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A United Kingdom based tea buying company, Tetley Group, says Malawi tea is the best in quality the world over and that it improves the companies sales.
The company disclosed this during the launch of a water and sanitation project at Juma 2 village, Traditional Authority Bvumbwe in Thyolo district on Tuesday.
Ken Pringle, chief executive officer for Tetley Group, which buys 15 percent of Malawi tea, said the country’s tea is unique in that it has special colour and flavour among other teas all over the world.
“We buy tea from 40 countries from the entire world but Malawi’s is the best and it improves our sales in England, USA, and all over the world in that when we mix it with other countries’ tea the quality improves,” said Pringle.
The water and sanitation project, worth K60 million, is being funded by his company. It will run for three years and is aimed at improving the health and living conditions of the people in the district.
Pringle said running a business for profits alone is not enough.
“We decided that the best use of our resources is to help people in the tea growing areas and I personally have an interest in Malawi,” he said.
Pringle said his country has strong links with Malawi and “we would be fools if we ignore Malawi.”
Thyolo District Commissioner Charles Thombozi commended Tetley Group for its help and urged it to influence other foreign companies that are benefiting from Malawi to help Malawians.
“We are the ones inducing their success in business, so please be our ambassadors and tell them they should follow your example,” said Thombozi.
The project will involve drilling 40 boreholes this year. Concern Universal as the implementing agency will provide technical support, equipment, training and capacity building.
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