The award programme recognises entrepreneurs, who demonstrate excellence and extraordinary success in such areas as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities.

“These individual’s ability – to innovate, to inspire others, to power a business along the difficult journey from start-up to market leader – is truly remarkable,” commented Ernest & Young’s Africa markets leader, Sugan Palanee.

Joekels Tea Packers started their operation in 1994, Swart an accountant for an FMCG company and Kelsey a Tea Buyer and Blender for one of the larger tea firms in South Africa. They spotted a gap in the market to launch a quality tea at a reasonable price. The brand had to be different and have standout compared to other brands available at the time so they chose a name of African origin, as all of their tea was sourced from Africa.

Phendula Tips ‘For a Tea Time Change’ was born during a change in the political landscape. Phendula means to turn around or change. The name Joekels is a derivative of Joe and Kelsey’s names and they liked the sound of it.

“It sounded like Joe Kool’s, which is where we shook hands over a beer at the popular venue and agreed to go ahead with the forming of the company,” said Swart.

The company started with very little, but has grown into a sizeable business in 20 years – the third largest tea packer in South Africa.

“Our journey has been fun, but not without difficulty. There really is no easy business! Our company now has a number of their own brands including Laager Rooibos, in addition to supplying 95% of Private Label Brands in the market,” explained Kelsey.

Joekels were awarded the Sanlam/Business Partners Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 1999. In addition, in 2013, the company received the globally recognised Food Safety System Certification (FSSC) 22000, which is a certification scheme that was developed by the internationally recognised Foundation for Food Safety Certification. This enabled Durban-based Joekels Tea Packers to surpass their competitors to become the only tea producers in Southern Africa to receive their FSSC 22000 certification.

In 2006, Swart and Kelsey sold a share of their business to Tata Global Beverages, a division of the Tata Group and owners of the global Tetley Tea brand.