Sovereign Foods export program is alive and well! Some of the really exciting happenings are highlighted below.

Despite the severe restrictions the COVID – 19 pandemic has placed on international trade, Sovereign Foods is proud to say that we not only continued the supply of product to our United Arab Emirates (UAE) customer base, but we  have also successfully secured the supply of poultry to three new customers in the UAE. One of these customers is the largest supplier of poultry to a very well developed retail sector in Dubai. The other two new customers have a very strong presence in the food services sector.  As I am sure you can imagine the UAE has a very large consumption per capita of poultry. This makes the securing of supply to these reputable companies even more exciting. Sovereign is also in negotiation with a potential fourth new customer, and if successful this would stimulate the growth of export business even further.

To complement the above, Sovereign is no longer only limited to the Port of Jebel Ali (main port in Dubai), but Sovereign now has the ability to gain access to all seven emirates in the UAE. This results in making its product offering more cost competitive as it reduces the cost of transport.

Sovereign Foods has also started to supply a customer in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Sovereign sees the DRC as an opportunity to expand its export product portfolio as the product requirement is different to the current basket supplied to the Middle East.

During the month of May Sovereign Foods will commission it’s brand new Further Processing Facility in Uitenhage. Once fully operational the facility will have the ability to produce in excess of 2,000 tons per month of fully cooked and coated products. This is double the existing facility’s capacity. Products produced by the new plant will include both boneless and bone-in, as well as breaded, crumbed and un-coated products.

Sovereign has been supplying two specific customers in the UAE with its cooked and coated Chicken’tizer brand for several years. Volumes have unfortunately been limited. With the commissioning of the new facility Sovereign is really excited about ramping up production and supply to not only these customers, but to additional customers throughout the Gulf Co-Operation Council (GCC) group of countries.

Over the years Sovereign has found that the quality of its Further Processed Product is as good, or even better than its international competition. In addition to superior quality Sovereign has found that we are also cost competitive. The new plant therefore has a strong foundation to increase the supply to Sovereign’s Middle Eastern export customers.

PTI Centre Launch

Propella has ushered in the new year with our brand new Propella Township Hub in the Neave Industrial Park in Korsten. The Township Hub, which is a joint initiative between Propella and SEDA, is up and running and already running a number of programmes and workshops. The new incubator has been designed to bridge the gap between technology and ease of access to entrepreneurs in the township. An official launch of the center is coming soon, but we are fully open for business!

ICT Programme Bootcamp

The Propella team hit the ground running in 2021 with preparations for our annual ICT Bootcamp which officially began on the 1st of February. With COVID-19 restrictions in place, this year’s bootcamp took place virtually and allowed prospective entrepreneurs from all over the country to apply. Out of 325 initial applicants, 107 participants completed the bootcamps with 55 of those participants successfully submitting pitch videos and progressing to stage 2 of our ICT programme.

ICT Ventures:

Get Interview

Get Interview is an online application that links organizations with the most suitable candidates whether for a Job vacancy or bursary. Get Interview uses a process called the bait induction process which ensures that all candidates that are provided to the organization are the most suitable candidates. Candidates are recruited through a virtual interview and presented in a video format to the organization.

Early this year Aphelele Sodinga (Get Interview founder) met Susan Dube from Standard Bank to assist her with recruitment for a learnership in Financial Banking to see how many candidates would make it into the interviews. Within 3 days, they managed to interview 40 candidates from different rural areas in the Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and the Free State, thus proving the efficacy of the Get Interview platform.

Specification Innovation

After completing Stage 4 of the Propella Business Incubator ICT Programme, Specification Innovation continued building their business. They have since developed a Tribology training programme geared towards engineers working in the mining environment to improve their understanding and use of lubricants. They are currently pursuing various funding/investment opportunities to enable the completion of their software development. They are also expanding their reach with their marine fuel filtration solutions tailored for the West African environment.

StoresSA

StoresSA is Africa’s 1st Online Mall for the African Fashion and Retail Industry with the aim of enabling designer brands, businesses and local retailer shops to sell products online, and for the mass customers to shop and buy online. They have partnered up with the Living and Learning Programmes Department as well as the Nelson Mandela University Fashion and Textile Department. They have gathered and donated their time and talents to raise funds for 2 deserving NMU textile and fashion design students.

The initiative is called BLACK: a passion project between Gugu Peteni and Xolela Madlanga, both who are Nelson Mandela University alumni and practicing artists who have seen and experienced a lack of financial assistance when it comes to pursuing a qualification in the creative industry. In its first day of launch, the initiative managed to raise just over R2 500.

Industrial Ventures:

Prosthetic Engineering Technologies (PET)

PET is in the process of finalising a 3rd prototype to produce a desirable, lower cost silicone liner for amputees, with a suitable shore hardness to support total comfort and reduce potential infections for the wearer. The plan moving forward is to package a micro-franchised ‘business in a box’ that supports the necessary infrastructure and business practices to mitigate against early failure.

Tofaa 

Tofaa is a technology design start up that is developing an energy efficient egg incubator for South African markets. A scaled industrial pilot study of the energy efficient egg incubators is nearing completion at the Maranatha Centre for homeless people in Gqeberha. The hatch rate efficacy is at 90%. The plan moving forward is to develop a medium sized hatchery and abattoir to provide food for the 110 people living within this socially responsible initiative and once piloted at Maranatha to expand into South Africa followed by making the solution available to small scale farmers throughout Africa.