Things are openly going to be tough as Jubilee dives in badmouthing politics of whose theatrics are leading in the scramble to loot the coffers. And just like the fallen giant Nakumatt started in early 2016, another one of Kenya’s major retailer Tusker Mattresses Limited has announced plans to lay off some of its employees in various departments over reduced profitability.
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“As such the company has embarked on a process of restructuring its operations to ensure financial viability. This has been orchestrated by a drop in sales and in customer numbers even as the Kenyan retail sector continues to experience growth with the entry of big multinational players,” said Tuskys General Manager in charge of Human Resource, Francis Kimani in a letter to one of the affected employees.
The loss-making firm has said starting from March, they will be firing most of their staff to reduce the wage bill in the tough economy that has proved to be vicious for any big business installation. The most affected staff are those attached in the facilities department who will be declared redundant in a month’s time, effective March 19, 2020.
“Regretfully, you are among the employees whom Tusker Mattresses Limited can no-longer continue to offer employment and will terminate your employment contract with effect from March 19, 2020, on account of redundancy,” reads one of the letters copied to the Nairobi Labour Office and the Secretary-General to the Kenya Union of Commercial, Food and Allied Workers (KUCFAW).
The retailer has already started issuing redundancy letters to affected employees. The family-owned supermarket has 65 branches across the country and in Uganda. In addition, it has a staff base of over 6,000 employees.
“The first thing would be to improve our internal governance structure. We would need to ensure that our structure can withstand public scrutiny upon listing. Our goal would be to present a well-capitalized company to investors as we wouldn’t want to be confronted by the suggestion that we are only listing for money,” Tusker Mattresses Limited Dan Githua said while maintaining that their financial position remains private as a non-listed company
Tuskys joins an increasing number of companies which, responding to policy changes and a tough business environment, have opted for this move to remain afloat. The supermarket’s problems were thrown into an inferno when NTV aired an Expose that revealed that meat samples at undisclosed supermarkets contained high levels of Sodium Metabisulfite.
Nairobi County health officials raided Tuskys on Kenyatta Avenue for selling meat allegedly found to contain harmful additives after a laboratory test on a sample of meat sold at Naivas Supermarket at Gateway Mall in Mavoko was allegedly found to contain a harmful additive.
