“We Are Here To Stay” Bata Shoe Company Responds To Shut Down Rumors amid Tough Economy

Bata Shoe Company PLC has refuted claims of a possible shutdown anytime soon saying it has no plans of closing its operations and if anything it intends to continue servicing its customers as it has been doing for the last decades.

“Fake News. Bata is not shutting down operations in Kenya,” the grand shoemaker in Kenya wrote on twitter after rumors of its likely shutdown hit the social media platforms.

“We are here to stay,” Bata stated encouraging Kenyans to visit their shops countrywide for new fresh festive shoe designs as festivities kick off in most parts of the World.

FAKE NEWS. Bata is not shutting down operations in Kenya.

— Bata Shoe Kenya P.L.C (@Batakenya) November 15, 2019

Bata has been on the receiving end for some time now as a majority of its clientele has complained on the quality of their shoes saying it is no longer as lasting as it once was.

Bata shoes have in recent times been criticized for poor quality that make them smelly, sweaty and easy to fade and tear yet exaggerated prices making them lose the social class they were once held in.

Please please, stick to your previous quality. It’s what made us love you. Leave the Eastleigh quality alone, your customers know the difference.

— Radar (@rwkariuki) November 15, 2019

Bata Shoe Company is currently faced with a myriad of challenges that include hefty competition in the market with new, cheaper selling shops making way into the market with cheaper imports.

As it has always been in Kenya, it is cheaper to import ready made products than manufacture our own, as a country, as the exploitive taxes make it impossible.

Bata has been strong to last the decades and the market is definitely getting tougher on it considering that technology is making too easy for Kenyans to import at cheaper prices and it is probably time, in the spirit of promoting local companies that the Kenyan government reviews its levies on local manufacturers.

For Bata and other local manufacturers to be at per with their imported competitor shops, the economic environment ought to be fair, the policies need to be re-checked and the levies reviewed.

Bata Shoe Company is not closing and it should be every Kenyan’s wish that they never closing as if indeed it happened, Kenyans who would get affected would be numbered in millions.

From those in the industry, to the drivers who ensure the merchandise reaches all the shops in the Country to the customer executives who guide us to choose the right shoes for our feet and the teller who receives our money, Bata provides to masses.

At a time when companies are shutting down, retrenching and firing without a second thought, the government needs to take a second look at the Small Medium

Enterprises (SME’s) and review its levies having in mind that they are indeed the majority employers in the country.

Any serious government understands Manufacturing is one of it’s economic backbone.

Kenyan government these past years has been slowly killing manufacturing in Kenya.

More taxes + increased cost of production = Same product costing more. Terrible environment for manufacturing.

— estherkute (@estherkute) November 15, 2019