Savanna Tobacco

Savanna’s journey of success began in 2002 when the company purchased a tobacco threshing plant in Harare, Zimbabwe. Savanna reconditioned the machinery and started processing and packaging cigarette stems and selling them to a number of cigarette factories around the world in countries such as. Within the first two years of operation, the company had sold over three million kg of farm stems.  By this time the directors of Savanna had already identified an opportunity to value add Zimbabwean Tobaccos into quality cigarettes for the export market.  

In December of 2003, equipment consisting of a KDF Filter maker, a Protos 80 cigarette maker and a Metro cigarette packer arrived at the company’s factory and the first brand, Pacific Blue, was launched on the market in 2004.  This was quickly followed by the launch of Pacific Storm and Pacific Mist in 2005 and Breeze in 2006.  The Pegasus range was then also launched in 2007. Since then the company has never looked back.  From an average monthly output of 3000 master cartons in 2004 the company now (2008) produces between 18 000 and 21000 master cartons per month. When the factory started, it was manned by six South African Technicians and about sixty Zimbabweans.  To-date, the expatriates have all, except for one, been replaced by locals and the total staff complement stands at 220 permanent employees and hundreds of seasonal and casual employees. Savanna’s latest acquisition is a FOCKE 350 packing machine which has vastly increased the company’s packing capabilities as well as the look and feel of our finished products.