Zambian Breweries to beef up workforce

Zambian Breweries Plc will be opening its $90-m brewery in Ndola by September 2012. In preparation, the company will be hiring 29 individuals with appropriate skills to operate new high-tech equipment, including fermenters from Germany.

The new plant will have a 100-million-litre annual production capacity. This will translate to 267 million bottles per year, easily making it the biggest brewery in the history of Zambia.

Managing director Anele Malumo said Ndola Brewery, which is the oldest brewery in Zambia and built in the 1950s, has served the Copperbelt community with the best alcoholic beverages for decades. With the new brewery, Mr Malumo hopes to improve on the dependable service that has been synonymous with Zambian Breweries Plc.

Also under construction at the Ndola Brewery site is the $5.5-m worth waste water treatment facility that will soon be completed and commissioned before September 2012. The construction of this facility underpins the company's serious commitment to sustainable development and managing water resources in particular.

While the construction phase alone of the brewery which is expected to last for 3 years will immediately create employment opportunities for up to 260 Zambians, an additional 450 jobs will be created within the Zambian Breweries PLC value chain upon commissioning of the plant.