OK Zimbabwe & the cautionary tale of missed opportunities

The initial premise of this report was completely different, we were going to look at the factors causing the decline of retail in Zimbabwe. However, in the course of research, we came across something that was said by Zimbabwe’s Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, George Guvamatanga about OK Zimbabwe, one of the country’s largest retailer/supermarket chains.

“How do you complain about a tuck shop which pays five times more per square meter rent, does not have access to credit, and buys all the goods in cash right, because they do not have any access to credit.” - George Guvamatanga (via Nehanda Radio in 2023)

This comment was directed to OK Zimbabwe’s upper management after its March 2023 Trading Update as well as the retailer’s CEO, Maxen Karombo who was bemoaning the currency situation in the country with regulated retailers having to navigate the government-mandated exchange rate while the informal market was not subject to it “benefitting” from the parallel market exchange rate. 

“The informal retailer is infamously using the black-market rate and marks the same products downwards causing ‘forced death’ on the formal retailer… Our major issue is the currency framework. With the passing of the elections and a new Cabinet being set, we really look forward to resolving this issue for the country to put us on a footing of assured stability.” - Maxen Karombo (via Nehanda Radio in 2023)