THE Buy Zimbabwe campaign is being taken to Bulawayo schools by Inotec, and last week visited Mzilikazi Primary to promote a mindset change that foreign products were better than locally- produced goods.
BATANAI MUTASA OWN CORRESPONDENT
Inotec is the Buy Zimababwe representative in the southern region of the country.
Mzilikazi became the 10th school to host the promotion where various companies, including Tanganda, Eversharp, Lobels, Probrands, N Richards, Kango and Huletts showcased their products to pupils in a bid to inculcate local brands in them while they are still young.
Inotec head of marketing and stakeholder relations Sehlule Ncube said the initiative to visit schools was in addition to last year’s mission that targeted adults in communities.
“Kids have a lot of influence on how goods are purchased in families and we realised that it would be a miscalculation to ignore them,” Ncube said.
“We carried out research on how much a child takes to school as pocket money and saw that on average a child spends 50 cents per day.
“So if all children sought local products with their money, companies would still benefit and that could go a long way in keeping them viable,” she added.
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Ncube said the effort was basically to position local brands in children’s minds and subsequently influence parents to adopt local preferences.
Speaking at the campaign, Eversharp representative Sithabile Muteliso applauded Buy Zimbabwe for helping them regain market share in the country.
“The greatest threat to our business has been fake Eversharp pens which invaded the market and with such campaigns, we are now able to teach people the disadvantages of buying such products,” Muteliso said.
“It was unfortunate that we only realised what was happening late. However, with such efforts, even informal traders are embracing our arguments. I passed through Gweru and at the bus terminus they have banned peddlers of fake pens.”
Tanganda Company representative Rejoice Zulu reiterated Muteliso’s statements saying targeting children was a well calculated gesture.
“I visited a relative over the weekend and she actually told me how her child is now always particular on where products have been manufactured because she got the message to buy local from school. That school had hosted such a campaign,” Zulu said.
“Children are so forceful when they believe something and parents will definitely be influenced.”
The Buy Zimbabwe campaign in schools started on February 20 and is set to run up to March 31.
