A LUCKY Gweru couple got a pleasant January surprise when they won a brick-making machine from Pretoria Portland Cement (PPC) Zimbabwe last Friday.
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Nyasha and Luke Nyajeka won a raffle draw held by the cement manufacturer at its Bulawayo office.
PPC conducted free training workshops nationwide to educate brick-makers to use Surebuild cement, a high-strength mix, to make bricks and entered all the people who attended their workshops in a raffle draw to win a manual brick-making machine.
The company conducted the draw without the knowledge of the workshop participants and only called the Nyajeka family with a surprise message that they had won a machine.
Surebuild is premium general purpose cement that is ideal for general building operations, structural concrete and the manufacture of cement-based products.
It is a mix which can produce up to 180 bricks per bag as compared to about 100 bricks from other cement products.
The brick-making machine won by the Nyajeka family can produce up to 6 000 bricks per day and is valued at R12 000.
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“We have been in the brick-making business for close to 10 years and have been doing it by hand, which is very difficult,” Nyasha told Southern Eye Business.
“I am at a loss for words because I never expected this.
“This machine will not only boost our business in terms of numbers we can produce per day, but it will attract more customers because some people prefer dealing with brick-makers with machines. In the past some have left us because we would delay in delivering an order.”
Nyasha said their turnover was usually eight bags per day, but that would increase phenomenally as a result of the machine.
The brick-making machine does not require any fuel or electricity to operate.
PPC area manager for sales and marketing Nkosana Mapuma said the initiative was aimed at conscientising people about Surebuild cement, which is a relatively new product on the Zimbabwean market.
