Hybrid Poultry Poised for Further Success
ZAMBIA - It was a real privilege to be present at the 50th anniversary celebrations of Hybrid Poultry in Lusaka, Zambia in June, writes by Roy Mutimer, general manager of Cobb Europe.Mr Mutimer writes that this is an outstanding commercial milestone and it was clear from the publicity surrounding the event that Hybrid have established themselves as a key player in the agricultural community and are widely recognised for their contribution to the Zambian economy. It was great that this milestone also coincided with the 10th anniversary of the partnership with Cobb as a grandparent distributor.
It was apparent to Mr Mutimer that Hybrid takes seriously its responsibilities to provide the population with an affordable source of protein. It was also fantastic to learn of their strong commitment to train and develop their team members to ensure the long-term security and growth of the company. The extremely impressive performance from their Cobb 500 grandparents shows the value of this training regime.
The Cobb genetic potential has contributed to Hybrid's overall success and it is a real credit to Hybrid's team that they have managed to capture this advantage to the benefit of themselves and their wide customer base.
In addition to investing in their people, Hybrid continues to make very significant investments in their facilities, as shown by the recently completed upgrades to their processing plant and the acquisition of a large, isolated ‘green field’ site for construction of their new grandparent farm.
Fuelled by copper exports, the Zambian economy is in a healthy state and this makes Hybrid well positioned to take advantage of future development opportunities. That said, Hybrid have really posed our geneticists a challenge in terms of developing a bigger bird with the statue they have erected on a roundabout in Lusaka, as shown.
Mr Mutimer thanked Richard Keeley and the rest of his team for the outstanding hospitality they extended to the Cobb visitors during their visit and wish them every future success as they continue to build on their impressive achievements.
Although Mr Mutimer writes that he somehow doubt he will be around, he is extremely confident that someone will be drafting a similarly upbeat article about Hybrid's centenary celebrations in 2061!