LIONESS WEEKENDER COVER STORY
Black Mamba, an award-winning, Eswatini-based, specialty food brand making a sustainable impact.
Black Mamba is an ethical business from Eswatini in Southern Africa, co-founded by Claudia Castellanos and her husband Joe, that manufactures specialty foods that are good-for-you, good-for-the-planet, and good for the rural communities they work with. The range includes chilli sauces, pestos, chutneys and jams, all made with organically grown ingredients and “no added nonsense”. Through a partnership with the local NGO Guba, Black Mamba trains small holders in permaculture and regenerative farming and buy their fresh produce to make our products. To date, 60 farmers are part of the value chain, and the direct positive impact reaches over 1000 individuals in Eswatini. Black Mamba has won several Great Taste Awards in the UK for its chilli sauces, and currently exports its range to countries such as South Africa, the US, the UK, Germany, Norway and Taiwan.
Lioness Weekender spoke to the impact driven co-founder of Black Mamba, Claudia Castellanos, to find out more about her unique entrepreneurial journey and her vision for the future of the business.
What inspired you to start your company?
I am originally from Colombia, and came to Eswatini (back then called Swaziland) in 2008 to work as a volunteer for a handcraft business called Gone Rural, to support them with capacity building in marketing. From that experience I fell in love with Eswatini and decided to stay, and do more development work with women. In 2010 together with my now husband Joe Roques we started Black Mamba. He was obsessed with chillies and I was convinced I could replicate the business model focused on inclusion of grassroots communities that I had seen working for many handcraft businesses in Eswatini.
I am also passionate about the environment, and I thought that by creating a business following my values, I could not only bring positive change to rural communities, but also contribute to the respect and protection of the environment. This is done through the use of organically grown ingredients and regenerative farming practices, and using environmentally friendly packaging material such as glass. My driving force is "Be the change you want to see in the world". And I thought I could be that change through Black Mamba.
Why should anyone use your service or product?
Black Mamba's tag line is: Tastes good, looks good, does good. This very much sums up our products.
Taste good: our products are like an explosion of flavour: they are made with organically grown ingredients, no artificial flavours or preservatives, and really flavourful spices. As a matter of fact, all of our chilli sauces have won a Great Taste Award (kind of like the Oscars for food in the U.K.).
Looks good: our brand is proudly African, yet funky and contemporary enough to be perceived as high-end and of great quality.
Does good: because we care about the environment and the communities we work with, and we strive to create positive change for Eswatini.
Tell us a little about your team
Black Mamba has 15 full time employees, of which 12 are women (yes, we are a bit gender biased!). Our management team is composed of 6 women (including myself) and 2 men, all from Eswatini except our Business Development Manager who is South African and based in SA. The production team is composed of 6 women (most of whom have been with Black Mamba from its inception) that are capable of manufacturing and packing each one of our products by hand, and make it look so professional that people find it hard to believe that everything, including putting labels, is still done by hand. Now, that we have been introducing machinery to scale our production, the current team will still be in charge of overseeing the whole process. The team is completed by our extremely capable driver.
Share a little about your entrepreneurial journey. And, do you come from an entrepreneurial background?
My previous work experience was in the corporate world, and nothing in my background or preparation would have made me decide to become an entrepreneur. I like to think of myself as an Accidental Entrepreneur. However, after my experience as a volunteer in Eswatini, I realized that the only way I could really work on development and creating real change, was through being my own boss and applying my personal ethos and values to my business. Eswatini was also a perfect trial ground for starting my own business!
What are your future plans and aspirations for your company?
Black Mamba has recently received an investment from a venture capital fund called Enygma Ventures. We believe this is the result of years of hard work and proving that a business model with a strong social and environmental ethos can also be successful and profitable. This capital is allowing us to expand our production capacity, improve our distribution channels, and increase the reach of our brand: basically, it is allowing us to scale our business exponentially. I always jokingly say that we are on the quest of Chilli world domination. In truth though, my plan is for Black Mamba to become a cult brand, recognised in the Speciality Food market, as amazing as well as socially and environmentally responsible. I would also like for our business model to be replicated by other agri-businesses in Africa. I strongly believe that the future of Africa is in Agri-processing of high value, organic crops.
What gives you the most satisfaction being an entrepreneur?
On a business level, seeing real, positive change through what we do, and being able to grow a company with a strong social and environmental ethos, makes me extremely proud and happy. The fact that we are building a great brand that is getting international recognition and is now backed up by investment capital is also worth of a victory dance in my corner.
On a personal level, the flexibility that comes with being an entrepreneur is well suited to being a mom of 2 small kids. I work harder now than with any corporate job I had before, but it doesn’t have to be on an 8 to 5 office schedule. This allows me to really spend time with them (and yes, make up from lost working time at ungodly hours, but such is life of an entrepreneur!).
What's the biggest piece of advice you can give to other women looking to start-up?
Be passionate about what you choose to do. Don’t choose to become an entrepreneur to “make money”. When the going gets tough (and it will get tough) only that fire in your heart will push you to persevere.
It also doesn’t hurt to be curious, to ask questions, and to prepare yourself, thoroughly. Learn about your industry and markets as much as you can. Preparation gives you confidence, and confidence gives you positive energy to take action to achieve your goals!
Contact or follow Black Mamba
WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | EMAIL claudia@blackmambachilli.com
