The Uchumi board parted ways with CEO Jonathan Ciano last week. Photo/ FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 19 – Suppliers of Uchumi Supermarkets Limited should expect to receive their payments in the next 90 days, Board Chairperson Khadija Mire has pledged.
Mire assured that Uchumi will pay 50 percent of debts owed for longer than 90 days within two weeks and the rest in three months.
The company has secured funds worth Sh500 million from their bankers.
“The amount will be used to pay part of the debts as we finalise the disposal of non-core assets worth over Shs2 billion to pay the remainder of the debt,” she said.
The company has also advertised the CEO and CFO positions which became vacant following the sacking of Jonathan Ciano and Chadwick Okumu respectively.
The two were dismissed because of ‘gross misconduct and gross negligence’ allegations earlier this month.
Ciano is largely attributed to the revival of the retailer which had gone into receivership nine years ago but cleared most of its debts and went back to trading at the NSE in 2011.
Mire is however adamant on beginning a rebuilding process and getting business going on as usual. She stated that the company will discuss with all the suppliers and agree on repayments plans.
Besides advertising for the positions, Mire announced that Uchumi will over the next few weeks engage a consultant to review their business model as well as their ongoing expansion that will enable them to have the right strategy, processes and people in place to drive the business.
