(3 minutes read)
· Africa’s largest food retailer headquartered in South Africa, Shoprite, has sold its Nigerian operations, lock, stock and barrel to a company owned by a group of local investors led by property firm Persianas Investment, Ketron. Shoprite has been operating in Nigeria for the last 16 years
· Under the new management, the retail giant would operate on a franchise model. Earlier, it was operating on an ownership model
· Shoprite has 25 outlets in eight states and is approved by Nigeria’s federal competition and consumer protection commission.
· It is the latest South African business to pull out from Nigeria. The reasons are said to be supply-chain disruptions and repatriation issues
Africa’s largest food retailer headquartered in South Africa, Shoprite, has sold its Nigerian operations, lock, stock and barrel to a company owned by a group of local investors led by property firm Persianas Investment, Ketron. Shoprite has been operating in Nigeria for the last 16 years. Under the new management, the retail giant would operate on a franchise model. Earlier, it was operating on an ownership model.
Shoprite has 25 outlets in eight states and is approved by Nigeria’s federal competition and consumer protection commission. It is the latest South African business to pull out from Nigeria. The reasons are said to be supply-chain disruptions and repatriation issues. Of late, there were frictions between Nigeria and South Africa triggered by locals’ attacks in South Africa on Nigerian traders and workers. Nigerian citizens retaliated by indulging in vandalizing shops and business entities of South Africans in the West African country.
The business entity-Ketron- will open new Shoprite outlets and display more Nigerian-made products. Shoprite has 2.843 supermarkets operating in 15 countries and boasts of 35 million customers on the African continent and in the Indian Ocean islands.
Earlier, business outfits like Mr. Price Group, Woolworths and Truworths International had wound up their operations in Nigeria indirectly hinting at difficulties in carrying out the businesses.
