Passion over prejudice
"Often when I meet men in the organisation and they find out what I do, they find it difficult to place me…" Annabelle Degroot, BU President West Africa at AB InBev, shares a common reaction when she tells people she works for a global beer company.
However, this is a positive observation as she and thousands of other women are able to break barriers and share their passion for beer, responsible consumption and growing a better world together. Below are a few of our favourite women in South Africa who are not letting prejudice get in the way of their passion.
Not all who wander are lost
Africa is a continent rich with culture, infused with unique traditions and a large diversity of food and beverages. For many wanderlust travellers, including Katchie Nzama, aka The Solo Wandera, this is the perfect place to spend her days discovering and unearthing Africa’s hidden treasures. She travels alone through Africa and shares her journey via her social platforms and her blog: Travel With Katchie.
Working closely with the World of Beer, she travels to discover different cultures, food and beer. This August she has invited four people to join her on a trip to Uganda in September 2018. All you have to do is book a beer tour at the World of Beer during August, fill in the entry card after the tour and two lucky winners will stand a chance to win double tickets to an all-expenses-paid trip to Uganda with Katchie from 6 – 13 September 2018. More info here.
Brewing it her way
Kate Jones is a Master Trade Brewer at SAB. Hailing from Burton-on-Trent in the United Kingdom, she was managing 35 micro-breweries in Kent when she received our offer to work at SAB. While many people think that beer brewing is a job mainly carried out by men, she is a testament to the fact that this single-minded way of thinking holds no water. She celebrates and encourages more women to be like Phindi, Promise and Asavel:
Kate's advice to anyone wanting to get involved in beer brewing as a career: “Be comfortable as a multi-disciplined individual and make sure you are skilled in science related trades.”
Check out the careers portal for more information about brewing beer for Ab InBev, or beer schools like the Beerlab if you're keen to learn how to brew your own beer.
Caroline and her solar tavern
Caroline Mandiwana is a tavern owner and SAB customer in Slovo Park, South of Johannesburg. Wanting to create a better life for herself, her family and her community she opened a tavern in 1994. Throughout the years she has faced and conquered various challenges that came with running a tavern in this area, one of which was the lack of electricity and keeping her product cold.
Working closely with AB InBev, she agreed to be part of the pilot project that installed solar panels, new fridges and lights in her tavern, in order to help her grow her business sustainably.
Discover more about Caroline's story here
Hops farm housing project
In George, Western Cape, lives Beverley Joseph, the first female hop farmer in Africa. When they first purchased the farm she quickly realised there was a need to improve the living conditions on the farm, in order to give everyone a dignified living space that was safe and secure. This kickstarted the Hops Farm Housing Project.
Discover her story.
Leading by example
Vhutshilo Mafunzwaini and Faith Dowelani are mentors from Limpopo who share their strength with other women around them in order to help each other grow and be strong fearless females together. They pledged on SAB’s Be The Mentor Initiative <insert link: http://www.bethementor.sab.co.za/> and use their skills and ambition to create safe environments for other women and youngsters to make positive life choices and avoid falling into situations that lead to underage drinking.
Discover their story.
Cheers to her
Women’s involvement in brewing and enjoying beer has been documented back to four-thousand years ago in Mesopotamia. Throughout history women have ensured there was always a cold one close by while instilling responsible drinking and brewing. Today we would like to raise one to all the women around the world and their passion for beer.
