New multibillion supermarket opens

Dar es Salaam. A new supermarket has opened its doors to business in Tanzania. Established with about Sh100 billion in investment, the ‘Smart Buy Hypermarket’ is said to have what it takes to defy the odds and stay in business.

Jointly owned by a local investor, Rajab Semfuko, in partnership with an Indian national, Sam Siraj - through their Smart Ventures Company – the project employs over 40 workers.

The grand opening celebration of the supermarket located at the Palm Village Mall, was on Saturday graced by the minister of State in the President’s Office (Regional Administration and Local Government Authorities) Mr Selemani Jafo.

The new business enters the market at a time when other players in the market were finding the going tough, resulting into some foreign owned chains quitting the market.

Some supermarkets, which came and left after a poor business performance include South Africa’s Shoprite and Kenya’s Uchumi and Nakumatt.

However, the Smart Buy Hypermarket managing director, Mr Semfuko, vowed to beat the odds to strive, banking his hopes on working with locals who really understand the business environments.

“Unlike the supermarkets which failed to make it in the past, our company is managed by a local team, which is fully conversant with the Tanzanian business environment and consumer behavior, which in itself is a big advantage” noted Mr Semfuko.

“We believe in organic growth and because of this we have chosen a customer centric approach that ensures our customers get what they want.”

The Smart Buy Hypermarket partner, Mr Siraj, said despite the impact brought by the Covid-19 pandemic, the new entrant in the market is bringing customers an enjoyable one-stop shopping experience.

“We are excited for customers to enjoy the changes we have brought into the industry like affordable extensive product variety, most of which being local,” he said.

“We are ready to work with both small and large suppliers with a view to boosting local producers and making things easy for our customers to get their needs under one roof.”

If all goes well, the Smart Ventures Company is in future planning to open more branches in Dar es Salaam and extend its footprints to other regions like Dodoma.

For his part, Mr Jafo urged Smart Buy Hypermarket to embrace good customer service, quality and affordable products, if it was to stay in the market.