Zambia Sugar Plc’s ultimate parent company, Associated British Foods plc (ABF) CEO Mr. George Weston, recently visited our Nakambala estate as part of his planned visits to the Southern African operations, which include Zambia, Malawi, Eswatini, South Africa, Rwanda and Tanzania.
George interacted with employees including Union leaders, offering comforting advice with candour, encouraging them to personally commit to conducting a proper risk assessment before embarking on any job. He challenged employees to always look out for one another. George toured agricultural fields and the factory to get an appreciation of the £11 million Falling Film Evaporator (FFE) project currently being commissioned. The FFE aims to improve factory throughput due to continuous operation and enhance safety. George was also pleased that the £48 million Twazabuka project was finally underway and would be completed in 2 years time.
Other agricultural projects inspected are the ongoing multi-million pounds new farming systems that include drip irrigation projects that accounted for at least four fields achieving a record yield of 200 tonnes per hectare during the farming season.
George took the opportunity to induct the teams behind this amazing performance, into the 200 tonnes per hectare Club! Although there were so many people behind this achievement, we graciously allowed the few to represent us, plus there were only so many of those cool jackets to go round!
Zambia Sugar Managing Director, Oswald Magwenzi, shared the work the Company was doing to promote local suppliers and contractors, including working with them in the renovation of the housing stock at Nakambala estate. George commended the staff and Mazabuka based contractors for this great work. The contractors were trained under Zambia Sugar Plc’s Local Supplier Development Programme working in collaboration with National Council for Construction (NCC). The programme involves training local contractors using classroom sessions followed by practical skills application through building and refurbishing of employee houses at Nakambala estate.
George remarked on the incredible transformation that had taken place at the Nakambala estate since his last visit. He commended the leadership team for the work that continues to be done. He encouraged employees to continue focusing on safety, hard work and commitment to our consumers which are all in keeping with our vision of making a safe, healthy, and respectful workplace, a beautiful estate and a diversified agribusiness which is the best at serving customers.
On his Zambia visit, George was accompanied by ABF Sugar Operations Director, Criag Jensen, ABF Sugar Health, Safety and Security Director, Clinton Lee and ABF Sugar Finance Operations Head, Neville Naidoo.v
