Advisory board

Matthew Ballenden is the founder and owner of exciting local brand, Fresh Earth Bake House, a bakery dedicated to the production of a range of premium gluten free products. Matthew’s experience and desire for creating food that is as close to nature as possible prompted him to develop products for the increasing number of wheat and gluten intolerant people, as well as those who aspire to lead a healthier lifestyle.

The Fresh Earth Bake House has the capacity to manufacture private label gluten free baked goods for commercial mainstream bakeries, retailers, restaurants and catering businesses. Currently the bakery supplies leading retail stores such as Dischem and Pick ‘n Pay across the country.

“A fresh earth is exactly what I would like to see in the future, so I named my businesses after my biggest dream. My passion lies in creating a new understanding of health and sustainability through a combination of modern world creations and the reintroduction of some forgotten principles” said Ballenden.

Apart from the day to day running of his company, Matthew run the Fresh Earth Food Store, teaches Nutritional Cooking classes and gives cooking demonstrations to schools and corporates with an emphasis on maintaining the nutritional value of the food as well as making it tasty. His objective is to increase the understanding and benefits of gluten and wheat free baked goods, which may be used to aid weight loss and are suitable for vegetarians.

Bruce Cohen is publisher/editor of Food & Beverage Reporter, the leading trade mag for the sector. He has worked in the media industry since the 1970s and has been closely involved in food and beverage matters since 2004 when he founded whole foods company Absolute Organix.

Generalist leader with a focus on sales & marketing, go to market and innovation. Completes Masters Research in exploring consumer behaviour with regards to innovative, customer-centric business models such as meal kit delivery services like uCook.

Using my knowledge on the topics to consult with startups and business on how to effectively implement strategies to disrupt and/or avoid being disrupted…

Johann is a seasoned fast moving consumer goods specialist and has played a key role in developing and launching successful brands in Southern Africa. Johann has 12 years’ experience with The South African Breweries (AB Inbev), functioning in numerous sales roles from Sales Manager, Project manager and Key account manager and ending as National Retail and Wholesale Channel Manager.

Johann joined Clover SA as National Sales Development manager in 2012 and managed the development and structure of the Clover sales force. As a Sales development manager, Johann also managed the in-store marketing team which included POS development as well as the Category Management that ensured optimum placement of Clover brands in all major retail groups.

Johann got his first exposure to the meat industry when he joined Cavalier in 2015 as a Sales and Marketing executive. The business owns the whole value chain from farms, feedlot and abattoir to a state of the art manufacturing and packaging facility.

Mbali Nwoko is the CEO of Green Terrace (Pty) Ltd which is an agribusiness based in Boksburg, Johannesburg that farms high-value vegetable crops namely Green Peppers, Baby Marrows and Green Beans and supplies to leading retailers and processing companies throughout South Africa.

Mbali is an ardent entrepreneur and prior to establishing her agribusiness, she previously co-owned a successful headhunting talent organization named ClientScape (Pty) Ltd for 3 years which niched in headhunting professional engineers and artisans for the manufacturing, engineering and chemical companies.

Mbali is a BCom Industrial Psychology graduate from the University of Johannesburg (Kingsway Campus) and further studied her MBA with Regenesys Business School, however, due to business demands, she put her studies on hold to focus on building her farm enterprise. She is currently completing a business course at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) sponsored by J.P Morgan.

In addition to being featured on a number of radio interviews and other media houses, below are some of the highlights of her career/business achievements:
• 702 Small Business Awards with Sage One Finalist – 2014: ClientScape
• 702 Small Business Awards with Sage One Finalist – 2017: Green Terrace
• Women in Agri feature on True Love Magazine July Issue – 2018
• Featured on Rapid Learning Africa in July 2018
• Film feature in the Nation in Conversation Series and Drum Magazine – 2018
• Omnia Farmer of the Year for the Highveld Region, Finalist, 2018
• New Farmer Feature on Farmers Weekly Magazine – Aug 2018
• Nominated by the Agricultural Writers SA for Female Farmer of the Year for 2018
• Mail and Guardian Women Changing South Africa – Aug 2018