Determination, hard work and innovation has paid for local food production company Amandla Brands after they scooped the top award under the CBZ Youth Entrepreneurship (Yep) award.
For coming first under the Start-Up Business category, Amandla Brands which is a subsidiary of Esteem Communications, a public relations and brand development company walked away $12 000 richer.
Speaking to the Daily News after the awards dinner held at Meikles Hotel on Friday night, the company’s managing director Sympathy Sibanda-Mazuruse thanked CBZ and Empowered Life Trust for the opportunity.
“We have always been passionate about what we do but our major strength at Amandla Brands is innovation. Where others do the usual, we try to be as unique as we can be so that we carve a niche of our own. “All our products are natural and designed to fight non communicable diseases like BP, diabetes and cancer that have become rife in our generation,” she said.
Amandla Brands had to fend off competition from other equally enterprising young entrepreneurs and the managing director said it was their unique scope that carried the day for their brand.
“We have a whole value chain providing livelihoods from women and men in Masvingo who are growing the nuts, to provision of high standard and organically grown products.
“Our mandate is to control the food value chain so as to enhance use of traditional and healthy lifestyles,” Sibanda-Mazuruse said.
Amandla Brands currently produces healthy foods like organic peanut butter, variations of nuts, brown rice, brown rice flour but their plan is to produce close to fifty products ranging from maize-meal, salt, cooking oil, soups, peanut butter, chickens and milk among many.
“We started operations in April 2018 but we have managed to get our peanut butter on the retail market and it is a favourite of foreigners from various countries like Japan, Belgium, South Africa and Netherlands. We hope to unveil all the 50 or more products we have registered under the brand,” Sibanda-Mazuruse said.
The food production company’s boss also thanked CBZ and Empowered Life Trust for the highly-enriching Youth Entrepreneurship Programme. “We thank CBZ and Empowered Life Trust because through Yep we have learnt to network and innovate hence the introduction of our newest baby, Amandla Kids with baby foods like purees, cereals and juices.
We are now stronger than before and geared for more growth.
CBZ managing director Peter Zimunya thanked the Yep programme contestants and the steering team behind the competition and awards highlighting that it was important that entrepreneurs play a part in the development of Zimbabwe’s economy and creating employment. Daily News.