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Fradreck Gorwe Business Reporter
Zimbabwe Stock Exchange listed manufacturer of a wide range of bricks, Willdale Bricks, is contemplating opening up new markets in Zambia and Mozambique to expand its clientele base.

The company produces common bricks, face bricks, semi-faced bricks, pavers and other related brick products for the construction industry.

It is the name behind major successful projects, which it supplied with bricks that include some office building in Central Harare and beyond.

Willdale had never been into the export business given strong local demand for quality clay bricks and a rather weak demand in nearby potential export markets.

Speaking to this publication on the sidelines of an annual general meeting yesterday, Willdale chief executive officer Nyasha Matonda, indicated the group is moving into the Zambian and Mozambican market.

He, however, said the mammoth task at present is to educate the two markets on the value and competence of the company’s wide range of products.

The two envisaged export markets at present mainly have much trust in cement bricks and are yet to be informed on the strength of Willdale’s hard burnt clay bricks.

“We have not been into exporting although we are still trying to go into the export market, especially in Zambia and Mozambique. The biggest challenge is on educating some of the markets. In Zambia and Mozambique people mainly use cement bricks more than clay so there is a lot of education we need to carry out. We have already made some inroads in Zambia and we will continue to pursue strategies to open up the Zambian export market.

“Assessments have been done specifically for Zambia and Mozambique to ascertain the two as potential markets. Zambia is even close because we are pushing products as far as Hwange. The beauty about us producing from here is that we have got the capacity to produce in abundance with a ready market,” said Mr Matonda.

The company is much satisfied with the performance of the local market given wide opportunities in the name of lined up Government projects including the reconstruction of Cyclone Idai ravaged areas in the eastern provinces of the country.

The reconstruction work had commenced with the reconditioning of wiped bridges, building of schools and restoration of other social services infrastructure including clinics.

Apart from leveraging on the opportunities provided by the reconstruction work, Willdale Bricks had in 2019 as part of its corporate social investments, contributed 30 000 bricks valued at $61 650 for construction purposes in Chipinge communities.

Besides ready Government projects and low hanging opportunities in the name of the 1,3 million housing backlog, the company had been exploring more projects around the country in a move that helped drive brick sales up by 10 percent compared to prior year performance.

The positive performance in sales volumes was achieved despite inflationary pressures that acted on disposable incomes.

“Most important is we are looking at the performance of the company for the first five months of the year.

“We have seen some inflation impacting on disposable incomes in the construction industry but, however, as a company we have seen our sales going up 10 percent as compared to prior year which is positive because of the big projects we are working on.

“The company has seen several enquiries into various infrastructure projects around the country. We expect demand to remain relatively high given the smart housing development. We expect to surpass targets should fuel and electricity be available,” said Mr Matonda.

Willdale also considers making plant improvements to enhance production capacity.

The plant reportedly produces about 30 000 bricks in capacity and there are plans to upscale the production capacity from the present position.

According to Mr Matonda, the company had managed to hedge against tense competition from other local players.

“There is competition but our products and brands are enhanced. We believe our products are of best quality and high grade. Most of the players have one line like the one that is being imported. We have a wide range of product brands and that makes us competitive,” he said.