The Managing Director’s Business Forum was held on Wednesday 19th November, 2025 at our Nakambala Estate. It was focused on Safety, full year results, and resilience of employees during the year.
The Managing Director, Mr. Oswald Magwenzi, commended employees for demonstrating resilience amid the worst drought experienced in recent memory. He also praised their teamwork and focus on strategy implementation which led to the Company delivering a stellar performance.
Oswald shared the focus being placed on engineering out all unsafe work conditions, and the behavioural safety programmes for all employees and contractors that is underway. Oswald called on every employee to renew their safety mindset, to play their part to create a safe place to work and reaffirm their individual commitment to the Safety vision which is To get everyone home safely, every day, everywhere with no exception.
The Finance Director Mr. Hezron Musonda, echoed Oswald’s comments praising employees for being agile and demonstrating prudent management of resources during the year. He praised the teams for a strong performance amid poor weather. Sugar production volume was adversely impacted due to the lingering effects of the drought dropping from 424,531 tonnes in 2024 to 372,328 tonnes. Sales volume also declined from 400,631 tonnes in 2024 to 315,120 tonnes. Despite a volume decrease, the revenue increased on account of optimising sales mix. He commended the commercial team for the robust sales mix both in the export and domestic markets. The Company focused on select export markets while leveraging the route to market to help penetrate new domestic markets, thanks to small formats including the new 70g packets under the favourite Whitespoon brand.
Oswald commended the factory teams that broke 25 performance records during the year, including highest cane crush per day and highest refined sugar production per day.
Oswald reaffirmed the Company’s position to meet its Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) Commitments. He stated that the Company was placing greater emphasis on ESG highlighting initiatives being implemented such as Green House Gas (GHG) Emissions reduction under Scope 1,2 &3, Efficient usage of abstracted water, Preservation of biodiversity & Soil Health, and maximizing usage of biomass energy.
Oswald called on staff to be proud of the work underway to fulfil social commitments. He highlighted Contractor Management and Employee wellness programmes, and the provision of decent housing on the estate, and a pathway to homeownership. Oswald also highlighted the Local Supplier Development initiative, enabling 22 contractors to graduate and be engaged to refurbish employee houses. He challenged employees to participate in community projects like Walk a Mile in my shoes done jointly with ZAMBEEF Products Plc.
Employees were pleased that projects being implemented were adding to productivity and growth. Oswald encouraged everyone to look to the future with great optimism and reaffirmed the commitment of the ABF Sugar division to both the company and the country. Demonstrating their confidence through recent and planned multi-million dollar investment projects including; the Twazabuka warehouse project, innovative irrigation projects, the upgraded Falling Film Evaporator and the latest power plant expansion project phase 1 moving capacity from 40MW to 53 MW due to be completed by Q4 2026. All of these projects are contributing to a more efficient, customer-focused operation focused on sustainable growth.
