brewing activities of the new busi
ness were brought together in
Brazzaville in the former Brasserie de
Brazzaville. The Kronenbourg brew
ery was partly dismantled; the brew
ing hall was closed down, as were
the storage cellars. The bottling
department is now used for bottling
soft drinks.
The brewery in Brazzaville has
almost 300 employees. They work a
seven-day week in three shifts. A
fourth team works on the dayshift in
the soft drinks factory. A small brew
ery, with a capacity of 200,000 hi, is
located at Pointe Noire on the coast.
This brewery serves the consumers
in the region. This region has an off
shore oil industry and is an impor
tant market for Brasseries du Congo,
but it is difficult to reach from
Brazzaville because of the poor
infrastructure.
Personnel turnover is negligible
and that is not surprising in view of
the good employment conditions
offered by Brasseries du Congo. The
brewery has its own medical depart
ment and pays for the health
Entertainment at one of the
outlets in the capital Brazzaville.
12
care costs of the personnel and also
of their families. Mr Bour: "Officially
we have to pay 37.5 of the medical
costs. So we go much further than
the government requires of us. Other
foreign companies operate similar
schemes, but they don't go as far as
ours. But this does mean that our
personnel costs are enormously
high."
DIFFERENCES IN CULTURE
The first two years after the merger
were not easy. There were big differ
ences in culture between the two
companies and it took Mr Bour some
time to reduce those differences. One
of the ways he did this was to create
a blend of teams, consisting of peo
ple with different backgrounds. He
also made sure that the differences in
working conditions between the two
breweries were gradually eliminated.
It will take some time before it is pos
sible to describe it as one company,
but the main steps in that direction
have already been taken. Gerard
Bour: "The sales representatives, for
instance, still find it difficult to sell a
product which they formerly fought
strongly against. The Primus reps
now also have to sell Ngok and vice
versa. I can imagine that this can
lead to confusion."
Mr Bour warns that the brewery
will need to put its brands on a solid
footing before the end of the year,
since he fears that competition from
abroad will increase as from 1997.
"At the moment import beers are
subject to 30% import duties plus
30% extra taxes which are intended
as a protective measure for the local
brewing industry. As from 1 January
next year the protection of the brew
ing industry will be abolished and
the country will probably become
interesting for foreign brewers. We
are busy arming ourselves to fight
that competition, for instance by
devoting attention to the training
and education of our sales force."
ANIMATEURS
That sales force in Congo consists of
a number of representatives, promo-
teurs and animateurs. The represen
tatives concentrate on visits to whole
sale customers. The animateurs are
the people who have to arrange for
entertainment in the outlets. They
organise promotions and entertain
the guests with their jokes. In brief,
they help to create a lively party
atmosphere. Sometimes they put on
a dance act which is greeted by much
hilarity and roars of laughter. During
such an event there is strong atten
tion for the brand, which is the main
focus of such an evening.
A Primus promotion with two
dancers in front of a bar not only
attracts hundreds of spectators along
the roadside but also draws many
people into the bar to drink a Primus.
Particularly during the weekends a
lot of promotions are held in combi
nation with a lucky draw. T-shirts,
openers and other small prizes are
handed out and are eagerly received
by the participants.
