Local appliance manufacturer Mellerware says it’s doubled the number of its employees at its factory in Parow, Cape Town.
This comes two months after closing an exclusive deal with the Shoprite Group.
The local manufacturer, founded in a garage in the mid-1980's, now employs more than 50 people with over 70% being female, at its facility which produces an exclusive range of small household appliances for the Shoprite group.
The range of Mellerware Basics appliances including kettles and hot plates, retailing from as little as R149.99, is available exclusively at Shoprite, Checkers, and Usave supermarkets nationwide.
Maude Modise, General Manager: Enterprise & Supplier Development at the Group, said, “The Shoprite Group is committed to increasing localisation of goods, delivering quality products at great value and reducing our environmental impact. Our partnership with Mellerware ticks all of these boxes.”
"This exclusive partnership with the Shoprite group has enabled us to uplift the local community by developing skills and creating employment, as well as make quality but affordable small appliances more accessible to consumers through their supermarkets,” says Aidan de Vos, Managing Director of Creative Housewares of which Mellerware is the original brand.
It has also drastically reduced the number of imported appliances available from the Group’s stores, in its continued efforts to source locally and create employment opportunities as far as possible.
BUSINESS REPORT