CAPE TOWN - A small rural community is set to supply the Spar Group with South Africa's legendary rooibos tea.
The Nieuwoudtville community in the Northern Cape signed a deal with the retailer to supply its stores with Bokkeveld Rooibos.
Community consultant and Anflo director John Neels, who has advised the community on the transaction, said the partnership would have far-reaching benefits for Nieuwoudtville and surrounding towns.
Neels said the partnership would see the community supplying 12000 Spar supermarkets with rooibos in South Africa and Namibia.
“We are just as excited as you to launch Bokkeveld Rooibos to its country of origin and the spin of this will have for rural communities in the Northern Cape,” Neels said. “We will also personally get involved to use our influence to get this through the whole network of Spar.”
The community started the project with a factory 10 years ago with plans to employ at least 100 people.
Neels said that the fortunes changed when the community contracted Anflo to forge a closer relationship between it and the factory.
“The spin-offs of all of this is that, firstly, the community will be getting permanent work,” he said. “The factory is the main job supplier for the community. Since I started with this process, the factory has already appointed 40 people in the packaging alone.”
He said the Spar group would expand sales once there was sufficient machinery and packaging facilities at the factory to meet the additional demand.
“We are humbled and excited about this partnership, and that Spar Retail Store has embraced our vision for sustainable jobs, and rural and community development.
"Giving effect to this, Spar agreed to order and stock our Bokkeveld Rooibos tea products. This is an opportunity one cannot ignore, as this will change Nieuwoudtville and surrounds into self-sustainable and developed communities,” said Neels.
Spar’s Mario Santana said the partnership would have massive spin-offs for the local community of Nieuwoudtville and the surrounding communities, exponentially increasing the levels of employment and injecting massive amounts of hard currency into the communities, which would automatically kick-start and boost other economic activities in the region.