Businesses prepare for the festive season

Sharon Chikowore

AS the year comes to an end, after the Covid-19 pandemic, business people are busy and in
joyous mood preparing for the festive season, which traditionally is the time they make brisk
business.
Covid-19 destroyed and disrupted almost everything. People were forced to stay indoors
since the pandemic started. Business people were affected as sales went down and it became
hard for many people to survive as sources of income dried up.
This is the first normal festive season during which people will not be under strict orders to
follow Covid-19 protocols requiring wearing of masks, social distancing and hand sanitising.
In an interview, the owner of Tee Cee cakes, Tsitsi Chirowodza, who is looking forward to
the festive season, says she is expecting people will order cakes to complement their
celebrations, and because people are allowed to have gatherings, they have already started
receiving orders.
“Since the pandemic, my cake business had gone down because only a few people could ask
for cakes as gatherings were prohibited, but for this year I have high hopes because already I
have started receiving orders for the festive season and I am sure I will revert back to where I
was before the pandemic struck. As Christmas time gets nearer I am going to need more
hands so that I catch up with the orders,” she explained.
Tinotenda Rusike, who is into clothing business and owns a boutique in Chinhoyi CBD, said
they had already stocked new clothes and were prepared for the festive season as they were
expecting a huge turn around to the business after experiencing difficulty times with Covid-
19.
“Covid-19 made everything bad in clothing business, but I am happy that this time around it
is going to be different. I have already stocked different types of clothing for every age group,
but especially for young children because mostly they are always in a mood to celebrate
Christmas with new clothes. I do believe that the money I used to purchase the stock will
grab it together with profits during this festive season.
“I have already hired two helpers and I am already training them on how business is run, how
to handle customers, how to advertise and create a conducive environment and to minimise
virus transmission during business so that I won’t lose any customers,” said Rusike.
Wintanah Katsvamutima, who has a bottle store in town, said they were getting prepared and
would rely on the distributors.
“Covid-19 era, yes we were affected but we had supplies from Delta, which meant we
continued business. It got hard when restrictions from Government became strict but as
people who survive on selling alcohol we had to do what needed to be done.

We have started preparing. Delta being the only sole distributor for lagers and Chibuku and
Afdis for ciders, wines, brandy and a whole variety, we have to rely on them for a steady
delivery system as there is an increased numbers of people drinking beer.”