From farm to bottle, and beyond

What began as a homemade chilli recipe has grown into a small-scale food-processing business seeking to take Namibian flavours to international markets.

Founded in 2022 by husband-and-wife team Peyavari Tjaverua and Rosalia Nekongo, Kokeni PPI Chilli produces chilli powder, sauces, paste, seeds and chutney, transforming locally grown produce into value-added products.

The business follows a simple model: grow the chillies, harvest them and process them into products that reach consumers' tables.

But the transition from a home-based initiative to a commercial enterprise has not been straightforward. After struggling to secure reliable supplies of chillies, the founders decided to grow their own produce, giving them greater control over production and the opportunity to add value to their agricultural output.

“We plant, we harvest, from farm to bottle, to your table, to your dish. That's basically our idea why we came into the industry,” Tjaverua said.

The name PPI is drawn from the names of the couple's children, Paulina, Peya and Immanuel. It is a family-inspired brand that the founders hope will eventually gain recognition beyond Namibia.

Building a market presence

Beyond production, the founders are working to position the business for wider commercial opportunities.

Training and support through the NIFA Academy, in collaboration with Standard Bank, helped the enterprise strengthen its operations, develop its branding and secure product barcodes.

The business has also established a bulk-supply partnership with the Agro-Marketing and Trade Agency (AMTA), creating opportunities to reach customers beyond the individual retail market.

Tjaverua said the company wanted to expand its presence on retail shelves, including at SPAR and other outlets, subject to meeting the necessary documentation and regulatory requirements.

However, securing suitable premises and obtaining a fitness certificate remain challenges.

These difficulties highlight some of the barriers facing small-scale manufacturers as they move from informal production towards more structured commercial operations.

Taking Namibian flavours abroad

International exposure has offered the business a glimpse of the opportunities beyond the domestic market.

Tjaverua said the government had facilitated an opportunity for Kokeni PPI Chilli to display and sell its products at a pavilion in Changsha, in China's Hunan Province.

He described the response as encouraging, with Chinese consumers showing considerable interest in the products.

“We are grateful to the government. They took us to China, where our product is currently displayed and sold in Changsha, in Hunan Province, at a pavilion,” he said.

According to Tjaverua, demand was so strong that he had to reserve the last three bottles as samples to demonstrate that the products belonged to the Namibian business.

The experience has strengthened the company's ambitions to explore markets in Germany, other international destinations and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

But expansion will require additional capital, particularly to increase production capacity and prepare the business for export markets.

“Our main aim is to try to export our products, so that we can call it our own. So that the whole world can know that Namibia is producing,” he said.

“Even though we have financial constraints, we still will not give up. We will proceed until we make it.”

Beyond the chilli business

The founders' ambitions extend beyond building a successful food brand. They want to expand agricultural production, create employment and contribute to Namibia's economy.

Tjaverua said access to a resettlement farm would allow the business to cultivate chillies on a larger scale, employ more people and increase its contribution to the agricultural sector.

“We want the Ministry of Land to one day offer us, issue us, a resettlement farm where we can farm with children and hire a large population of Namibians. Then we work together. Then we can contribute to our GDP,” he said.

The business also hopes to encourage women, young people and people with disabilities to pursue entrepreneurship, demonstrating how small-scale production can create opportunities for economic participation.

For the founders, the objective is not simply to put another product on supermarket shelves. It is to show how locally grown agricultural produce can be processed into commercially viable products under a Namibian brand.

From a homemade recipe to products showcased in China, Kokeni PPI Chilli illustrates the potential of small-scale manufacturing to support agricultural value addition and local enterprise development.

Whether the business can translate that potential into sustained growth will depend on access to finance, suitable production facilities and the ability to meet the requirements of larger retail and export markets.

For Tjaverua and Nekongo, the ambition remains clear: to build a business that creates jobs, adds value to Namibian agriculture and puts locally produced goods on the international map.

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