Posted Courtesy of Wright Enterprises Community Spotlight~~~
(Editors note: Roots & Vines Founder Jennifer White can be reached in South Africa via WhatsApp (619) 408-5510.)
"Roots & Vines" Owned by African American Women Makes Black History in South Africa During "Black History Month"
CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA-During Black History Month as celebrated in the United States, representatives of the newly formed Roots & Vines Trading Company are in South Africa making history. Roots & Vines is developing trade agreements to initiate increased commerce between California Black businesses and Black South African businesses.
The new venture is an answer in part to the call for Black entrepreneurship from the November 2016 Durban Essence Magazine Festival that included a business conference. The entertainment segment of the festival was headlined Steve Harvey, Kelly Price, Estelle and others for the U.S. along with local South African talent producer DJ Black Coffee, actress and singer Nondumiso Tembe, kwaito group Big Nuz, Wololo hitmaker Babes Wodumo among others, while business workshops were conducted by the International Relations Department of the City of Durban, The Durban Chamber of Commerce, and the Kwazulu-Natal Trade & Investment Agency.
Roots & Vines investors believe there is nothing more satisfying than bringing fine wine from the roots of Africa to the United States to satisfy the palate of wine connoisseurs who live in and who visit the Golden State. The representatives will host Black Girl Magic Wine parties in Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Durban and will visit Black owned female wineries to choose top wines to bring to a select group of wine drinkers with the purpose of choosing the first wine which will wear the label, "Roots & Vines Fine Wine."
A networking mixer honoring Black women winemakers will be held today, February 27th at The Commodore Hotel, Portswood Rd., near Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, Cape Town, 8002 South Africa, from 4pm to 6pm. Founder Jennifer White says, "Not only are we choosing wine but we are introducing the spirit of "Black Girl Magic" to those who attend our Black Girl Magic Wine Parties." According to White, while the end goal is to choose wine, the trip is also to establish the spirit of doing business in Africa that benefits the native people of Africa.
Thuy Cooper,a Roots & Vines investor shared "We are not just purchasing wine in South Africa, we are going back to our roots to do business." When people purchase Roots & Vines wines they will support women owned businesses, minority owned businesses, and they will support the women who make the wine in South Africa."
Mathabo Kunene, the widow of the President Nelson Mandela's first Poet Laureate and UCLA Professor for over two decades, Mazisi Kunene, will host the Roots & Vines Investors during their stay in Durban. "Since the 2016 Durban Essence Festival, it is great to see the efforts of The Kwazulu-Natal Trade & Investment Agency's trade mission to U.S. cities, and visits with Durban City Officials to The California Black Chamber of Commerce Ron Brown Business & Economic Summit, generating commerce like that of the emerging Roots & Vines Trading Company," says Mathabo Kunene, CEO of the Kunene Foundation.
After the investors return to the United States, The Roots & Vines Trading Company will host marketing events in San Diego and Los Angeles, California as early as March when it receives its first shipment of wine from Black South African female vintners. For investment information contact Jennifer White at sistercircle619@gmail.com or (619) 408-5510.
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