MBABANE – The Royal Eswatini Sugar Corporation (RESCorp) awarded 107 tenders worth E1.068 billion to local companies during the 2024/25 financial year.
This reflects on the corporation’s, commitment to empowering emaSwati businesses.
According to the company’s 2024/25 integrated report, a total of 165 tenders were awarded to 120 local and foreign companies. While locals received the bulk of the procurement, foreign companies were awarded 58 tenders valued at E464.2 million.
RESCorp stated that during the next reporting period, it aims to review its procurement and tender policies to align with the Simama Wenabe +2B 2030 Strategy.
Planned initiatives include the establishment of an interactive supplier platform and the adoption of procurement AI tools to enhance efficiency and transparency.
The corporation reported that it had successfully migrated its enterprise resource planning system from SAP ECC to SAP S/4HANNA during 2024/25. However, challenges arose as open purchase orders had to be migrated manually, leading to delayed supplier payments.
To strengthen compliance, the company also introduced a document checklist for new vendor applications, which reduced non-responsive applications from 47 per cent to 13 per cent.
Meanwhile, RESCorp cautioned that geopolitical factors are likely to feature strongly in the 2025/26 financial year, with the world still grappling with tariff-related uncertainty. Sugar markets are expected to remain under significant pressure, while currencies face higher-than-normal volatility.
In 2024/25, both sugar and ethanol delivered price increases that were below inflation and projections for 2025/26 suggest the same trend.
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Set to upgrade aged IT infrastructure
MBABANE – Looking ahead to 2025/26, RESCorp plans to allocate a portion of its capital budget towards upgrading aged IT infrastructure.
The company also intends to activate unused features within SAP S/4HANNA and SuccessFactors, enhance internal support structures and expand the use of data-driven tools, including divisional dashboards.
RESCorp confirmed that there are no new growth projects approved for 2025/26. Energy projects remain under review, as the configuration of mills and proposed power stations must be carefully evaluated before of any new capital expenditure is initiated.
The company stated that the remaining approved projects are expected to be completed during the new financial year.
Some initiatives have been earmarked for its ethanol business, but given the low cash generation base, management has opted for caution, holding back on aggressive expansion.
*Full article available in our publication.
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