Tanzania Breweries Limited (TBL)
Tanzania Breweries Limited (TBL), on Thursday started officially using the national bar-code technology to make its brands in the market display the place of origin.
The move makes TBL the first brewery to acquire the bar code while ending its dependency on South Africa for the bar code that was certainly costly to the brewing firm. Before having the GS1 (TZ) National Limited, businesses were buying the bar code from Kenya, South Africa and Denmark, a move described by some experts as unnecessarily expensive.
TBL becomes the 127th firm and makes a total of 1,800 products in the market using bar code. The Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (TCCIA) President Mr Aloys Mwamanga said in Dar es Salaam that the TBL move would have positive impact on both production and revenue generations.
“Apart from cutting unnecessary expenses, the move to acquire the national bar code will make country’s produced goods compete in the foreign markets reflecting more revenues and increased production,” he remarked. With the bar-code, one can trace the manufacturer, the date the goods were manufactured, where they were manufactured and the contents or ingredients used in the products.
The Bar code technology is also cited as an effective mechanism in curbing counterfeits that plunges the nation into losses of billion of shillings. It’s estimated that the government loses between 600bn/- and 900bn/- annually due to tax evasions related to counterfeit and substandard goods.
TBL corporate affairs and legal director Mr Stephen Kilindo said the brewer’s decision to acquire Tanzania’s bar code has opened a new chapter for the company in a market that is growing competitive every now and again. A representative from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Marketing Mr Odilo Majengo said the brewer’s move would not only reduce the costs of doing business but also depict a positive image in both domestic and foreign markets.
Mr Majengo appealed to other beverage firms and the business community to acquire the bar code technology in order to accrue multiple benefits to their firms. In the meantime, the Machozi Band under Judith Wambura became the first company in the music industry to adopt the bar code thus calling off losses currently incurred by the artists in the market.
The Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF) Acting Executive Director Mr Godfrey Simbeye commended Ms Wambura for the move, while challenging other artists to acquire the bar code technology to protect them from losses due to duplications of their works.
By SEBASTIAN MRINDOKO, Tanzania Daily News
