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The Founder and Managing Director of Makhamisa Foods, Mr Terence Leluma, says that he relishes the prospects of forming strategic partnerships with agents, distributors and the hospitality industry in the Japanese food and beverage industry. Leluma is part of a twenty-three-member business delegation that will be jetting off to Japan to showcase South African packaged and processed foods at the 48th International Food and Beverage Exhibition (FOODEX) in Tokyo, Japan, from 7-10 March 2023.

FOODEX is one of the largest annual food and beverage trade shows in Asia and has been a highly successful trade event since its debut in 1976. It is not only serving Japan’s $700 billion food market, but many lucrative Asian markets.

Leluma explains that Makhamisa Foods manufactures relish, but they also can manufacture sauces, bastings, marinade, mayonnaise and salad dressings.

“For instance, looking at the fact that Japan is the third largest economy in the world one already realises that the country has substantial buying power with plenty of opportunities for our company. That is the driving factor why we are looking at gaining a foothold for our famous range of relish. As it will be the first time that we will be showcasing in Japan, we also intend to collect plenty of data which will in turn inform our product strategy going forward,” he says.

He adds that they have a fully equipped processing-to-packaging manufacturing plant with the capability to manufacture and produce relish, as well as sauces, bastings, marinade, mayonnaise and salad dressings to the specifications of clients.

“We can meet the specifications and volume of any client, both locally and beyond. In my years of doing business, one factor that I have learnt is that trends dictate that one enters into collaborations to succeed especially in foreign markets. This way of doing business makes it easy to adapt to markets that would have normally been extremely challenging to break ground in. For this market and the entire Asian market, I will explore the services of translators, agents, and distributors and I will also explore opportunities in the hospitality industry as it is the one industry that I am interested in the most,” says Leluma.

Companies that will form part of the South African Pavilion at FOODEX are assisted by the Export Marketing and Investment Assistance (EMIA) Scheme of the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic). The scheme develops export markets for South African products and services and recruits new foreign direct investment into the country.

Issued by The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition