OAITSE MATHALA
Sheldon Archibald, Co-founder and also Vice President of Wandering Shepherd says a significant number of jobs will be created during the construction of the Wireless Rumen Bolus (WRB) manufacturing plant, as well as permanent jobs during production and distribution phases when the plant is fully operational. Speaking in an interview with Gazette Business a few days after the official launch of the WRB a fortnight ago, Archibald said though he could not be certain about figures, “there are jobs that will be created during construction. The distribution and implementation phase will also provide a significant number of jobs.”
He noted that they are currently in the planning phase of distribution. “We are still looking at some logistics of distribution, we are looking at the transportation and shipping logistics of the product,” he said. Though Botswana has a population of just two million people and about three million cattle, Archibald is confident that there will be massive production of the Wandering Shepherd Africa because there are other countries with larger population of cattle that have shown interest in the product.
“Distribution won’t be targeting Botswana market only, the three million cattle in Botswana are going to benefit from this and we will also look at other countries that are interested in this, that will be significant towards production. Kenya has 17 million (cattle), Nigeria has 30 million and Swaziland has 14 million, that gives you an idea of how much production is going to be made,” said the Canadian. He highlighted that the manufacturing plant should be running by year end.
Wandering Shepherd Africa Group Coordinator, Emmanuel Motlhatlhedi said the period between now and midyear is strictly reserved for piloting. “We will be running through pilot programmes, we are waiting for potential pilot clients from around the region,” he said. The Company notes that there is no expertise in the region with regards to the WRB, therefore they will conduct pre-start-up, on-job and production training. They will also conduct some awareness and educational seminar-like setups for the public to teach them about the processes and how the device works.
Meanwhile, Motlhatlhedi has indicated that the Department of Wildlife has also shown interest in the device. He told Gazette Business that they had a meeting with the Director of Wildlife a while ago and “they were looking for a solution for wildlife.”