Gatsby Charitable Foundation
The Wood Foundation Africa has partnered with Gatsby in its two tea industry programmes in Rwanda and Tanzania. The two foundations jointly own East African Tea Investments (EATI), a company limited by guarantee with charitable status, which holds a majority share in two tea factories in Rwanda.
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO)
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), formerly known as DFID, has joined The Wood Foundation Africa in several of its regional programmes. More recently, FCDO has also joined TWFA and Gatsby as a co-investor in two major greenfield developments in Rwanda.
Unilever
Unilever is a major tea company buying around 10% of the world’s black tea and has been awarded two greenfield tea concessions in Rwanda. Unilever will establish core tea estates and a factory but the majority of the tea will be sourced from smallholders under a partnership with The Wood Foundation Africa, which will establish a smallholder services company to provide technical assistance and patient capital to plant out smallholder tea and ensure the sustainable provision of professional farmer services.
Luxmi Tea Company
Luxmi Tea was founded in India in 1912, is part of the Luxmi Group of companies. Luxmi Tea has partnered with TWFA in a major smallholder greenfield development in Rwanda as well as in a joint venture to acquire majority stakes in three majority-smallholder supplied factories through Silverback Tea Company.