Etosha Fishing nets in big at National Quality Awards
Etosha Fishing Corporation won three of the five large enterprise categories, including Company of the Year, Exporter of the Year and Product of the Year at the recently held 6th Annual National Quality Awards hosted by the Namibian Standards Institution (NSI).
The company managed the same feat in 2015 and 2017, with the recent achievement coming as Etosha Fishing prepares to celebrate their 5th anniversary, with the launch of its home-grown EFUTA Maasbanker canned product in December.
The mainstay of the company’s business remains the canning of pilchards for world-leading brands such as Lucky Star and Glenryck-SA.
Etosha Fishing is one of the few manufacturers that imports raw product to be processed on local soil before being exported again, earning valuable foreign currency for the country.
Against the backdrop of a dwindling local pelagic resource in recent years and the subsequent moratorium placed on pilchard catches, Etosha Fishing has imported in excess of 50,000 metric tons of frozen pilchards for processing on local soil since 2010 in order to sustain business.
“Etosha Fishing operates in a business environment where its largest customer is the market leader for canned fish in Southern Africa. The Lucky Star canned pilchard product sells at a premium price in the market due to its image of product quality. Lucky Star has clearly identified needs not only through adherence to regulatory requirements, but in product specifications that exceed the minimum requirements of the regulator,” said Etosha Fishing Managing Director, Pieter Greeff.
He added that Etosha’s cannery is a world leader in processing and automation, noting that no other cannery in Southern Africa has the advanced automated equipment used for processing fish and quality monitoring.
The NSI Quality Awards programme was introduced in 2012 with the aim of honouring companies that contribute to quality advancement in all sectors of the Namibian economy by having measurements and quality systems, procedures and processes in place that are in line with local, regional and international practices.
Caption: Fisheries Minister, Bernard Esau, recently visited the Etosha Fishing Corporation canning facility with the launch of its new EFUTA Maasbanker curry flavour product.
