Founder
Founded Afri Exports in 2010 in Mtwara, Tanzania, and built the vanilla programme connecting grower groups in Madagascar and Uganda with wholesale buyers worldwide. Bio to be added.
About Afri Exports
Our story
A Vanilla Exporter Built Around Single-Origin Sourcing
Afri Exports is a wholesale exporter founded in 2010 in Mtwara, Tanzania. Our vanilla programme sources Bourbon beans direct from grower groups in Madagascar's Sava region and in Uganda, supervises the cure at origin, lab-tests every lot for vanillin and moisture, and ships FOB from origin to importers worldwide.
Operations & sourcing
Single-origin, traceable to the district
Every lot is tied to its growing district and to a defined harvest and curing window. That traceability is how we hold calibre, moisture and vanillin consistent across repeat orders — and how we stand behind a buyer's own claims to their customers and auditors.
- Antalaha, Madagascar — the heart of the Sava region; benchmark gourmet cure
- Sambava, Madagascar — high-volume collection and curing networks
- Vohémar, Madagascar — northern Sava growers; strong extraction-grade lots
- Bundibugyo, Uganda — bold, high-vanillin beans from the Rwenzori foothills
- Mukono, Uganda — central-region growers; twice-yearly harvest continuity
Quality & compliance
A documented cure, lot after lot
Mould prevention starts in the curing house — a properly run kill, disciplined sweating, slow drying and patient conditioning. The control points are written down, checked and recorded, so the bean that arrives is the predictable output of a managed cure, not luck with a particular harvest.
- Supervised killing, sweating, drying and conditioning at origin
- Moisture verified per lot: 30–35% gourmet, 20–25% extraction
- Independent vanillin and moisture assay before every shipment
- Lot-tied documentation: phytosanitary, certificate of origin, lab reports
- Lab-Tested Vanillin
- Phytosanitary Certified
- Single-Origin
The team
Meet the People Behind Every Shipment
A team running sourcing, quality and logistics in-house — so there is one accountable partner from the vine to the destination port.
Joachim Mbwana
Sourcing Lead
Manages farm-gate procurement across Madagascar's Sava region and Uganda's Bundibugyo and Mukono districts. Built the lot-tied traceability system that follows every bean from collection through cure to despatch.
Asha Ngonyani
Quality Manager
Runs the grading, curing-discipline and mould-prevention programme — from sweating-box checks at origin to independent vanillin and moisture assays on every lot before it ships.
Daniel Mahenge
Logistics Coordinator
Plans vacuum packing, consolidation and routing from origin — Toamasina for Madagascar lots, Mombasa for Uganda — matching packaging and transit mode to each lane so beans arrive in spec.
Neema Kessy
Nutrition & Editorial Lead
Writes the buyer-facing guides on vanilla flavour chemistry and ingredient applications, translating lab results and aroma science into specifications purchasing teams can act on.
Where we ship
Consolidated at origin, delivered worldwide
Beans are consolidated at origin — Madagascar lots export via Toamasina (Tamatave) port and Uganda lots route overland to Mombasa — then move by air or sea to the destination. Our head office in Mtwara, Tanzania runs contracts, documentation and buyer communication; the beans themselves ship from origin.
- United StatesCraft creameries, extract makers and retail brands
- FrancePatisserie and gourmet distribution
- GermanyFlavour houses and ingredient traders
- United KingdomFine-food wholesale and bakery supply
- United Arab EmiratesGulf gourmet distribution — Jebel Ali clearance
- CanadaExtract and natural-foods manufacturers
- NetherlandsEuropean ingredient trade — Rotterdam routing
- WorldwideOn enquiry — FOB origin to any destination
From our journal
How we work, in our own words
The operational practices behind our vanilla exports — explained by the team that runs them.
Work with us
From the curing house to your next order
Tell us the grade, volume and destination — we reply with availability and indicative pricing within one business day.