Mokoena becomes budding tea baron

Entrepreneur's own Rooibos brand an instant success

05 October 2021 - 08:25
By GCIS VUK'UZENZELE
Vusimuzi Mokoena is on his way to being a successful entrepreneur by selling his blend of rooibos tea.
Image: Vukuzenzele Vusimuzi Mokoena is on his way to being a successful entrepreneur by selling his blend of rooibos tea.

An entrepreneur is tasting sweet success with his Mavusana Premium Rooibos tea after he started selling his own blend of the world-renowned SA tea.

Vusimuzi Mokoena’s blend is made from the fynbos rooibos plants found in the Cape region.

“Mavusana brings a quality, raw, strong taste to the people at a very affordable price,” he says.

The tea is manufactured with the assistance of local expert tea makers and is a hit with the community. About 40 packets are sold a day in Stellenbosch alone, says Mokoena.

“Rooibos tea is loved by everyone, so we sell it to the members of our community, local retail outlets and those who place special orders. The sales from around Stellenbosch have been growing and the people are buying in their numbers.”

 Mokoena says the main aim of his enterprise is to introduce a healthy, hot beverage to every household in SA, then to the world. He says he is looking to grow the Mavusana Premium Rooibos brand in communities by getting young people to become distributors of the brand. This, Mokoena believes, will help drive entrepreneurship and create employment opportunities in SA.

As the budding tea baron does not yet have a farm to grow his own tea, Mokoena sources his leaves from farms in the area that are already trading internationally.

He then sends it off to a company that processes the tea to meet his high standards.

“I don’t have a factory yet or a farm, so I am working very closely with Cape Natural Tea Products. They process the tea according to our expectations and we test and taste the final product. Once that is done, we package the tea and sell it.”

Mavusana Premium Rooibos has created two job opportunities since Mokoena started it in January.

 This article was originally published in the GCIS Vuk'uzenzele