Two small NGOs in medicinal herb-farming communities in rural KwaZulu-Natal are first in line to benefit if a Durban entrepreneur succeeds in mainstreaming the R18bn muti market.

The farmers work near Kosi Bay and at Edakeni on the Tugela River near Eshowe. Those in Kosi Bay work with Intelezi African Herbs, a 15-year-old company that supplies African plants and botanical extracts, medicines and cosmetics. The group at Edakeni, the Muthi Futhi Trust, is run by Gill Whittington Banda, CEO of Zuplex Botanicals. Whittington-Banda’s company sources and exports indigenous plant extracts for cosmetics and health supplements. ..

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