Boardroom squabbles with the chairman and former Botswana President, Festus Mogae over the direction and running of the company led to the suspension of its co-founder Ramachandran Ottapathu in May 2019. Ottapathu, who hails from Kerala in southern India, came to Botswana as an accountant in 1992, at the Wayside supermarket the then ailing predecessor to Choppies. By 1997, he reportedly turned the company’s balance sheet to profits and in 1999 the company opened its first superstore in Gaborone. Ottapathu took over as CEO of the company in 2000.By 2015 the company recorded a turn over of $533 and by 2016 it had 170 stores across Botswana South Africa and Zimbabwe. “Africa is an addiction. I don’t even want my dead body to go out,” he was quoted by Forbes Africa
Botswana’s leading supermarket chain, Choppies has announced its plans to exit its operations in South Africa either in whole or part. The retail giant which has stores in Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique entered South Africa in 2008 and got listed on the JSE in 2015, The company started facing severe operational turbulence in recent months. After PwC uncovered several accounting irregularities which delayed-release of its annual financial statements, JSE suspended the trading of its shares in November 2018. The Botswana Stock The exchange also suspended the company.
An extraordinary general meeting, of the company, is expected to be held in September. There are speculations that Festus Mogae would be stepping down as chair and director after the company’s Annual General Meeting, due later this year.
