Teboho Kwetempane Builds a Nutrition Business Around African Crops

Entrepreneur Teboho Kwetempane has always viewed technology as a practical tool for tackling problems in his community. For Kwetempane, an ALX Founder Academy graduate and agro-processing entrepreneur from Mankweng in Limpopo, what started as a community-based idea has grown into a nationally recognised nutrition enterprise.

He is part of a growing group of young South African entrepreneurs using technology and local resources to address food security challenges in their communities.

Building Dr Kweteps Creatives

Access to affordable, nutritious food remains a challenge in many rural and township communities across South Africa. This led Kwetempane to establish Dr Kweteps Creatives Pty Ltd in 2019.

Based in Mankweng, the agro-processing company develops nutrient-dense food products using locally sourced ingredients. Its flagship products, Moringa Nutrika and Bambara Groundnut Instant Porridge, provide affordable nutrition while creating a market for smallholder farmers supplying the raw materials.

Kwetempane joined the ALX Founder Academy in 2024. Through the ALX Accelerator, and with support from Sand Technologies, an ALX Africa technology partner, he worked on formalising his product systems, strengthening his digital skills and expanding his agro-processing business.

“When I joined the ALX Founder Academy I was building from a rural community with limited resources, relying on a low-performing mobile phone and unreliable internet access,” he said. “Travelling to the ALX Hub and attending pitching sessions was also challenging from a financial and time perspective.”

Despite these limitations, the programme exposed him to new approaches to entrepreneurship and helped him sharpen his focus on the type of agribusiness he wanted to build.

Growing Through the ALX Ecosystem

A key experience came when Kwetempane hired five freelancers from the ALX Freelancer Academy while participating in ALX Ventures, the organisation’s incubator and accelerator programme.

Working with the freelancers gave him practical experience in managing a team while also creating opportunities for other entrepreneurs within the ALX network. The collaboration extended into two pitching competitions and eventually led to an opportunity to exhibit at Grand AgriXpo Limpopo, an annual agricultural event.

“Those experiences showed me the value of creating and extending opportunities within the same ecosystem,” Kwetempane said.

His work has since received recognition in South Africa and internationally. In 2024, he was awarded the Breaking Ground SMME of the Year title at the Presidential MSME and Cooperatives Awards. In 2025, he was named runner-up for the Schwab Foundation Impact Prize.

Kwetempane has also remained active within the ALX Africa community, mentoring other founders and helping introduce the ALX Founder Academy to the Polokwane Local Municipality. At least five local entrepreneurs subsequently joined the programme. In 2025, he served on the judging panel for the ALX Ventures Cohort, drawing on his own experience to assess a new group of founders.

Building Beyond the Local Market

For Kwetempane, Dr Kweteps Creatives is still developing, but the ambition extends beyond its current operations.

“We hope to evolve into a world-class, technology-driven agribusiness that is rooted in African indigenous crops, research, innovation and practical solutions to food and nutrition security,” he said.