Jabu Africa Online’s Publisher, SAUL MOLOBI, had a virtual face-to-face interview with Rosemary Mosia, of the Bridge of Hope Wines
Thank you for joining me. As I’ve indicated to you, I’ll be recording this conversation.
It isn’t necessarily a structured conversation, but we are just going to look at you entering the wine industry as a wine brand owner.
And then we’ll also look at the export market and how is your brand received all over the world. And basically, it will be about that and I will just ask follow-up questions as we go along where I need clarification. But it’s an easy chat between us and I’ll say just flow as much as possible.
You can start by also introducing yourself. And also introduce your company and your wine brand.
Rosemary Mosia (RM):
Good morning, Saul. Thank you so much for inviting me to come and talk to you. My name is Rose Mosia, born and bred in Soweto but I am based in Cape Town. I’m one of the few black women in the wine industry. The name of my company is called The Bridge of Hope Wines and the wine brand is also called The Bridge of Hope Wines. I’m not sure how much I should go because some of the things you will be questioning.
Saul Molobi (SM):
No, just flow, say as much as possible.
RM:
Yes, although the company was registered in 2005, we only started operating in 2012. We have about 18 products which are divided in three ranges – namely, Classic Range, entry range which we call Premium Range, and then we have an Ultra Range, which is a bit more expensive than the two.
Our market split is actually 20% South African and 80% export – so we rely heavily on the foreign markets. In South Africa our target is hotels, your upmarket restaurants, your bars and some schools that are buying the entry level wine to sell wine by the glass at their events to the parents and then a number of boutique wine companies that sell wine.
Unfortunately, or fortunately maybe, we are not listed in South African retail shops. We have tried and we’re still busy negotiating with them, but on the other hand, because we sell to upmarket restaurants, it’s actually very good that we are not in retail shops. Because relative to other brands that are already there on the shelves, we will have to sell our wines cheaper. This will create brand positioning challenges to the wine industry and the minute they sell our wine cheaper.
SM:
Who do you work with?
RM:
As I started the company, I am the founding CEO. I work with my twin girls and my boy. The girls are working in their respective companies, but assist whenever necessary. The other one assists with legal and compliance issues and then the other with social marketing by writing up anything that is social media related. And then my son is mainly managing our export portfolio. Furthermore, he is also involved in the local sales. He enhances our social media campaigns by doing site recordings for social media and advertising.
SM:
Now this is interesting, it feels like a family business, which is thriving and you have the support of everyone in the family.
Perhaps let’s move on to talk about your educational background and what attracted you into the wine industry – more especially that in South Africa the wine industry is mainly a preserve of the white establishment.
RM:
Uhm, I was amongst the matriculants that were unfortunate during the olden days. During the year I was doing my matric and the students movement then called for the principle of “pass one, pass all’ as there was absenteeism because of the protests. And unfortunately, the matric students in that year were kicked out of the system, so I was amongst them. My matric year was 1985, so ’86 and ’87 we didn’t do anything.
During those two years I went into modeling and also played tennis. You know there was nothing that was concrete to that we were dong.
So one of my friends that was playing tennis with me decided that we should go stay with her to study in Newcastle as there were no student protests there. We did our matric and passed very, very well. We got lots of distinctions. Unfortunately we didn’t apply for admission to any university.
SM:
And what happened?
RM:
My friend’s cousin invited us to come the University of the North and she would speak to the authorities to admit us as our results were good. So we went there and were accepted for Bachelor of Commerce (BCom) degrees. We were excited as we also got lots of bursaries. We were both elected class representatives for the entire duration of our three year degrees.
SM:
So after graduating?
RM:
I decided to pursue a Post Graduate Diploma in Management at the Wits Business School. After completing I then joined a company called Alliance. They had a programme in Change Management for graduates which I joined. After about two years, I moved to Transnet where I was mainly doing Financial Risk Management. But then I got bored, because I found the work too administrative. I then joined Internal Audit. As many colleagues in this Department were highly educated, they inspired me to pursue my studies part-timely.
SM:
I find it very impressive that in the 1980’s not many black people followed the accounting commerce/ streams but you chose this field. Most of us did teaching, nursing and social sciences because the system then was designed in such a way that they will encourage us to follow this mainstream process. So that’s very impressive.
RM:
Yes, that’s true. I think in our class from year 1 to year 2, there were maybe a few females. When we started there was about 12 of us, but when we finished, we probably ended up with 4 females. Because Wits University was historically a white university, black people who went to study there had to apply for a special permission from the Minister of Education.
When I was in the audit space, I wanted nothing but to become a Chartered Accountant (CA). So, I started studying anything that is in the field of accounting. So I did BCTA, BCTA, because we were coming from uhm, a university that was deemed not to be ready, so our CTA was divided into two, so we suppose to do the first year and then from there proceed to second year. So that was the most difficult course I’ve ever done.
SM:
May we please fast track to the wine industry?
RM:
I then joined SAA in Cape Town. I did my MBA. So I was introduced to two ladies. These ladies took me on a tour of wine farms. I had never been to a wine farm before, so I was so impressed even if I wasn’t partaking alcohol.
SM:
So it was like a blessing being in Cape Town because it is the wine capital of the country.
RM:
The ambiance – I mean everything – was so beautiful about this place. You’d feel like you were in a different world. Not even a different city, it felt like a different world. And so my friends did wine tasting. I was just looking at them because I didn’t drink wine.
SM:
Because black people generally don’t drink wine in South Africa?
RM:
So we did that continuously because they had a designated driver who didn’t drink. Then after the second visit I told them I would love to be involved in this industry. But I didn’t know how I was gonna do it. I then started listening to them, when they talk about the smell and the taste. The best way to explain this to me was to say I should go to a restaurant or retail shop, try and walk around the spices, buy different types and smell them so that I can understand. I tried that, it took me a very long time to be able to pick up spices and aromas from the wine.
But then I subscribed to wine magazines – every magazine that had the word “wine” in its title. I wanted to learn as much as possible. I wanted to know what wine was? Why wine? Where was it coming from? Why there were no wine distilleries in Soweto? Why there are vineyards only in Cape Town? What type of grapes are they? Why can’t we use any other ordinary grapes? And, and, and…
I then decided the research for my MBA dissertation was to be on the wine industry.
So one day I attended a meeting at Wesgro, the Western Cape provincial trade and investment promotion agency. Then as we were introducing ourselves, one of the black women indicated she owned a wine brand, Ses’fikile Wines. Her name is Nondumiso Pikashe.
SM:
Is she the one that I met you with in Italy in 2015 at the VinItaly, international wine festival?
RM:
Yes, yes.
SM:
Maybe I was supposed to declare this upfront that I’ve known you since 2015 when you were attending the International Wine Festival in Italy.
RM:
Yes, that’s where we met. I was with Nondumiso. After she introduced herself in our Wesgro meeting, I requested to have a word with her privately. And then she agreed. We drove though I can’t remember where we went. Our meeting was very long because she explained to me the where, what, everything of the wine industry. I actually learned a lot on that particular day.
And the following day I started drinking wine. She then asked me to go promote her wine in international exhibitions. She trained me well. So the following year I started having my own wine brand.
SM:
Why did you give it that name?
RM:
Which one, The Bridge of Hope Wine?
SM:
Yes.
RM:
To be honest, it is only that when I worked for Transnet we used to give employees loans as bridging finance while they were waiting for their money after selling their houses. So after going private, I decided to establish a financial services company that could give loans to people, and I then named it Bridge-Fin because I was using my pension fund pay-out.
So after closing down my loan company, I decided to build on the strength of the Bridge brand, so called it The Bridge of Hope Wine.
SM:
I remember your wine cargo didn’t arrive on time in Italy for the festival. You were stressed. I was also stressed because we had already paid for the pavilion and many people had bought tickets to attend the South African wine tasting. I was stressing more because we had managed to secure the spices of Italy’s most respected Somelier, Vido Invernizzi, to conduct
RM:
I remember you then got us to serve South African wines. I remember the wine bottle we were serving having many stickers announcing the awards they won. I was in awe.
Two weeks after we returned, my friend asked me to drive her to a meèting. When we got to the wine distillery, I found that it was their wine we were promoting at the wine tasting in Italy. That was very surprising for me. I then told me the story.
SM:
That you promoted them?
RM:
Yes, so I said, you know for a week, I’ve been pouring your wine, and I didn’t know this wine is from this farm. And they were like… really?, and I’m like… yes, I poured the wine on my stand and I had to read about you guys. I told them I knew so much more than they know about themselves, and they were laughing. But the guy I was talking to was an amazing, he was just laughing. I actually thought he was one of the employees, junior employees. He took our wine and packed it in our car. So I asked him: “who are you”? He said I am actually the Général Manager. I was like what? Really? GM, you are busy packing our bag, our wine. He laughed. Then he asked me what was my brand, so I showed him my picture. So he said, oh it’s an interesting brand, you know. So where are you getting your wine? He asked. I told him. Then I asked him: “will you be interested in working with me?”. He said: “Looks like we can work together.” So we had a meeting and then the rest is history.
So that’s how I started working with them. They train me and the people that I bring to the farm. Yes obviously they get empowerment points for doing that.
SM:
Tell us about breaking into the international market?
RM:
For me it is better than the local market. You know, local challenges are that when you are black, you are deemed not to be able to produce good wine. There are many known brands that are selling cheaper than the cost of producing our quality wines. So, it gets very very difficult.
SM:
Are they cheaper because they have the economies of scale and the history behind them also
RM:
Then retailers, they dictate on the price because they are on the other side, you know, and you have to beg them. So, so local industry is not very easy. It’s a bit difficult.
SM:
And also, you are not only black, but you are also a woman.
RM:
Yes, which is double barrel of problems. So the export market is easier. We are fortunate in South Africa because we have the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition which assists us with export marketing. So they try to give as many people as possible chances of success. We rely on them although obviously once you grow, you will start going on your own.
The challenge with exporting is the prevalence of fraud. You get an order from someone that you don’t know. So it’s very important that you must ask a South African embassy in that respective country to verify that buyer – especially in China or Nigeria.
But these are administrative challenges. The other challenge is that you should know they would google you and check who you are – so the issue of race may come up in some other countries. They don’t buy from because you are black, you have to show them that you are able to produce quality; your product supplies are sustainable, continuous and long term.
SM:
How do stereotypes impact on you? You are black, a woman and you are from Africa.
RM:
Yes, they do. But not with everyone. Some believe that anything that comes from Africa is inferior to an extent that we cannot price our best wines to match wines from France and Italy because they are known for a long history of winemaking.
When you are attending an exhibition, they would ask you what type of barrel you are using, because they believe you should be using French or Italian barrel for you to be able to produce the best wine. If you use South African barrel, they may be reluctant to buy from you.
Sometimes they come to you and ask: “where’s your boss?” Then you say: “I’m the boss.” They start asking you challenging questions to test you – such as what time do you harvest your grapes; what’s the angle of elevation; the type of soil; and so on. Once you answer them satisfactorily, they become comfortable and they start talking to you nicely.
SM:
I just love your story that you break barriers. First, you broke the barrier as a black person, a woman, pursuing commercial studies at university level. You pursued insurance management, something foreign to us in the 1980s. As a woman you didn’t become a teacher or a nurse, as our parents and the system itself, expected you to.
RM:
Thank you.
SM:
My gripe with out industry is that we export more wine in bulk than in branded bottles. What’s your take on that?
RM:
To sell bottled wine actually is better for South Africa because that means you’ve created employment for people to produce bottles, labels and packaging. Yes, this extends to printing of labels and the production of corks. So it makes more sense for the wine to be exported bottled.
Yes I do understand that sometimes South Africa has excess wine which is expensive to keep.
SM:
Just a final one from me. How do you deal with the negative brand perception of Africa and “made in Africa” product and services?
RM:
You know this morning I went to exercise by doing the steps in Hout Bay – where you meet different people. So I met this black guy who going up the stairs. He started talking bad things about South Africa – obviously, about the government. So I said to him when I leave the country, I am an ambassador of the South Africa and of Africa itself. So I don’t go out there and badmouth our country or our continent. The best way is for us to respect the country and the continent by saying all the good things that we have. Because that are so many good things that we have, that the country or Africa possesses. If I go overseas and I go to a restaurant, if I’m with French people, I insist on South African wine, they drink it and that will be indirect marketing. It doesn’t matter what the brand is, but the mere fact that I’ve ordered our wine means that I am very proud of our country, of our continent and, and I’ll ensure that I will consume everything that says Africa or do things that involve Africa. This is a way of creating a strong brand awareness for the country and our continent.
SM:
Thank you so much for agreeing to this interview and I’m also grateful that Zoom has given us extra minutes. I will share this video with you and the transcript too. Thank you, I really enjoyed our conversation.
RM:
Thank you so much for inviting me, I really appreciate it. Okay then, bye.
SM:
Thank you and all the best to your brand. Bye.
