiary in Rwanda and partner distributors who manage brands in Kenya, South Africa, Zambia, Angola and Zimbabwe.
Its major shareholders include HSBC, Satya Capital, Catalyst Principal and Mac Group.