Phoofolo Thoahlane’s smoothie-like juices are one of a kind. They consist fresh sugarcane juice and fresh apple-spinach juice. “The apple-spinach juice is popular with people 35 of years of age or above,” Thoahlane said. “As for sugarcane juice, it drives the younger generation crazy.”
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He said they were producing at a small scale at the moment, just to test the waters. “we are testing the markets with very small quantities.”
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Thoahlane thinks he was influenced by his grandpa to love healthier and more organic stuff since he was young. “My grandpa was quite a different soul,” he said. Contrary to a practice among his peers, “he neither smoked nor drank alcohol. More importantly, he emphasised on eating healthy food at all times.”
He thinks it’s not far-fetched to suggest his grandpa’s rare attitude influenced his love for healthy food.
“Particularly, my grandpa liked sour milk. He spoke highly of the health benefits of that specific milk,” he said. Praises given to sour milk by the grandpa encouraged him to go out of his way to learn more about it. In the process, he learned about the health benefits of all fermented foods to which he fell in love. “Sometimes people would be surprised to see me eating the likes of fermented cabbage.”
Fate would soon see him doing a Diploma in Civil Engineering at Lerotholi Polytechnic, otherwise known as Fokothi.
Once done, he worked for a short time in Lesotho and later landed in South Africa. That is where he started working with companies that repaired railways.
However, being someone who had always wanted to chat a new path, he quitted and created his own company along with his brother. The company was called Phofson and Ramson Consolidate. It was a construction company.
Just before Covid struck, he took a postgraduate Diploma in Business Management and came back home to Lesotho.
Now he could pursue his dreams.
He created a company in the name of Moanaways. At the heart of this company is the goal of producing bottled water among other drinks. However, he and his team decided to start with fresh juices and later; fresh smoothies.
It was an ambitious proposal.
He recalled that back in South Africa, he used to frequent Woolworths. A catalogue of organic products there used to drive him crazy! In fact, he claimed to have been inspired to do a couple of things by observing the products at the classy store.
But the choice if creating fresh juices was not going to be the easy choice.
You have to make sure that you have a plenty of raw fruits and vegetables supply. You have to have a machine that perfectly squeezes the juice out of the fruits and vegs. Then you have to mix them up and package them, raw as they are.
Being a purist, he made it clear that he didn’t want to compromise the organic nature of the juices. “Instead of putting preservatives, we leave the juices as they are,” he said. “Shops put them in refrigerators and buyers get them fresh and healthy.”
At some point he had to think about how he was going to package his elegant product.
It was not going to be just another packaging.
“The first question I asked myself was, what kind of product would I want to get if I were the one on the buying seat?” He said in normal life, he didn’t just buy anything that came his way. “I make sure that my money is well spent.” So he designed his packaging with the understanding that his clients would adopt more or less the same attitude.
“I wanted to give my clients the best.”
He took a talented Graphic Designer and together they went through the graphics with lots and lots of iterations until they were satisfied.
He then set his sights on containers.
An uncompromising purist, he was not going to go for ordinary bottles. He searched the depth and breadth of South Africa and found none he wanted. Only China, yes, China, came to his aid. So he made arrangements and the bottles were imported from China.
He said the markets likes his products. The younger generation, with a sweet tooth, prefers the sugarcane juice. The older generation, who have learned to value taste and health, prefers the apple-spinach juice.
You will choose!
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