AfricanOptimist #13 Claudia Castellanos - How you dust off an old family recipe and build it into a super hot brand, while being fair to suppliers and the planet.

We hold a delightful conversation with entrepreneur and self-proclaimed food rebel Claudia Castellanos who takes us on the rollercoaster ride of growing an international business that started with her and her husband's first sell out of 400 bottles of chilli sauce from a tiny stand at a music festival in Eswatini, southern Africa. 

What follows is nothing short of a gutsy tale of what it really takes to turn a single recipe, on a fat-stained paper, into an international, super hot brand with a venomous bite.

This, despite insisting on local production, permaculture training, organic certification, glass bottles, pure ingredients, and facing revolving staff at retailers, naysayers who don't get it, crazy deadlines and serious competition from rows and rows of other chilli sauces sitting neatly on supermarket shelves.

Claudia was very generous in her sharing of every detail. It is a rare insight into how a couple who knew nothing about retail, and manufacturing, in a country not known for its chillies, managed to build something truly special.

If you need a touch of inspiration, and a load of really well-earned and practical business advice - this episode is for you!

For more info on Claudia, a transcript and show notes, visit Claudia's guest page on the africanoptimist website (africanoptimist.co.za).

TIME STAMPS

00:00  Introduction to the African Optimist Podcast

00:23  Claudia Castanos: The Birth of Black Mamba

01:21  Values Over Profit: The Philosophy Behind Black Mamba

02:52  Claudia's Journey: From Colombia to Eswatini

12:04  The First Recipe and Launch at Bushfire Festival

21:19  Building the Brand: Challenges and Successes

31:01  Expanding Distribution and Overcoming Obstacles

39:34  Sourcing Chillies from Smallholder Farmers

42:36  High Value Crops and Farmer Partnerships

43:59  Initial Farmer Reactions and Market Access

46:38  Challenges and Solutions in Crop Production

54:50  Scaling Production and Food Safety

01:09:41  Recipe Development and Product Innovation

01:17:10  Future Challenges and Optimism