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Business Reporter.
Chewing gum manufacturer Dandy Zimbabwe said that is putting together a recapitalisation package to boost capacity from 30 percent to 60 percent by year end.
Dandy Zimbabwe managing director Mr Peter Morgansen said the economic environment in the country was conducive for scaling up their operations.

“Our board has been meeting to try and come up with a reasonable recapitalisation package as we want to increase our market share as well as our dominance on the regional and international market,” he said.

The development comes soon after Dandy acquired the FSSC22000 certification, an international standard certification from SGS South Africa recently.

“Framed in an integral policy of quality and food safety, the attainment of FSSC22000 certification underlines our total commitment to food safety and customer satisfaction,” Mr Morgansen.

Dandy Zimbabwe Limited acquired the food and safety certification from SGS South Africa (an international organisation that gives certification to food and beverage manufacturing companies) for the manufacture and distribution of chewing gum and snacks, becoming the first company in Zimbabwe to achieve this status.

The FSSC22000 (food safety system certification) is a standard of global scope recognised by the Global Food Safety and Security Initiative.
Dandy’s factory manager, Mr Wisdom Nyakuzviranga, said the certification was a milestone towards greater things and acquiring certification from an international organisation shows the confidence that the outside world now have on the local companies.
“Local companies have been getting negative publicity from the international media, but now we are proud of the confidence expressed by SGS South Africa in awarding us with such a certification.

“This honour guarantees safety security and convenience of food and beverages in the entire food chain. Therefore it is a big impact in promoting public health,” Mr Nyakuzviranga said.

He also said the company is expecting a boost in terms of production capacity and they have so far recorded positives in the last selling period.

“The country is coming from a difficult economic dispensation, but as Dandy we have managed to boost our production capacity from 15 percent last year to 30 percent this year.

“We have implemented new technologies with the aim to reach our targeted 60 percent capacity by the end of this year,” he said.
Dandy was once under the ownership Denmark immigrants but is now a wholly owned Zimbabwean brand.