Preserve Botanica
Specialised Botanical Preparations
Preserve Botanica’s innovation identifies natural molecules, and cultivates, preserves and extracts these to the pharmaceutical industry, this extraction is of a low toxicity and environmental impact. It develops innovative methods for natural product development and focuses on health and wellness market in South Africa.
Its products are specialised botanical preparations primarily destined for the pharmaceutical industry in South Africa. Downstream opportunities relate to cosmetics, nutraceuticals and functional food applications of extracts.
Eco-Inclusive Impacts
The impact of Preserve Botanica's innovation relates to increased support to researchers and API buyers to have access to locally sourced and manufactured extracts to develop medicines that are affordable, do not have barriers to entry and are reliable to be incorporated in treatment protocols.
- Creating five jobs in the base year (with plans to get to 14 in the following two years and up to 50 after 5 years)
- Supporting researchers and API buyers to have access to locally sourced and manufactured extracts to develop medicines that are affordable
- Developing agro-processing opportunities in communities through training and management protocols
- Designing and building its own 5l industrial scale CO2 extractor for the preservation of plant material, a process of low toxicity and environmental impact
- Collaborating with the best field botanists to propagate and cultivate these plants rather than wild harvest in order to protect our natural resource
- Growing from a R8000 per annum business in the first and second year to a R50 000 000 per year business in the third year after starting production, creating jobs and economic development
Partners
Preserve Botanica is a social enterprise from rural South Africa. They produce organically certified and fairly traded active ingredients for cosmetic and nutraceutical producers
The Department of Trade and Industry – is a co-funding and grant supply partner.
The Economic Development Department of the Municipality of George waived building plan approval costs and provided special discounts on municipal levies in order to assist the business to grow. Unutilised land in the Agricultural Zone of George were made available to Preserve Botanica’s partners for cultivation of honey bush and other medicinal plants.
