COMPANY PROFILE
2013
AFRIPLEX
“We put science
behind the products”
COMPANY REPORT
“We put science
behind the products” Editorial – Christian Jordan Production – Hal Hutchison
Afriplex is a leader in separation technology and chemical processing. The company extracts valuable nutrients and minerals from indigenous African plants for use in a range of every-day products. Their industry is booming so we speak to CEO, Danie Nel, to find out what is driving their success.
South Africa has an extremely strong scientific industry; we have seen this demonstrated in the fantastic work going on with the SKA project (see page 34). Sometimes the scientific work in SA can go unnoticed when compared with the work of international peers but one company using science, research and innovative ideas to ensure that their work does not go unseen is Afriplex. As the industry leader in unlocking the potential of African botanicals, Afriplex use nature as their partner and supply raw materials, mainly plant extracts, to the food and beverage, pharmaceutical and healthcare industry. The company has seen the benefit of a growing
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worldwide trend towards health and wellness products, especially products that are sustainably sourced and naturally produced. Afriplex now supplies more than 100 plant extracts used in syrups, tablets, herbal teas, fruit bars, tinctures and many more innovative products. The company can also create products for final retail, providing ingredients, product concepts and manufacturing services to all clients. Using more than 500 plant species for research and product development is not a small task and Afriplex makes full use of its five commercial farms to produce more than five million pharmaceutical units every year.
AFRIPLEX
“We use the concept of ‘source to shelf’, meaning we manage the supply chain from raw material to a final product”
A HEALTHY INDUSTRY Health and wellness products, and the additives used in them, have seen sales growth year on year since the sector became an out-right industry of its own in the early 2000s. Euromonitor International, world leader in strategy research for consumer markets, stated in a report published at the end of 2012 that sales of health and wellness products are rising and by 2017 the value of sales will reach US$1 trillion. This growth has been fuelled in part by developing and emerging economies with Brazil and China reportedly spending US$15 billion on health and wellness products in 2011. Afriplex CEO, Danie Nel, recently told IndustrySA
that opportunities in the Far East and thriving markets in Africa are helping the company to compensate for slow markets in Europe and the USA. “50% of our business is southern Africa and the other 50% is international markets. The States and Europe remain our biggest international markets. The Far East will soon overtake the European market. “There is definitely a slowdown in Europe and the States but there is growth in the Far East, Japan, China and Korea. In the African market, we see tremendous growth. In our industry, it’s as if the downturn did not affect southern Africa as we are seeing growth of in excess of 30-40% per annum, in a time where other companies in our industry are feeling the pinch. The reason for this is that we have unique products.”
APR 13 PAGE 3
COMPANY REPORT
SEPARATION TECHNOLOGY Afriplex core business is separating healthy, useable compounds from plants and turning them into functional products. Mr Nel explains that this has always been the goal of Afriplex but, over the years, the strategy has been adapted to include product development as well as element extraction. “We have been in separation technology for many years and we have constructed separation plants in the Middle East, Africa and all over the world. “We are a chemical engineering company and in 2001 we started Afriplex in SA. The concept at that time was that we want to add value to African indigenous plants. “The most important part of the business is botanical extracts. We’ve built separation plants and manufacturing plants to standardise plant extracts for the food and pharmaceutical industry. “In 2003/04, we had a number of very unique ingredients derived from plant extracts but we couldn’t get the industry to accept them and formulate them into final retail products. This forced us to change our strategy and we’ve moved into product development. We are now considered a pharmaceutical company manufacturing pharmaceutical products and a range of food and beverage products,” explains Mr Nel. He continues: “We started manufacturing extracts from Rooibus tea, Honeybush tea and other medicinal plants. Over the years we developed to work more with final retail products and that prompted us to develop concepts based on the plant extracts that we developed.”
BACKED UP BY SCIENCE To be truly regarded as a health and wellness product it is important to have valid scientific data to back-up claims made about potential health benefits. This is something which many companies do not have but all Afriplex products are meticulously tested to ensure their legitimacy as Mr Nel explains: “In southern Africa, five or ten years ago people used herbal products that have anecdotal claims but not scientific back-up. There is now demand in the market for products with scientific back-up. Products that we are involved with on the development side all go through clinical trials for the specific reason of complying with requirements of pharmaceutical products.
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AFRIPLEX
WYNLAND LABORATORIES Wynland Laboratory is a SANAS accredited laboratory (ISO 17025) and situated in Wellington. It is an independent laboratory founded in 1992. Its core business is to provide an effective service to the agriculture, wine, grapevine, food and bottled water industry in South Africa. Quality, competence and accuracy are very important to Wynland Laboratory. The laboratory sees itself as a vital link in the manufacturing chain and therefore we make use of ISO (International Organisation for Standards), EPA and AOAC (Association of Official Agricultural Chemists) methods. Wynland Laboratory (a member of the AOAC) offers its clients the full scope of routine microbiological analysis of beverages, dried fruit, fruit pulp, herbs, spices and aromatic plants, wine, water, bottled water, potable-, effluent- and recreational water, health products, dairy, sauces, swabs for hygiene, air-plate monitoring as well as chemical analysis of plant material, soil, water, wine, concentrate and olive oil. To ensure accuracy and reliability the laboratory participates in several interlab schemes eg. National Laboratory Association (NLA) (International interlab), SA Winelab Association, Agrilasa and others on a regular basis. Wynland Laboratory is also registered at the Department of Agriculture as a testing laboratory for virus testing of plant material (Grapevine leaf roll virus is regularly tested for in our labs) . Only the best available verified and validated test kits are used. It is a priority for Wynland Laboratory to lead the pack with the latest methods and formulations. Training is thus of the utmost importance and personnel are trained and retrained on a regular basis.
Wynland Laboratories 28 Main Road Wellington 7655
tel: 021-8733514 fax: 021-8733514 web: www.wynlandlab.co.za
COMPANY REPORT
“With that, you demonstrate safety and efficacy of products. That is where we find ourselves in a unique market. Our competitors in southern Africa are reluctant to invest in the science behind the product and that is our strength.” A question often asked of the company is ‘do your products have genuine health benefits?’ Mr Nel responds by saying that although it has been a struggle, the company is backed by highly regarded institutions ensuring scientific concerns are behind every product. “Over the years one of the biggest problems we’ve faced is differentiating our products from others with no scientific background. That is an on-going process for us. What we’ve managed to do, through our relationships with universities and other research institutions in SA and throughout the world, is to put science behind the products.”
PEOPLE AND COMMUNITIES Afriplex employees are highly skilled, highly experienced individuals and their expertise covers a range of areas. “Today we have a very strong technical team made up of pharmacists, chemical engineers, food technologists, bio-chemistry analysts and a range of people with very specific experience in their respected fields,” says Mr Nel, whose own background is in separation technology. As mentioned above, Afriplex owns five commercial farms and also a major tincture manufacture plant so cooperation with local communities is high on the agenda for the company. “The last expansion on the tincture plant was three years ago, we’ve manufactured tinctures right from the beginning; it’s a big part of our business. “We don’t only work with communities because it’s part of government legislation but we do so because of our social commitment. “We use the concept of ‘source to shelf’, meaning we manage the supply chain from raw material to a final product. We have a number of farming operations where we cultivate plants for specific customers and products, and in this process the local communities are very important. In SA there is a drive towards job creation and community upliftment and this is critical to our business,” says Mr Nel. He adds. “We grow non-conventional crops with high return rates so it makes it worthwhile for communities to be involved.”
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AFRIPLEX
New products from Afriplex include: Malaria Remedy - The main objective of the project is to produce ACT (Artemisinin compounded therapies) products from locally cultivated Artemisia annua (A.annua) plant material. The overall goal is to evaluate the agronomic potential, extraction and production efficiency and techno-economics for the commercial production of Artemisinin and ACT’s in South Africa. The main source for artemisinin is the leaves of Artemisia annua, also known as sweet wormwood. The plant was traditionally used for reducing fevers as well as for treating malaria. The Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and Afriplex have a cooperation agreement to co-fund the feasibility study phase of the project.
Powder Capsules – A range of products will be launched in the coming months where the consumer can mix a powder cap with water allowing for increased stability. The range will included energy drinks, relaxation drinks and similar products for functional use. Mr Nel explains: “Instead of having ingredients mixed in water where you have a problem with stability, our products will be housed in a cap as a powder. The product will be coupled with a bottle of water, the consumer will push a button and the product will dissolve in the water where it can be used easily. The advantage of this is having ingredients with the stability of a powder. This is quite unique.”
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AFRIPLEX
COMPANY REPORT
THE FUTURE There is much promise on the horizon for Afriplex. The industry is in a good place and demand in southern Africa is burgeoning. We are likely to see more and more products from the company as well as a transfer, seeing extracts used in food included in medicinal products. “We are working on the standardisation of plant extracts in SA as APIs (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients). It will be a major step for us to take extracts that have been used for years in the food industry and use them in pharmaceutical products. “Rooibus and Honeybush tea extracts will be used in our pharmaceutical products and that is a first. They’re well known in the food and beverage industry but not as an API. These products will have all the documentation to be registered as an API and used in
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pharmaceutical products,” says Mr Nel. He also explains that the company has strengthened its longstanding relationship with the CSIR (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) and the two are now working on a number of projects. “We have strengthened our relationship with the CSIR. We are effectively their commercial arm in the field of indigenous plants for food and beverage or pharmaceutical use. “We are working on a product which treats prostate cancer and hair loss in men. The product derives extracts from the Elandsboontjie plant. It is the same mechanism in the body which causes the two. “It’s a unique project, the CSIR have worked on this for six or seven years and we formed a partnership becoming the commercial partner. It’s the same for a number of plant based products that they research so we have a very strong relationship.” It is these relationships that help to make Afriplex unique and ensure their claims, that science is behind every product, are justified. The company’s work over the coming months and years is going to contribute in only positive ways to an industry that is continuing to grow, locally and globally. With demand for Afriplex products and services increasing in southern Africa, and with the Far East looking set to send orders through the roof, the company has strategically positioned itself as one of the industry leaders, recognised much further afield than just South Africa.
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Nature’s concentrated
healing power.
Active phytopharmaceutical ingredients from Finzelberg are characterised by high efficacy combined with the highest possible quality and reliability. International customers from the phytopharmaceutical industry benefit from a unique range of botanical extracts – also for use in dietary supplements. As part of the Martin Bauer Group, we also provide comprehensive scientific and regulatory services as well. Solutions from a single source.
www.martin-bauer-group.com
+27 21 872 4976 www.afriplex.co.za
(0)1603 618 000 info@industrysa.com East Coast Promotions Ltd, Ferndale Business Centre, 1 Exeter Street. Norwich, Norfolk NR2 4QB