Choppies Enterprises Limited is a

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

multinational supermarket retailer headquartered in Gaborone, Botswana. The retailer initially sold only food-based goods (both fresh groceries and wholesale long-life foods) and other fast-moving consumer goods. By 2024, Choppies had 161 stores in 4 countries. Choppies became a listed company on the

Botswana Stock Exchange The Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) is a stock exchange located in Gaborone, Botswana. The Botswana share market was established in 1989 and became the Botswana Stock Exchange in 1994. It is governed by the Botswana Stock Exchange Act. The BSE ha ...

on January 26, 2012, and is a constituent of the BSE Domestic Company Index with an approximate market capitalization of P2.4 billion as of December 20, 2012.

History

Choppies was founded in 1986 with one supermarket named Wayside Supermarket (Proprietary) Limited in

Lobatse Lobatse is a town in south-eastern Botswana, 70 kilometres south of the capital Gaborone, situated in a valley running north towards Gaborone and close to the border with South Africa. Lobatse has a population of 29,772 as of 2022. The town is ...

by the Chopdat family, with a second store opening in 1993. In 1999 the company had only two stores. Since 1999 the company grew to become the dominant leader in the fast-moving consumer good industry in Botswana. The management team includes the founding members of Choppies, Mr. Farouk Ismail who is the current Deputy Chairman and Mr. Ramachandaran Ottapathu who is the current CEO. They are also the major shareholders with each holding 34.2% of the company's shares. In 2003 the group consolidated into one structure. It previously franchised under different names. Due to its exponential growth since 1999, there was demand for the company to become listed on the nation's stock market. The management team eventually agreed, and the company became listed on January 26, 2012. The company hired

Grant Thornton Grant Thornton is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the seventh-largest in the world by revenue and the sixth-largest by number of employees. The network consists of independent accounting an ...

to manage the administration front of the firm's

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

, with 1.2 billion shares being listed at an offer price of BWP 1.15 per share, with 25% going into the hands of the public. The IPO was the largest on the Botswana Stock Exchange raising P350 million in both the IPO and the private placement, with the shares being oversubscribed by up to 400%. In 2008, the first store in

Zeerust Zeerust is a commercial town situated in the Ngaka Modiri Molema district of North West Province, South Africa. It lies in the Marico valley, approximately 240 kilometres northwest of Johannesburg. It lies on the N4, the main road link betwee ...

, South Africa was opened there by expanding in the north west region. South African distribution centre opened in September 2012 in

Rustenburg Rustenburg (; , Afrikaans and Dutch language, Dutch: ''City of Rest'') is a town at the foot of the Magaliesberg mountain range. Rustenburg is the most populous city in North West (South African province), North West province, South Africa (549 ...

to serve the South African stores. 2014 was the year when the group opened its first distribution centre in Zimbabwe. The company also completed its secondary listing on the

Johannesburg Stock Exchange JSE Limited (previously the JSE Securities Exchange and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange) is the largest stock exchange in Africa. It is located in Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa, after it moved from downtown Johannesburg in 2000. In 2003 ...

on May 27, 2015. By the end of 2015 Zambian operations began and in early 2016 saw the acquisition of Jwayelani group in

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

, South Africa. Kenyan acquisition of Ulkwala group was also carried out in early 2016. As part of long term growth plan the group opened its first store in Tanzania and Mozambique in 2017. In 2020, Choppies closed its stores in South Africa, Mozambique, Kenya and Tanzania. By 2024, Choppies had 161 stores in 4 countries.

Operations

Distribution and supply

Choppies'

distribution centre A distribution center for a set of products is a warehouse or other specialized building, often with refrigeration or air conditioning, which is stocked with products (goods) to be redistributed to retailers, to wholesalers, or directly to con ...

s function as a central sourcing for Choppies stores. The company's top 200 products are delivered in bulk to the distribution centres and then distributed from there to the stores. Other products are delivered from the source to the stores directly. Choppies operates two distribution centres in Botswana; one in the International Commerce Park in

Gaborone Gaborone ( , , ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Botswana, largest city of Botswana, with a population of 246,325 based on the 2022 census, about 10% of the total population of Botswana. Its metropolitan area is home to 534, ...

, and the other in Lobatse. A new 10,000m² Welldone (Proprietary) Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Choppies Group, is a logistics company that supports the day-to-day operations of the stores.

Criticism

Choppies has attracted criticism from the public in the past due to salary discrepancy. Employees such as cashiers and packers claim to earn less than P900 a month, whilst executives such as the CEO and Deputy Chairman earn more than P30 000 000.00 per annum. This has attracted outrage as the company is historically very profitable yet is not rewarding the lower-skilled workers on terms they consider fair to their efforts.

References

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External links