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Former-street kid takes beer giants head on

November 27 2016. Teboho Twala with a sample of his Revo Premium Draught which is being brewed at a plant in Sasolburg, Free State. Pic. Antonio Muchave. © Sowetan.
November 27 2016. Teboho Twala with a sample of his Revo Premium Draught which is being brewed at a plant in Sasolburg, Free State. Pic. Antonio Muchave. © Sowetan.

A childhood of poverty and homelessness inspired young entrepreneur Teboho Twala to make a new mainstream beer to revolutionise the rather monopolised beer industry.

Twala, 35, who resides in Dainfern, Johannesburg, will next month launch Revo Premium Draught with a production of 1000 litres of 440ml cans to be distributed at selected stores to whet the market's appetite.

A mass production would take place early next year for a national distribution.

His beer uses the marketing tag-line "Bold, Aspirational and Revolutionary". It has a potent alcohol volume of 5.8% .

Twala, a former chemical engineering student at the University of Johannesburg and an ex-employee at SA Breweries, explained that the tag-line was inspired by his childhood in the Free State where he lived as a street kid for two years in the 1990s.

Added to this was a need to break the norm in the SA brewing industry, which is largely monopolised - choking many craft beer brewers.

"I'm taking a very bold step here. I want to create a good mainstream beer and it's a scary thought because I'd be taking on big giants," he said.

"But it's exciting at the same time. I want to revolutionise the industry and be the first black man in South Africa to create a successful commercial beer.

"I want to inspire those kids that are currently in the position that I was in in my childhood. I want those kids in the township who dream of living in Johannesburg and own property here to know that it can be done," he said.

Born in QwaQwa, Twala was raised by a single mother and then lived on the streets of Welkom before he was adopted by another family who put him through university.

He has since owned Soul Africa Group, which supplies equipment to mining companies, and early this year launched Zerro Hangover, a drink that is said to eliminate the effects of babalas.

Revo is being brewed and packaged at Krügerbräu Brewery in Sasolburg, which Twala bought a 30% stake of last month.

 

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