When you are trying to keep a retail outfit afloat amid hyperinflation, it helps to have a sideline. "We had a business selling crocodile skins to Hermes and Gucci for shoes and handbags," says John Koumides, chief executive of Innscor, a conglomerate based in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare. The currency earned from this exotic export was a lifeline for the firm's other arms, including its spar stores, when Zimbabwe's shops were short of stock in 2008 as its currency collapsed.
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