Nakumatt has opened its 64th branch in Kigali, Rwanda. The new Nakumatt Kagugu Supermarket covering a shop floor space of more than 5,000 square feet and located at Merez Centre Kagugu pushes the retailer’s branch footprint in Rwanda to three branches. Nakumatt Holdings Managing Director Atul Shah reiterated the firm’s commitment to deepening the value of the regional formal retail trade.
Nakumatt is considering the regional importation of popular products such as Arabica Coffee, Macadamia Oil and the Akabanga hot Chili sauce, Sabana chili sauce and Nyungwe honey.
Such unique Rwandan products will be stocked in Nakumatt branches in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Similar initiatives will be undertaken to ensure the stocking of unique products from other east African countries within the Nakumatt network. “We are restructuring the business to continue playing a pivotal role in the regional retail space by providing a market platform across the region for local produce,” Mr Shah assured.
Nakumatt opened its first Supermarket (Nakumatt UTC) in Rwanda in 2008 followed by a Hypermarket outlet (Nakumatt KTC) in 2011 and has continued to enjoy steady growth in the fast developing nation.
The National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) reported a growth of 7.3 per cent in the first quarter before slowing down to 5.4 per cent in the second quarter of 2016. The World Bank had, at the beginning of the year, projected the country’s economy to grow by 6.8 per cent this year, and rebound in 2017 to 7.2 percent.
Rwanda has also continued to show business attraction progress and is now ranked at 56th position out of 190 countries in the Ease of Doing Business in the 2017 rankings. Rwanda was the 2nd easiest place to do business coming 7 positions closer to Mauritius, ranking on the first spot in Africa and 49th globally.
With the opening of its 64th branch in Kigali, Rwanda, Nakumatt now has a branch complement of 47branches in Kenya, 3 in Rwanda, 5 in Tanzania and 9 in Uganda.
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