Sipamandla Manqele, a dynamic South African entrepreneur, is revolutionizing pantries with unique food and beverage products that celebrate African ingredients while driving economic growth in local communities. In 2016, she founded Local Village Foods to connect African agripreneurs and promote sustainably grown, fairly sourced indigenous superfoods, including teff grain from the Horn of Africa, tiger nuts from West Africa, and sorghum flour from Southern Africa.
Guided by the motto “Food is our Currency of Connection,” Manqele sees food as a powerful bridge between cultures. Local Village Foods goes beyond celebrating African heritage—it actively empowers small-scale farmers, cooperatives, and local communities by creating new market opportunities. Her background in sustainable development and friendships across Africa inspired her to use indigenous foods as a vehicle for economic and social change.
Local Village Foods processes, packages, and distributes its products to retailers and the hospitality sector, ensuring that African flavors and ingredients gain wider recognition. With proudly African branding, the company offers a diverse product range, including Bambara groundnuts, fonio grain, teff flour, dried roselle leaves, bissap-based drinks, and baobab-mango snack bars. By making African wholefoods more accessible globally, the brand not only promotes sustainable development but also strengthens Africa’s presence in the global food industry.
Manqele’s impact has earned her numerous accolades, including being named one of South Africa’s Top 200 Young People to Watch by Mail & Guardian in 2019 and winning the Pitch Perfect SEDA Award the same year. With a deep appreciation for Africa’s cultural diversity, she aspires to contribute to the movement for fair and open trade across the continent, ensuring that Africa’s rich food heritage is both celebrated and economically empowering.
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