The K9 Pet Foods’ new 3 600 m² factory premises in the Western Cape was officially opened by Minister of Trade and Industry Dr Rob Davies on Friday 19 May.
He commended the company’s Managing Director, Fazielah Allie, Financial Director Candice Stewart, who hails from Atlantis, and Operations Director Shireen Davids as shining examples of the transformation that government can achieve through its Black Industrialists programme, with the support of the private sector and the country’s development finance institutions.
After working in pet food production for 20 years, Allie purchased a small and struggling business specialising in frozen pet food in 2014. She then approached Woolworths in the hopes of turning her new business around by securing a partnership agreement.
“Our priority was to leverage a pet food opportunity to advance our import replacement strategy that seeks to replace providers of imported products and services with local black suppliers,” says Zinzi Mgolodela, Head of Transformation at Woolworths.
“Knowing Fazielah’s experience and entrepreneurial spirit, we recognised that there was an opportunity to partner with her with the aim of establishing a South African produced supply of our Woolworths branded canned and pouched pet food.”
Various customised interventions, including both financial and advisory support, help the entrepreneurs in the programme grow their businesses and create new jobs. Over the last three years, K9’s employee complement has grown from 11 to 32.
Thanks to the partnership agreement to supply Woolworths, Fazielah was able to secure much needed funding from Trade and Industry’s Black Industrialist’s Incentive Scheme to the value of R20 million, and an additional R31 million from the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC). This funding has been used to expand operations and buy the latest, state-of-the-art machinery, so the company can meet Woolworths’ production requirements.
With the opening of their new K9 pet food production facility in Montague Gardens, this trio of determined Cape Town women have set themselves on the entrepreneurial path to success in one the world’s top growth industries.
