• PhytoTrade Africa celebrates 10 years

  

  PhytoTrade has recently hosted its 10th AGM in Windhoek, Namibia. With the support of the Millennium Challenge Account – Namibia, PhytoTrade also hosted the successful natural products showcase which showed some of the exciting new products now available containing African natural ingredients. In its ten years of operation, PhytoTrade has attracted new members; brought new ethical and sustainable supply chains on stream that bring incomes to tens of thousands of rural producers across Africa; developed new commercial partnerships with key industry players; got PhytoTrade ingredients into thousands of new products and worked with members to help them market and sell their products in exclusive markets in London, New York and most recently, Germany and Tokyo. "The natural and organic sector is growing well into double digits" says PhytoTrade CEO John Cheesmond "think of the products from Amazon on world markets. Its time to bring products from the Namib and the Kalahari to consumers – here's to an even more successful next 10 years". Ms Penny Akwenye, CEO of MCA-Namibia said "The showcase was a real eye opener".

• Whitley Neill Baobab Gin scoops "World Best Gin" award

  PhytoTrade Africa would like to congratulate Whitley Neill Gin which has just won the Gin Trophy at the International Wine & Spirits Competition 2011, thereby judging it to be the World's Best Gin.
  
  Whitley Neil Gin is made with Baobab that is sourced ethically and sustainably from PhytoTrade Africa members.

• UPDATE: Millennium Account Supports Indigenous Natural Product Initiatives Through PhytoTrade

  Phytotrade Africa was given a grant of over N$4.8 million for the Optimal Oil Processing Technology and Competitiveness project and for a project on marula fruit chemistry to enable innovative commercial opportunities. Read more here / New Press Release

• Baobab breaks into vital European food and drink markets

  Major new PhytoTrade partnership with global food and drink supplier

  The deal with Plantextrakt, a business unit of the Martin Bauer Group, is the biggest breakthrough to date for an indigenous southern African natural product in the mainstream European food industry.

  Plantextrakt exports to more than 100 countries on five continents. It is already demonstrating baobab to the food and drink industry in prototype products, in quantities sufficient for analysis by food technologists and internal trial production.

  Read the full press release here.

• 

  Comic Relief to support baobab project

  Comic Relief has just announced that it will support the PhytoTrade Africa Baobab project for the next three years to the tune of £500,000. The funds will go to support the only high quality, sustainable and ethical supply of baobab fruit powder from Africa. "It's a great thing, we are delighted for the support" says Baobab Manager, Rosie Abdy Collins. "The Comic Relief funding will help us to further develop our supply chains to really improve the livelihoods of rural producers in Africa. But it's also really exciting because it ties in with all the events in the UK where Baobab is featuring, such as London's Good Food Show, a Baobab raw food event at the Inspiral Lounge in Camden and the Eden Project" she continued. "We're going to see Baobab in a whole range of delicious new food and drink products, and even on the menus of top London restaurants!"

• Baobab in National Geographic magazine

  

  Our own Lucy Welford spoke to National Geographic magazine about Baobab recently, and you can see the article in the September 2010 issue. Get your copy now and read all about us!
  Read more about Baobab at www.baobabsuperfruit.com

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