By Everson Luhanga
- Wendy Vesela Ntimbani founded Matomani, a Phalaborwa company that makes food products from mopani worms, including a mopani worm chocolate.
- Matomani employs 24 people, operates from Phalaborwa and Johannesburg, and works with rural communities that harvest the worms each summer.
Many families in Limpopo survive by harvesting mopani worms each summer. A woman from Phalaborwa is now turning that tradition into a food business that creates jobs and new income.
Wendy Vesela Ntimbani founded Matomani, a company that makes food products from mopani caterpillars. She grew up in an area where families collected the worms from trees every December. Communities collect, boil and dry the worms so they can be stored and eaten throughout the year.
One of Matomani’s newest products is what Ntimbani calls the first mopani worms chocolate.
Matomani produces protein-rich foods using mopani caterpillars, which are widely eaten in parts of Limpopo and neighbouring regions. The company says its products contain important nutrients, including protein, iron and zinc.
The business operates from Phalaborwa in Limpopo and Johannesburg in Gauteng. It employs 24 people and works with rural communities that harvest the worms.
For many households, selling mopani worms already provides a small seasonal income. Ntimbani says turning the harvest into packaged food products can increase the value and create more jobs.
She says this traditional food can also help communities survive in tough economic times.
Matomani describes itself as a 100% black female owned business with a level 1 broad-based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) rating.
Ntimbani says her long-term plan is to grow the mopani worm industry while protecting the environment and supporting rural livelihoods. Her goal is to take a food that many South Africans grew up eating and bring it to more markets across the country and the world.
Pictured above: Matomani founder Wendy Vesela Ntimbani from Phalaborwa is turning mopani worms into packaged food products and creating jobs in Limpopo communities.
Image source: Supplied
