#WCW: Alcohol bans were not going to stop her from brewing Tolokazi...
Her beer is being brewed in Europe now!
No doubt that the pandemic has had its fair share of repercussions on many businesses. But the truth is that we hold the cards to our futures and no one, including COVID-19, can dictate our future to us.
Now that is exactly the type of energy that we love to surround ourselves with. And best know that we only surround ourselves with woman crushes that speak and breathe their passion...
After all, they have to align themselves with the energy of Carol Ofori.
After the pandemic laid her brewery business to rest, she didn't let that be the end of her dreams. Apiwe Nxusani-Mawela's beer, Tolokazi, has reached an international audience, and is being brewed in Europe and distributed in the United Kingdom.
Not long after her operations shut down, she received a message on LinkedIn that pretty much changed the fate of her business.
"LinkedIn invitation from the chief marketing officer of subscription service Beer52, headquartered in Edinburgh." (Business Insider)
"Beer52 is a club that introduces beer drinkers across the UK to new beers from around the globe. This month, part of its subscription includes 200,000 cans of Tolokazi, which will reach 100,000 subscribers in the UK." (Business Insider)
This great opportunity came with it's fair share of challenges, but that didn't stop this brewmaster.
Initially, when we first started talking, we looked at the costings; it was going to be very expensive to produce this side. So then, they [Beer52] approached a brewery in Croatia, and I got in contact with their brewmaster. I use only South African hops, but when we worked out the cost of shipping and the fact the hops have to be kept cold, it would have had to be cold transportation, and with Covid, it was quite impossible.
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The alcohol ban pushed her to reassess her business model and she has used this as a lesson to progress. If anything, that motivates us to look at things from a fresh perspective when life hands us challenges.
Let's choose to take a hop out of her beer and learn that sometimes things happen to push us into excellence. This was definitely the case for Apiwe Nxusani-Mawela. She is smashing her goals in a field that has previously been dominated by men, and that is another reason we want to celebrate her this woman crush Wednesday.
Image Courtesy of Facebook