📌A decade of partnership with Government delivers TZS 2.5 billion in rural water investment, impacting 2.3 million people, and counting.
DAR ES SALAAM, 30 APRIL 2026 — Serengeti Breweries Limited (SBL) today marked a decade-defining milestone with the completion of its 30th community water project in Tanzania, commissioned in Baray Ward, Karatu District, Arusha Region, at an event that was officiated by the Deputy Minister for Water, Eng. Kundo Mathew.
The Baray water project is one of the largest single water investments in SBL’s history, delivering clean and safe water to more than 15,000 residents in the area. With an installed capacity of over 110,632 cubic metres annually, the project cost TZS 344 million, fully funded by SBL, and was delivered in partnership with the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWASA) and the Africa Community Advancement Initiative (Africai).
Baray is one of three projects SBL has completed this year, alongside schemes in Kambi ya Simba Ward in Karatu and Ihushi Ward in Mwanza. Together they represent a TZS 655 million investment for SBL’s fiscal year 2026, benefiting 23,189 people and delivering 169,279 cubic metres of clean water capacity per year. To date, SBL has invested approximately TZS 2.5 billion in rural water infrastructure across Tanzania, benefitting over 2.3 million people.
SBL’s Water for Life programme is deliberately aligned with Tanzania’s National Water Policy (NAWAPO), which commits the country to ensuring that beneficiaries participate fully in planning, construction, operation, maintenance and management of community based domestic water supply schemes. Every SBL project embeds community ownership from the onset, working hand-in-hand with RUWASA, district authorities, and community-based water supply organizations to ensure that the infrastructure continues to serve long after the ribbon is cut. The Baray project includes modern submersible pumps, pump houses, storage tanks, a pipeline distribution network, twenty new water points, and the rehabilitation of fifteen existing ones – infrastructure that now belongs to the community it serves.
Alongside the infrastructure, SBL and Africai have delivered a Women in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) training programme, equipping thirty women from the Baray and Kambi ya Simba community with technical skills in water infrastructure maintenance and source protection, entrepreneurship training in soap-making, financial literacy and marketing, and leadership and gender-based violence awareness. The programme reflects a core belief at SBL: that clean water is the foundation of community development, but economic inclusion is what sustains it.
Speaking at the handover, the Deputy Minister for Water, Hon. Eng. Kundo Mathew, commended SBL’s contribution and called for continued private sector partnership. “The Government continues to ensure that citizens have access to clean and safe water, but these efforts require collaboration from various stakeholders. We highly appreciate the contribution of the private sector — such as Serengeti Breweries Limited — in helping achieve these national goals,” he said.
On his part, the Managing Director of Serengeti Breweries Limited, Dr. Obinna Anyalebechi, said the milestone reflected the company’s long-term commitment to the country. “Thirty water projects is not just a number — it is thirty communities where hundreds of thousands of young girls no longer walk long kilometres for water and can, therefore, attend school, where mothers have time to build businesses, and where clinics can treat patients safely. The Baray project is one of the largest we have ever delivered, and it reminds us why we started, and why we are not stopping. We are a Tanzanian business, and our success is measured by the country we help to build,” he said.
Africai Director, Dr. Bonus Caesar, added: “This partnership has enabled us to deliver essential services to communities in a sustainable way. We are committed to ensuring that these projects are not only implemented but maintained for long-term community benefit. We thank SBL for its continued partnership.”
SBL is one of Tanzania’s largest taxpayers and a major contributor to national revenue, but the company’s contribution to Tanzania extends well beyond the tax ledger. It is measured in the boreholes drilled, the farmers sourced from, the jobs created, and the communities invested in. The Baray project directly supports SBL’s long-term commitment to Tanzania’s Development Vision 2050, which aims to ensure that at least 85% of rural Tanzanians have access to clean and safe water and is expected to support local maize farmers in the Karatu area, including those supplying SBL.
“Our responsibility to Tanzania rests on three pillars,” Dr. Anyalebechi added. “The taxes we pay, the jobs we create, and the communities we invest in. A sustainable, growing business is what enables all three. When any one pillar weakens, all three are at risk — and so is the progress we are building together with the government. As Tanzania prepares for the next cycle of fiscal planning in FY26/27, SBL remains committed to constructive engagement with the government on policies that sustain both national revenue and industry resilience. A predictable, moderate fiscal environment enables the long-term investments that deliver for communities — the water infrastructure, the tax contributions, the formal-sector jobs, and the growth Tanzania depends on.” Dr. Anyalebechi concluded.
On their part, the local leadership and residents of Baray expressed their appreciation of the project and pledged to ensure that it lasts for generations to come.
