Africa-Press – Uganda. Bata Uganda, a footwear store, has resumed operations in Jinja City, three years after it closed.
The brand, which is a household name among school-going children and corporates, has been closed since 2020, following a restructuring process and Covid-19 aftershocks that affected several business entities.
Bata country manager Danson Kahiga tells that “unprecedented effects of the pandemic didn’t spare Bata Uganda, which has over 40 stores across that country.
“By end of 2019, the company had to restructure and Jinja store was one of those whose operations we suspended at the time,” Kahiga said in an interview on Tuesday.
For the past three years, it remained unclear if the company would operate a new store until November 6 when the footwear store reopened its doors to the public at its location on Main Street.
According to Kahiga, Jinja District and Busoga region is one of their main key business hubs and a gateway to Uganda’s east.
“With the newly opened state-of-the-art branch, our customers in Jinja should expect excellent service delivery and high-tech fashionable footwear for all – especially school shoes, industrial and safety shoes, agricultural and farm protective wear, accessories and many more,” he added.
Bata Uganda has so far opened ten branches in 2023 alone, the latest being Jinja, and the business targets opening at least ten branches every year.
Bata Uganda retails manager Yusuf Wasswa observed that opening the footwear store in Jinja City brings relief to customers who were accessing their products from Kampala.
“Luckily, Bata is a household name and our customers are still there,” he said, adding that “the new store is in a spacious facility and will offer variety for every customer who enters.”
Bata Corporation was once touted as the world’s leading shoemaker by volume, with a retail presence of more than 5,300 shops in more than 70 countries and production facilities in 18 countries.
In Uganda, the corporation had maintained a presence and considerable market share in Jinja City for more than 30 years prior to its closure in 2020.
In August 2006, Bata Uganda closed its factory in Kampala due to inefficient machinery and an unbearable energy crisis, fueling uncertainty about whether it intended to retain presence in the country.
Then Bata managing director Paul Jacubec confirmed the closure of the manufacturing plant, saying they “were now a trading company and not into manufacturing.”
‘Family shoes’
Speaking on November 13, 2023, Simon Wejuli, a technical advisor in the health sector, said Bata is synonymous with long-lasting shoes.
“I remember my mother buying me shoes from Bata that took me almost five years. Their shoes are built for Africa,” Wejuli said, noting that for the past ten years, he has been buying shoes for his nursery and secondary school kids from Bata.
For teacher Jenipher Mamayi, Bata is spot on in availing “family shoes”.
She said: “I had a sister in Senior Four while I was in Primary Two, but we all used her shoes. I was the last person to use her pair at Nabumali High School. It was a family shoe.”
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