Another 400 smallholder cereal farmers and their 70 children have also benefited from the brewer’s community investments aimed at improving living standards of people in rural areas, SBL Managing Director, Mark Ocitti said in Dar es Salaam yesterday.
Unveiling the company’s corporate social responsibility report christened, EABL Sustainability Report 2020 with a theme of, ‘Crafting a Sustainable Future,’ Ocitti said the report provides a detailed overview of EABL community support programs in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. East African Breweries Limited is SBL’s holding company.
In the country, SBL’s implemented programmes also include support for local farmers, promoting responsible drinking, championing inclusion and diversity as well as environmental conservation through tree planting. The programs are implemented under the banner of Society 2030.
He said the investments in community projects are aimed at giving back to the community which supports the company’s beer business through consumption but also supplying of raw materials.
“In 2020, SBL sourced 70 per cent or an equivalent of 17,000 metric tonnes of its raw materials including barley, maize and sorghum from a network of 400 local farmers in eight regions,” the SBL Managing Director said.
The brewer also provides the 400 smallholder farmers with support through regular training on sustainable farming, early warning, assessment and links them to financial institutions to access credit facilities for increased commodity production.
SBL has also been financing a agro-industry scholarship programme popularly known as ‘Kilimo-Viwanda’ which has since last year benefitted over 70 students attend diploma courses in agriculture at four tertiary colleges in Coast, Iringa, Kilimanjaro and Kagera regions.
Promoting moderation drinking as a way of a balanced lifestyle is another contribution that beer maker is engaged which has reached thousands of youth countrywide with its trade mark slogan of, ‘Don’t Drink and Drive.
“This campaign that SBL runs countrywide targets drivers of public service vehicles, ‘bodaboda’ riders and pedestrians in general,” SBL Corporate Affairs Director, John Wanyancha said while adding that in collaboration with traffic police officers, the campaign has contributed towards reducing unnecessary road accidents.
Incorporated in 1988 as Associated Breweries, SBL is the second-largest beer company in the country with 25 percent share of the market. SBL has three operating plants in Dar es Salaam, Mwanza and Moshi with is highest selling brands being Serengeti Lite and Serengeti Lager.
