The beverages empire of former street child turned businessman Teboho Twala is soaring and he has now added chardonnay sparkling wine to his fit.
Twala, 39, has recently launched Le’vante Garde, a combination of chardonnay and pinot noir, which gives off a sparkling wine brut taste, also known as Méthode Cap Classique (MCC).
Twala, an entrepreneur with two restaurants including a beverage company, rose to fame in 2016 when he produced a Zzero Hangover, a drink that could cure the harsh effect of babalaas. Later that year, he also produced his own commercial beer, Revo.
He said his restaurant in Rustenburg, Elements, gave birth to Le’vante Garde. The MCC was created to be served at the restaurant following his gin and vodka which are also served to customers.
“In the last five years I have been working on building my restaurant. It was only in December last year when we hosted the Metro FM Heatwave event in Rustenburg that we saw how much people loved it. That’s when we realised we have a winner,” said Twala.
He has relocated his restaurant in Northgate and plans to reopen it as the Bisa Wine Emporium in Forest Hill City Mall in Centurion in December.
He started with 10 employees when he created his first beverage in 2016 and now has more than 100.
He named the MCC Le’vante Garde before it was even a reality.
According to Twala, Le’vante Garde is derived from Italian, the word Levant means “Rise”. In French, avantgarde is “advance guard” meaning people and ideas that are ahead of their time. It also means original and authentic ideas
“It is the “rise” of an “authentic” idea “ahead of its time. I am black and at the time of the conception of this idea there was no black-owned Champagne/MCC/sparkling wine with “authenticity” in the mainstream market. A prestigious product with a unique taste.”
Asked if similar products by media personalities which had recently been introduced out would be a threat, Twala said: “I’m not really worried. We have an exceptionally high-quality product with great reviews from customers and that is further substantiated by return sales.”
He was born in QwaQwa where he was raised by his grandmother before his mother took him back to live with her and his stepbrother in Welkom.
However, family challenges forced him to live on the streets of Welkom for two years before he was taken in by a family of a friend he had met on the streets. Twala later enrolled for a BSc at Wits University followed by another degree in chemical engineering at the University of Johannesburg.
He then landed a job with a German mining company which posted him in Nigeria.
He later returned to South Africa to start his own businesses.
“My story has given black people hope. For me it is not something I dwell about. It is something I have put in the back of my mind.
“I’m working even harder to succeed. I look back with pride.”
The Star