Business Reporter
Innscor Africa Limited has deployed three fire tenders on the road, crewed by firefighters recruited and trained in the communities they will serve.
Ms Chiedza Makomva, Innscor’s head of brand and social impact, described this as the group’s most significant public safety intervention this year.
Makomva said the group spent US$230 000 on the vehicles and the training of their crews, under Empower Tomorrow, its social investment programme.
The tenders are meant to help local authorities respond faster to fires and to protect the communities around Innscor’s operations.
They are stationed at group sites: ProDairy in Ruwa, National Foods in Aspindale, Harare and National Foods in Bulawayo.
From there, they can reach neighbouring factories, homes, schools and clinics when a call comes in.
“Sustainable business growth is closely tied to the wellbeing, safety and resilience of the communities where we operate,” said Ms Makomva. When a fire breaks out, the first few minutes decide how much is lost. These tenders are there to make sure help arrives quickly and the damage is contained.”
The project goes beyond buying equipment.
Rather than bring in outside crews, Innscor recruited local people to staff the tenders, then trained and equipped them with basic firefighting skills and certification.
That leaves each area with a core of skilled responders who know its roads and buildings, and it creates jobs where the vehicles are based.
The crews have already been tested. One of the tenders was called out to a fire at Medtech in Ruwa, which its crew put out.
“We chose to recruit from the communities themselves,” Makomva said.
“The people on these tenders live in the areas they protect. We have trained and certified them so they can respond with confidence, and the Ruwa call shows they are ready.”Council fire services have struggled for years with ageing vehicles, frequent breakdowns and too few stations.
In 2020, Harare’s then chief fire officer, Mr Lovemore Mafukidze, said the capital needed 25 fire tenders but was operating with 10 or 11, from four fire stations against a required minimum of 10. City tenders have in the past broken down on the way to calls, leaving fires in the suburbs to burn unattended.
The government has since moved to close the gap. More than 90 rural district and town councils have received a total of 114 Belarusian-made fire tenders, according to Belarusian officials and Local Government Minister Daniel Garwe told Parliament last year that each urban council had received at least two.
Even so, a large fire can stretch a council’s fleet, and tenders based at industrial sites add cover close to factories and the communities around them.
Innscor described the investment as a partnership with the local government rather than a one-off donation.
The tenders support work that councils already carry out, and the group said it wants closer cooperation between the private sector and public institutions on public safety, a problem that affects businesses and residents alike.
Innscor’s businesses have supported the communities around them for many years. Empower Tomorrow now brings that work together under one banner, with a focus on the areas where the group operates.
The programme covers community empowerment, health and social welfare, the environment and animal welfare.
Other projects reach into farming and sport. Irvine’s supports small and medium-scale poultry farmers, a seed project works with farmers in Chisumbanje and Colcom Foods and Nutri Active back cricket development alongside the Baker’s Inn Future League for young footballers.
