ZAMBIAN BREWERIES MARKS 30 GOLDEN YEARS OF BREWING

Company celebrates its sustainable growth successes

Celebrating success- The Zambian Breweries management team.

Lusaka, Zambia – Zambian Breweries (ZB) is celebrating 30 years of being the nation’s most popular beer producer. The company behind the country’s most popular brands – including the iconic Mosi, Castle and affordable Eagle lagers – has a long history of satisfying the nation’s thirst and reinvesting profits locally to realise its dream of creating a Better World.

Celebrating success Farmers in Lupaula load cassava for Zambian Breweries’ Eagle lager.

This year’s 30^th anniversary comes as the company continues on a new and exciting chapter in its history after joining the AB InBev family in 2016 following the global giant’s SABMiller takeover.
Zambian Breweries evolved from Northern Breweries Limited, formed in 1963 by South African Breweries (80 percent) and Labatt Breweries of Canada (20 percent). The company was nationalised in 1968, when the state-owned Industrial Development Company (INDECO) acquired 55 percent of  its shares from South African Breweries (SAB) and SAB’s remaining 25 percent was sold to ZAMIC, a subsidiary of the Anglo-American Corporation. In 1988, Labatt sold its 20 percent to INDECO and the company was renamed Zambian Breweries Limited, operating from two production facilities: Lusaka (Central Division) and Ndola (Northern Division).

Celebrating success Zambian Breweries staff at a regular fitness sessions.

As part of the government’s 1990’s privatisation programme, the company’s assets and liabilities were split into two newly incorporated companies: Central Division was transferred to Lusaka Breweries Limited while the Northern Division became Northern Breweries (1995) Plc. Lusaka Breweries Limited later changed its name to Zambian Breweries Plc, which owned the assets and liabilities of Central Division, and the Mosi trademark, according to The Enterprise Map of Zambia.
In 1994, SAB bought an additional, 45 percent of ZB and assumed management control in 1994. In 1999, ZB acquired 100 percent of the shares of Northern Breweries.

In October 2016 SABMiller was bought out by AB InBev, and Zambian Breweries welcomed a new corporate culture centred on its parent’s global Dream “to bring people together for a better world through our products, brands and investment in our communities”. “Our shared heritage, passion for brewing and commitment to quality will allow us to achieve more together than we could apart. We are building a company to last – not just for a decade, but for the next 100 years,” said the new owners, ABI, at the time of the acquisition in 2016. AB InBev’s presence has ushered a new era of growth and it has seen the company extend their sustainable growth efforts by investing over USD$400 million into the Zambian economy over the last five years.

Celebrating success- Minister of Commerce Trade and Industry Hon. Christopher Yaluma visits Zambia Breweries’ malting plant operation at the Lusaka South Multi-Facility Economic Zone (MFEZ)

ZB’s key investments include the maltings plant operation at the Lusaka South Multi-Facility Economic Zone (MFEZ), which is helping to boost production for local barley farmers, and the Simultaneous Scarification and Fermentation (SSF) plant in Ndola, enabling the company to step up purchases of cassava from small-scale farmers in Luapula Province as a key ingredient in Eagle Lager. The investment has enabled the company to grow production, enabling it to buy more from local suppliers in the agriculture sector and create opportunities to support the community through numerous initiatives.

The firm seeks to positively impact the value chain in the agricultural sector. As Zambian Breweries’ country director Jose Moran said: “It is our dream to bring people together for a better nation by taking advantage of the country’s natural resources. We want to take agricultural products and turn them into world class products while at the same time contributing to farmers’ efforts in sustaining their production.” ZB is also actively involved in a post-consumer waste management incentivisation project called Manja Pamodzi. The project, which was launched in August 2015, is in line with government’s determination to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) target and the Keep Zambia Clean Campaign.

The project runs in ten Lusaka townships and has registered, more than, 600 collectors, of whom 75% are female, who have managed to collect over 3,500 tons of recyclable material.
Manja Pamodzi is co-funded by Zambian Breweries and the United States of America government funded Millennium Challenge Account Zambia, and is supported by Lusaka City Council and the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA).
Thirty years on and Zambia Breweries has no intentions of slowing down. It will keep producing quality products and keep being a supporter of sustainable growth in Zambia.