Dunlop Zimbabwe Voices its Commitment to the Home Market

Zimbabwe’s sole domestic tyre manufacturer, Dunlop Zimbabwe, states it remains committed to continuing local operations. The company, now 100 per cent owned by Apollo Tyres, has maintained a presence in the country for 45 years, and its CEO, Mr. Kennedy Mandevani, states it will be guided by “business rationale” and won’t close up shop in Zimbabwe for political reasons.

The Zimbabwe government owned Herald newspaper quotes Dunlop Zimbabwe as saying it will “not join the multinational companies’ crusade against doing business in Zimbabwe.” An article published on July 28 specifically points to UK and US influenced multinational companies, including Tesco and Barclays, as pressuring local subsidiaries to cease operating.

“Dunlop Zimbabwe has been producing and selling tyres for the past 45 years in Zimbabwe,” Mandevani said in an e-mail statement on July 24. “During that period the company has been through various phases during which various challenges and constraints have been faced and overcome. In spite of that Dunlop Zimbabwe continues to operate and adapts to the business environment to survive.

“The strategies adopted in the last 45 years will continue to be refined and adapted to survive the current and projected constraints,” he added, saying that the company “will be governed by business rationale and all its decisions will be dictated by the ability to return a positive performance to its various stakeholders. Therefore based on the expectation of the future, Dunlop Zimbabwe is committed to produce and sell tyres in Zimbabwe and other markets in future.”

Dunlop tyres hold about 50 per cent of the Zimbabwe market, and 70 per cent of tyres produced there are currently exported, mainly to South Africa, Malawi and Zambia. The company produces a total of 95 tyre sizes. While the company is currently 100 per cent owned by Apollo, the Zimbabwe government has passed a law calling for at least 51 per cent of all foreign owned companies to be passed into the hands of locals. “The Dunlop position on the localisation of shareholding is a process which will be dictated by the footprint details to be produced by the authorities,” said Mr Mandevani commented.