BY PHUMELELE MKHONTA
MBABANE– Well done Eswatini Government!
These were sentiments shared by some locals in response to the news that the newly-launched Lush Haircare Products factory has dispatched its first truck. The truck was dispatched yesterday in a sterling daytime event.
Taking to social media, some locals congratulated the Government of Eswatini for attracting the investors, saying the factory shells for the company should be decentralised throughout Eswatini.
“Good work Eswatini Government but please decentralise the factory shells natsi siyayidzinga ngala enkhundleni yase Siphocosini (sic),” said one social media user.
The above statement simply means government should bring the factory to Siphocosini as they also needed it in the Constituency.
“Congratulations for making the country proud. Keep doing the good Job hulumende,” said another social media user.
Yesterday, we published that the Minister of Commerce, Industry, and Trade, Manqoba Khumalo, officiated the dispatch of the first truckload of finished Lush Haircare Eswatini products at Ngwenya Industrial Site.
The products are destined for the international export markets.
According to the Government of Eswatini, Lush Haircare Eswatini is one of the investors that responded to His Majesty King Mswati III’s call to invest in Eswatini during an Eswatini-Singapore Investment Seminar in Singapore last year.
The company is a subsidiary of the Tolaram Group and currently employs 150 people.
The Minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade Manqoba Khumalo said they had been reliably informed that the company would be doubling the number by the end of March this year and they expected exponential growth in employment opportunities by the end of the year.
“Today, we are releasing the first truck of finished goods destined for the international export markets. We are again adding a new item into our export basket from non-traditional products which augur well with our economic diversification drive.
“We are told that within the hair products category, there will be various items including hair extensions and weaves of superior quality that will be added. We look forward with great anticipation to the expected arrival of the Polypropylene machine which will ensure the manufacture of the fibre locally as part of backward value chain integration,” said the minister.
Lush Haircare Factory Head for Southern Africa Raybind Patel thanked the government and all stakeholders for the support rendered since the company set up shop in Eswatini.
