A homegrown pet food powerhouse

South Africa’s first 100% black and female-owned player in the production of pet foods stands as a remarkable testament to empowerment and local industry development. Spearheaded by a trio of dynamic entrepreneurs, K9 Pet Foods has gone from strength to strength, buoyed by government support and collaboration with industry leaders.

The Western Cape-based company began to take shape back in 2014 when aspiring entrepreneurs Fazielah Allie, Candice Stewart and Shireen Davids took a chance on a struggling business specialising in frozen pet food. Those early days proved to be a major test of their experience and capabilities.

“When we bought K9 after working for another pet food manufacturing company for more than 14 years, not many people believed in us. We were summarily dismissed and written off because we are women and black. Fortunately, that made us even more determined and eager to succeed. We believed in ourselves,” reflects Allie.

The company started off supplying frozen pet food to retailers and private customers, but the trio felt certain that the future held even greater potential. Allie took the ambitious step of approaching leading South African retailer Woolworths about a supplier partnership, a move that would prove pivotal in shaping the company's trajectory.

Woolworths recognised not only the chance to empower homegrown entrepreneurs but also the potential to localise imported pet food products. But a supplier partnership would mean significant investment and expansion for K9 Pet Foods.

“Woolworths saw a bigger opportunity for us in long-life products, which we were not producing at the time,” explains Allie. To supply long-shelf-life pet foods, K9 would need to acquire new machinery and expand their facilities to enhance their production capacity and meet Woolworths' requirements for quality and quantity.

This is where support from the Black Industrialists Programme, run by the then Department of Trade and Industry, proved to be a game-changer. Through the programme, K9 was able to secure funding of R20 million, as well as an additional R31 million from the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC).

With this much-needed support, K9 Pet Foods was able to open a new manufacturing plant equipped with state-of-the-art machinery, as well as to grow its staff complement. By 2017, its first delivery of pet food products had made its way to the Woolworths distribution centre.

With an estimated production forecast of 715 tonnes of pet food in 2024 (an increase of 43% since 2021), the company has now increased its permanent employees from 46 in 2021 to 55 in 2024. “We are grateful that the Department of Trade and Industry, IDC and Woolworths believed in us when many dismissed us,” notes Allie.

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