BY KWANELE TSABEDZE
MBABANE – More value addition.
This is the principle which Minister of Commerce Industry and Trade Manqoba Khumalo alluded to when officially opening Invert Eswatini today. Invert Eswatini is a syrup manufacturer who has established a factory in the Matsapha Industrial Site.
The company, which uses sugar as raw material, has directly created jobs for 22 people, and indirect jobs for 37 people – they are looking to employ more emaSwati when developing the second phase of the plant. E11 million was invested in setting up the company which is projected to make E200 million, according to its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jeremy Capouya.
Speaking to Eswatini TV during the launch, the minister Khumalo noted that value addition before raw materials are exported is still a great opportunity of economic development for the country.
“As we are looking into expanding the sugar industry in Eswatini, one of the things we are preaching is that we should do more value addition. We should not just export the job of converting the sugar to South Africa or Europe or wherever, but we should do the conversion in the country so that we export the products which will ultimately be made across the border,” said Khumalo.
He noted that the importance of doing this is to bring jobs into the country so that the local economy can have a healthy growth through investments in production.
Speaking on investing in Eswatini, Invert Eswatini CEO Jeremy Capouya said that Eswatini is an attractive investment destination in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) territories.
“The support from the different ministries has been exceptional. There are certain benefits like financial tax breaks to consider when investing in Eswatini, and just the generally warmhearted welcome that you get from the astute population is really fantastic,” said Capouya.
He added that he personally looks forward to making Invert Eswatini a great success.
It is expected that the plant will bring about diversification and value addition of locally produced sugar, and the Eswatini Investment Promotion Authority (EIPA) was one of the stakeholders which assisted the investor with setting up its plant in the country. Also present at the official opening was the Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg who congratulated Jeremy Capouya of Invert Eswatini and his team on the opening of the plant.
Photos by Eswatini Investment Promotion Authority
Can we please have the postal and email address of the Invert Eswatini.