Serengeti Breweries Limited (SBL) today announced a programme worth over 2.3 billion TSH to support bars and eateries in Dares Salaam and other major towns to protect their staff and customers against the Covid-19 pandemic.
SBL’s support comes to light as the world struggles to return to the business from the torment inflicted by the global pandemic (Covid-19). While everyone wants to transcend the journey from failure to triumph, which as a notion, provides food for thought, SBL has identified conditions critical against all communicable diseases in the country, which include COVID-19.
Dubbed “Raise
the Bar” or “Tunyanyuke Pamoja”, it will be a
two-year programme starting in July 2021, offering outlets with free access to
digital training and support via www.diageobaracademy.com.
According to the company’s Managing Director Mark Ocitti, this initiative by SB
also complements the government’s efforts to call on people and businesses to
practice good hygiene to prevent themselves from communicable diseases,
COVID-19 included.
“In our initiative, we will support resilience, resolve and re-imagination to
on-trade in Tanzania. The ultimate goal is to rise again, hence the name of our
new project, Raise the Bar or Tunyanyuke
Pamoja. The project will cover 2,000 outlets in the cities of
Dar es Salaam, Arusha and Mwanza,” he said
The project will support on-trade through ‘Tunyanyuke Pamoja’ in several ways,
from training the outlet owners and staff against communicable diseases to
providing technical equipment to transforming their outlets, according to
Ocitti.
This program by SBL is part of a global campaign by Diageo to enable bars to
respond to the impact of COVID-19. Other significant cities worldwide benefit
from the program: Nairobi, Kampala, New York, London, Edinburgh, Dublin,
Belfast, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Shanghai, Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Sydney,
and beyond.
The “Raise the Bar” program was designed following a survey of bar owners to
identify key priorities to support the reopening of their business. Their top
priorities included hygiene measures, digital support and valuable equipment to
transform how their outlets will work when they reopen.
The “Raise the Bar” programme will provide targeted support to help pay for the
physical equipment needed for outlets to reopen. For example, it can provide
initial funding for: ‘hygiene kits’ with high-quality permanent sanitizer
dispenser units, medical-grade hand sanitizers and a range of personal
protection equipment (such as masks and gloves); help pubs and bars to establish
partnerships with online reservations and cashless systems; mobile bars and
outdoor equipment,” the MD elaborated.
From June 30th, bar owners will be able to register their interest in the
“Raise the Bar” programme via www.diageobaracademy.com globally. Bar owners will
receive regular updates on best practice training and resources and participate
in global surveys to share insights as they build back their businesses.
The managing director added: ‘Our bars and eateries constitute a critical part
of our hospitality and service industry. Their universe employs thousands of
people and benefits many more indirectly. We have launched “Raising the Bar”
because so many outlets have recorded business slowdown as a result of this
health crisis and therefore, badly need to recover.”
SBL is a key stakeholder against COVID-19 in Tanzania since the first case of
the pandemic was reported in the country. In March 2020, the company partnered
with the ministry of health to create COVID-19 awareness to the public by
distributing flyers and posters throughout the country. A month later, SBL
donated sanitizers to the Ministry of Health, again supporting the country’s
effort to combat the further spread of Covid-19.
The impact of Covid-19 on the hospitality sector has been widespread, with the
closure of venues. However, by providing access to free digital support,
technology, training and equipment, Diageo aims to help any bar, anywhere, open
its doors again.
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