East Africa Breweries Limited on Wednesday announced the launch of a Sh500 million programme geared to support the revival of bars and eateries post Covid-19 pandemic.
The two-year programme, “Raising the Bar”, will be available from July 2020 and will offer eligible outlets and bars free access to digital training and support.
" “Raising the Bar” has been created following a survey of bar owners to identify key priorities for reopening. Their top priorities included hygiene measures, digital support and practical equipment to transform how their outlets will work when they reopen,"EABL CEO, Andrew Cowan said in a statement.
The EABL initiative is part of a newly formulated Sh10 billion global Diageo programme created to help bars recover from the coronavirus sting and support jobs and communities around globally.
The fund is expected to be rolled out as more countries continue to ease restrictions.
Re-opened eateries will get support for acquisition of hygiene kits such as quality permanent sanitiser dispenser units, medical grade hand sanitiser and a range of personal protection equipment such as masks and gloves.
According to Cowan, the programme will also help for outlets to establish partnerships with online reservations and cashless system such as mobile bars and outdoor equipment.
However, outlets legible for the recovery fund should be registered as a legal entities as well as have a beer and/or spirits licence.
They should also have been operating for minimum period of 12 months before introduction of any national or local lockdown restrictions due to Covid-19.
To ensure that the usual operation of the facility was actually affected by the pandemic.
“We want to support the long-term recovery of the hospitality sector.These businesses play an essential role in bringing people together to socialise and celebrate – something that we have all missed so much during this terrible crisis – and sustain hundreds of millions of jobs, often providing a first foot on the employment ladder for young people,” Cowan said.
This comes after the UN’s International Labour Organization forecast 436 million enterprises worldwide to face serious disruption and one in six young people to be unemployed due to Covid-19.
According to the report, the hospitality sector will be one of the hardest hit, as pubs, bars, clubs and restaurants provide hundreds of millions of jobs for many full and part-time workers.
