BY BUSINESS EDITOR
MBABANE – A local chilli sauce company has managed to export its products to key markets in Europe with the assistance of the Eswatini Investment Promotion Authority (EIPA).
Black Mamba, a chilli sauce company, is tapping into the growing global demand for spicy tastes and the increasing allure of African foods. To date, it has exported to 15 countries, with the UK, Norway, and Germany standing out as key markets.
Claudia Castellanos, co-founder and CEO of Black Mamba, notes that from its inception, the company aimed its products at the export market. Eswatini, a nation of just 1.2 million residents where over 50% live below the poverty line, offered a limited number of customers.
Originally from Colombia, Claudia first arrived in Eswatini in 2008 through MBAs Without Borders – an organisation that pairs MBA graduates with volunteer consulting roles in developing markets. Initially, she provided consulting for a Swazi homeware brand that collaborated with a network of rural women weavers. After her four-month volunteer role concluded, Claudia decided to stay. In June 2010, she, alongside her future husband Joe, launched Black Mamba.
“After my experience of working in rural areas, I realised I wanted to work with farmers to improve their quality of life through business,” Claudia told How we made it in Africa in an earlier interview. “I took my husband’s business idea of creating a chilli brand and my background in marketing, and we decided to create a for-profit social business that would potentially help me to work with communities.”
Black Mamba procures its chillies, herbs, and peppers from about 100 small-scale farmers trained in organic agricultural practices by a local NGO called Guba. Instead of directly engaging with the farmers, Black Mamba collaborates with Guba, which oversees the farmers and delivers their produce to the company’s factory.
“From the beginning, we knew that we wanted to work with small farmers who can help us produce organic ingredients for our products,” said Claudia. “So while Guba wanted to improve food security in Swaziland, Black Mamba came on board to fulfil its second objective – which is to create market access and income for the farmers. It’s a win-win situation.”
“We have agreed contracts and prices signed with Guba and the farmers every year. That way, farmers have a secured sustainable income, and they know how much they are going to earn – a price better than what they will get in the market,” she explained.
Black Mamba originally started in the kitchen of Claudia and Joe, funded by their personal savings. From those humble beginnings, the company has grown significantly. Today, it manufactures approximately 200,000 units annually from its dedicated factory in the town of Matsapha. The company employs a total of 21 staff. In 2020, Black Mamba received a E9.2 million (about $482,600) investment from American venture capital firm Enygma Ventures.
