Black women are continually showing up, and showing out, in the business sector and this time the spotlight is on wine!

Ntsiki Biyela recently spoke with Business Insider SA about building her business in the wine industry. As the owner of Aslina Wines, Biyela is the first black woman winemaker in South Africa.

The name of her company alone is very near and dear to her.

"When I was working for or collaborating with other brands, I always knew that at some point I am going to have to start my own company – I also knew that I was going to name it after my late grandmother, Aslina, in her honor," said Biyela.

Along with gathering her own savings, Biyela partnered with Californian winemaker Mika Bulmash’s Wine For The World to start her business. Wine For The World assists wine exporting countries with entering the U.S. market. Biyela also received help from non-profit company VinPro, which helped develop Aslina's 2015 bottled chardonnay.

Naturally as a businesswoman, Biyela remembers her very first sale. “I’d sold a bottle to a man who actually wrote on the banknote that the money he presented was the beginning of a million more to come my way,” Biyela said.

Aslina is projected to sell 12,000 bottles in the USA, Germany, Taiwan and Ghana in 2018. Next year, Biyela has a goal to level-up and sell 18,000 bottles.

Photo: GIPHY

winemakers

Get relevant content delivered to you once a week