Brave firelighters

03/06/2026

03/06/2026

OVERVIEW:

Brave firelighters are manufactured by hand from intruder/invader bush in the small town of Omaruru, Namibia (GPS coordinates: 21° 25' 14.4048'' S and 15° 57' 8.5032'' E). Since the end of March 2019 the firelighters are distributed by Destination Namibia through a marketing arrangement with Omuriro Manufacturing CC based in Omaruru.

Namibia is estimated to have around 45 million hectares of land that is affected by intruder/invader bush encroachment. Given the importance of agriculture to the country’s economy this particularly affects the agronomic, horticultural and livestock sectors. Hence, intruder/invader bush encroachment has a huge negative effect on the available capacity to rear livestock and to produce agronomic and horticultural products.

Hence a programme of bush thinning was introduced to reclaim carrying capacity in the livestock producing areas and to open up areas for agronomic and horticultural production. Independent studies conducted in these intruder/invader bush encroachment areas confirmed that on average each infested hectare has a sustainable yield of 10 tonnes of biomass over time. That means Namibia has a total of around 450 million tonnes of sustainable biomass resource.

Manufacturing of the firelighters commenced in 2017 after Peter Till, the main partner of Omuriro Manufacturing CC, won the Sanlam (Namibia) innovation works competition with his concept of a natural firelighter. At the beginning Omuriro Manufacturing CC launched its landmark product Omuriro firelighters. However, with ongoing product development and innovative marketing Omuriro Manufacturing CC rebranded its product to Brave firelighters at the beginning of 2026.

Currently Brave firelighters are the only green and natural firelighters on the market given (i) its composition, (ii) its manufacturing process and (iii) its packaging. Hence it contributes economically to the bush thinning value-chain to restore livestock carrying capacity on rangelands and to open up capacity for agronomic and horticultural production. Add to this its socio-economic contribution to the upliftment of especially rural people, then it should be clear why Brave firelighters should be the number one choice of all firelighters.

03/06/2026

SOURCING OF RAW MATERIALS:

Harvested intruder/invader bush is utilised for:

(i) charcoal production (largest chunky pieces) - export and local markets
(ii) braai/fire wood (not always suited for charcoal production) - export and local markets
(iii) a group too small for braai/fire wood and too large for bush-feed
(iv) bush-feed for livestock (smallest and softer pieces).

Given the intruder/invader bush utilisation, category three (as a blurry and non-utilized area) provided a niche opportunity to source, manufacture and eventually produce the Brave firelighters.

03/06/2026

COMPOSITION / INGREDIENTS:

Brave firelighters consist only of small intruder/invader bush cut pieces (±85%), non-toxic wax (±10%) and cotton twine (±5%) - hence the claim of a green and natural product.

In order to certify that the firelighters are non-dangerous and non-flammable (self-heating) under normal circumstances, initial tests were done in Germany. These tests were conducted under United Nations (UN) standards, specifically the UN Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods, Manual of Tests and Criteria (Sixth Revised Edition, 2015, UN-TDG and UN-GHS).

The test results confirm that the firelighters are safe “because no self-heating occurred in a 100 mm size cube at 140 °Celsius”. Hence, Brave firelighters are safe to be exported as a non-dangerous product to wherever in the world. These test results are public domain and available on request.

03/06/2026

METHOD OF PREPARATION / PRODUCTION / USAGE:

Brave firelighters are manufactured by hand in Omaruru utilising semi and unskilled labour from the area, with dedicated training included as part of the employment. Raw materials are sourced from intruder/invader bush in infested agricultural production areas.

03/06/2026

PACKED AS LOOSE FIRELIGHTERS:

Brave firelighters are loose, individual firelighters, while other paraffin/petroleum based firelighters are bonded into one solid block with line-markers to indicate how to break it into smaller portions.

However, these firelighters never break solid along the line-markers - hence one usually ends up with more than a portion at a time. This scenario becomes even worse when these firelighters have dried out over time and becomes brittle.

This makes Brave firelighters a much more economical option given that only one Brave firelighter would be able to start a fire, contingent on wind conditions. Just twirl the twine, and then light both sides of the twine and it will easily burn for up to 20 minutes.

Brave firelighters are a natural product; hence light both ends of the twine for maximum effect. It could take a little longer to burn, albeit eventually it will burn stronger. Hereafter pause for a while and witness the burning ability of a Brave firelighter - this is nature at its best!

Hence, one box of Brave firelighters should be able to start 12 fires by following the above instructions; this being rarely true with any paraffin/petroleum based firelighters.

03/06/2026

SMELLY FINGERS WHEN MAKING A FIRE:

Given its composition, a Brave firelighter will leave no smell on the fingers when making a fire, as opposed to any paraffin/petroleum-based firelighters. In the same vein, its composition gives it a prolonged shelf-life as opposed to any paraffin/petroleum-based firelighters.

In addition; one would struggle to smother a Brave firelighter during fire-making - this as opposed to the easy smothering of any paraffin/petroleum based firelighter. Hence in the end one would most probably need to add more and more of these paraffin/petroleum based firelighter portions to get the fire going.

Paraffin/petroleum based firelighters per se are not green products at all, albeit utilising Brave firelighters do contribute to the green culture of this country and beyond.

03/06/2026

CONSTANT PRODUCT IMPROVEMENT:

From the first firelighter that left the factory back in 2017, innovation is at the heart of Omuriro Manufacturing CC. The manufacturing process had to adapt through various stages of raw materials availability through varying bush thinning operations with the aim to restore livestock carrying capacity, as well as capacity for agronomic and horticultural production.

During all these stages the motto remained to continuously improve the product that eventually leaves the factory for retail distribution. The latest improvements include inter alia (i) more holes drilled in the firelighters to increase oil absorption, (ii) longer periods in the oil tanks for enhanced oil retention and (iii) standardization of the flagship product.

03/06/2026

TECHNICAL INFO ON THE PACKAGING:

Brave firelighters are packed as 12 standardized firelighters per box and 20 boxes per wrapping.

Box of 12 firelighters:
Dimensions: 160mm X 35mm X 163mm.
Weight: ± 0.30kg.
Barcode: 6009900372808

Wrapping (20 boxes):
Dimensions: ±340mm X 190mm X 360mm.
Weight: Between six (6) to seven (7) kg - based on the weight of individual boxes

Harmonized System (HS):
Export code: 3606 9090 00

According to the HS code (Chapter 36), these firelighters are not classified as wooden products. It is classified as a manufactured or reworked product - therefore no need for a fumigation certificate when moved across borders between countries.

03/06/2026

COMPLEMENTARY PRODUCTS:

Given the environment from where the raw materials are sourced, nature does not always have standardized wood available to manufacture the Brave firelighters.

Consequently some of the cuttings are too large and some of the cuttings are too small. However, these are not wasted. Soon these will be marketed in a cheaper packaging as ‘small’ and ’Xtra large’. Same quality and same standard - just odd sizes as good as the original flagship product.

During the production process, sawdust is an obvious byproduct, albeit in small quantities. This will in the near future be marketed at nurseries as an essential supplement for gardening.