Welcome

In 1993, George Theobald, a British investor, and Joseph Mungai, a former Minister of Agriculture, established Tanzania’s first private tea blending, packaging and marketing business - Tanzania Tea Packers Ltd (Tatepa). The company was initially located at an industrial site in Dar es Salaam, with the ambition of supplying 5,000 mt of processed tea to the domestic market while building an export business. Other shareholders soon joined the founders and in 1995 Tatepa commenced sales through its brand Chai Bora (Kiswahili for “high-quality tea”).

Having rapidly captured over 50% of the local branded tea market, a bespoke plant was built in Mafinga township in 1998, in the heart of the tea producing area. By late 1999, Tatepa was producing over 3 million kilos of branded tea and was floated on the new Dar es Salaam stock exchange as only the third of Tanzania’s listed entities and the first private company to do so. In 2000, the company acquired the country’s largesttea smallholder operation - Wakulima Tea Company - before embarking on Tanzania’a first new public share issuance in 2002, for the purchase of Kibena Tea Company Ltd, a tea plantation company. Tatepa PLC was then restructured to be a holding company with three subsidiaries.

Chai Bora was sold in 2007, followed by Kibena Tea Company the next year. In 2008, a new venture - Rungwe Avocado Company Ltd was embarked upon. This represented a pioneering move into a new export business from the Southern Highlands. At about the same time, a new tea packer - Chai Tausi - was started as one of Tatepa’s subsidiaries and subsequently sold in 2018. In 2019, The President of the Republic of Tanzania, His Excellency Dr. John Magufuli officially opened the Rungwe Avocado Company's state-of-the-art avocado pack shed.

A new venture into hydro power - Suma Hydro - was recently started under Tatepa, although the company is waiting final PPA approval from the government.

In 2021, Tatepa divested from Rungwe Avocado Company and Wakulima Tea Company signed up to the United Nations Climate Neutral Now Initiative to demonstrate its commitment to reducing its carbon footprint.