InspiraFarms opens regional office in Harare
nspiraFarms is further expanding its presence across Africa with the establishment of a regional office representation for Southern Africa, based in Harare, Zimbabwe.
September 20, 2021: InspiraFarms is further expanding its presence across Africa with the establishment of a regional office representation for Southern Africa, based in Harare, Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe has become a key market for InspiraFarms, with the Zimbabwean horticultural sector growing rapidly in response to the increasing demand for fresh fruit and vegetables in the European Union (EU), UK, Middle East, Far East and regional markets. The expansion in demand is also calling for growing use of cold chain infrastructures that easily meet international standards for exports, are affordable, with lower energy use to minimise the carbon footprint.
Zimbabwe’s horticulture industry has a competitive advantage with its excellent climate conditions and off-season production of high-value crops such as citrus, stone fruits, passion fruit, avocados, blueberries, mange tout peas, french beans and more. For Zimbabwe growers to take full advantage of the opportunity we are seeing increasing interest in on-farm and near farm cold chain to reduce wastage, increase quality and boost revenues. InspiraFarms with smart, clean cold chain is uniquely well placed to meet this demand.
“We are particularly proud to be strengthening our partnerships and presence in Zimbabwe. The outlook for the fresh produce sector continues to look exciting, despite the challenges experienced due to the pandemic, and Zimbabwe is perfectly poised to meet this increase in demand. We are already working with top tier producers who are proving that the combination of the best in-class technology in the post-harvest practices together with great operations can be used to reduce losses, increase shelf life and decrease operating costs to grow their businesses even further. Solidifying our presence in Zimbabwe is a way to be closer to our existing partners and clients, to innovate and bring more products to the market to help grow high quality Zimbabwean exports,” said Julian Mitchell, CEO, InspiraFarms.
InspiraFarms’ team designs first-mile, on-farm pre-cooling cold chain and food handling solutions, which are made up of the best European technologies. These components include high-end efficient panels, poly structures, refrigeration equipment, electronics and data recording, and monitoring technology. This unique design goes well beyond a refrigeration ‘Cold Air’ solution.
InspiraFarms technology is offered with a range of optional services such as asset finance and cloud-based Data. The latter gives the opportunity to digitise operations, allowing for visibility both on and off farm, as well allowing for remote health checks of systems. The systems are designed to bring 360º solutions for farmers, agri businesses, aggregators, exporters and 3PL companies.
InspiraFarms local presence in Zimbabwe will be led by Heather McSorley, post-harvest practices specific to the cold chain and project management expert. McSorley has previous experience in logistics and commodities distribution by ocean, road, and air. Heather is providing InspiraFarms with strong expertise in coordinating Green-Field cold chain facilities and packhouses, step down cooling procedures, temperature management across the entire supply chain and market access protocols. She will be supported by Stephen Wormald, senior sales executive Southern Africa.
In addition, we are excited to announce our strengthened relationship with Pete van Druten, Chad van Druten and Bojan Todorov who are working with us as our local and regional technical and installation partners. They are a highly experienced team with a long-proven track record in refrigeration, IT and after-sales service.
