Profeeds & Aquafeeds Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability
Strategic Approach
Profeeds is Zimbabwe’s premier stock feed manufacturer, with a 15-year track record of empowering small-scale farmers.
With continued research and development, and regular state-of-the-art plant upgrades, modern technology and expertise, the company’s stock feeding programmes are highly sought after by small scale and commercial growers alike.
Corporate Social Responsibility
By creating and sustaining long-term partnerships, Profeeds, through the Profarmer retail network, continues to focus on a corporate social responsibility programme which fulfils its two main areas of focus: uplifting communities while promoting animal welfare.
Animal Welfare
- Imire Rhino & Wildlife Conservation
Profeeds sponsored 40MT of game pellets to Imire Rhino & Wildlife Conservation during the course of the last year. The programme benefits all animals on the conservancy but is aimed specifically at feeding the 12 resident rhino which, with Profeeds game pellets providing vital nutrition to maintain their consistent good health, are now thriving. The herd will contribute to the genetic diversity of the rhino population as a whole, and ultimately contribute to establishing vital populations of the endangered species across Zimbabwe.
- Humani Ranch, Save Valley Conservancy – “Rocky”
The donation of feed to Rocky the Rhino, orphaned on Humani at the beginning of the COVID-19 Lockdown, this year totalled 1.3MT. Rocky is now two years old and flourishing on the feed which supplements his natural diet in the bush. - Veterinarians for Animal Welfare Zimbabwe (VAWZ)
Our Corporate sponsorship to VAWZ funds a series of sterilisation and vaccination campaigns and mobile veterinary services to various regions in Zimbabwe. These vaccinations inlcuded approximately 6 100 Rabies Vaccines and almost 200 ‘5-1’ vaccinations and sterlisations. - Zimbabwe Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ZNSPCA)
For every bag of Prodog 8kg chunks sold, 50c (US$) is donated to the ZNSPCA as part of an ongoing corporate social responsibility commitment, an increase of over 40% over prior year.
Through the management of VAWZ, Profeeds donated 12 bags of beef finisher meal to the small herd of cattle at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) Teaching Hospital. This proved to be a significant contribution to the under-funded feeding programme at the UZ Facility as it sustained the herd through to a better grazing period.
Community Upliftment
Profeeds uses store openings and rebranding campaigns as a means of exploring innovative and inspiring programmes to uplift communities and provide sustainable futures, in line with the core brand values at the heart of the business. Below are the communities which benefited from our CSR donations:
- The “Mother of Peace Community” in Mutoko looks after children in foster care, supporting a staff body which operates on a voluntary basis. Profeeds partnered with various organisations to donate chicks, feed and disinfectants to Mother of Peace, contributing to its efforts to run a sustainable poultry project. The project has been progressing steadily since placement in July 2021, with batches of broilers placed consecutively and the birds sold to the Mutoko community.
- At the opening of the Mt Darwin store, Profeeds identified an organisation in the community known as “Child Future Africa Mt Darwin”, a non-governmental organisation which has established an orphanage in the local community, providing shelter and education to 16 children between the ages of 1 and 17 years. The home strives for self-sustainability by creating and running various agrobased farming projects. Profeeds and Profarmer, together with our partners, Nutrimaster, Agricura and Cutting Edge, donated a total of 2 500 seedlings, 550kgs fertiliser and assorted chemicals, together with hosepipes and sprinklers towards the home’s agricultural projects.
- With a bigger and better Profarmer Hub in Gwanda, our community upliftment benefited Gwanda Home for the Aged, where we partnered with Irvine’s Zimbabwe to donate 100 chicks and feed to kickstart a poultry sustainability project. The project is going well, providing income through sales to the community as well as vital meat-based protein for the elderly housed there.
- With the re-vamp of our Profarmer Hub Chivhu, Profeeds reached out to Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) Chivhu, a prison working towards rehabilitating inmates for a successful reintegration into society. In an effort to assist inmates to earn an honest living on their release, the programme provides them with vocational training in farming, horticultural and building. We believe our donation of chicks and feed will go a long way towards not only providing chickens for consumption and for sale to the community, but also equipping inmates with poultry management skills to run their poultry project once they are released. Since the initial donation they have done three more placements and from August plan to place a batch of chicks every two weeks.
- In June 2022, Profeeds donated 250kg of Layers Mash to St Mary’s Children’s Home to assist the 38 Roadrunners that are on lay. The orphanage houses 19 children of which 16 are of school going age (nine girls, seven boys). They have an 880 electric incubator on site and sell the roadrunner chicks that are produced. The donation will help the consistency of the home’s egg laying hens and egg bank which is currently at eight days.
Business Awards
In December 2022, Profeeds won the Superbrand award in the Livestock Production and Agricultural Section for the third year in a row.
Human Capital
Investing in our People
Profeeds value and develop its human resources and fulfil its role as a “learning organisation”, and continuously invests in its people. A total of twenty-three (23) middle and senior management staff were taken through Sabre’s Ignite Productivity programme.
Long Service Awards
We have 53 employees receiving long service awards for between 10 and 20 years of service to the Group.
Number of Employees crossing each Milestone in 2022
Women’s Day
- Profeeds marked International Woman’s Day with an inaugural celebratory lunch for our female staff complement and we look forward to creating a tradition in the years ahead.
- Over the past four years Profeeds has employed 16 graduates per year from veterinary, animal science and crop science backgrounds. In the 2022 financial year, 10 graduate trainees have been enrolled.
