Who, or what, is IMANA FOODS (SA) (Pty) Ltd? Well, we are a food company and our flagship product, Imana Super Soya Mince, is the undisputed market leader and, in fact, created the modern soya mince market.
So what does IMANA FOODS have to do with a Mountain Bike Challenge (apart from having many loyal consumers among the health-and fitness-conscious)?
Well, because the mission of the IMANA Wild Ride ties in strongly with IMANA FOODS dream of making a difference to less-fortunate communities, furthermore, since the Black Mass market accounts for 90% of our sales with the Transkei our most loyal (and poorest) consumers, it makes perfect sense.
So while the participants are "Out there alone, racing the tide", this is what we are saying to our Transkei consumers (in Xhosa):
"The Wild Coast is an area that tourists would like to visit, and this could create jobs for many people here and bring in much needed money. In order to attract the tourists, they need to know about this beautiful part of Transkei and this bike race will get television, radio, magazines and newspapers to talk about it and tell the tourists about this area so they'll want to visit it.
But we also need to make sure this area stays beautiful, so the race will also be raising money to teach the people of Transkei about the potential opportunities for tourism and help them to be able to look after the natural beauty of this special coastline. We urge all of you to support this race by offering help and advice to competitors, so we can make a success of this first step."
The IMANA Wild Ride is central to what we hope is one of many steps in developing conservation and tourism throughout the Wild Coast - good luck, look after yourselves and, above all, have fun.
John Wheaton
What The IMANA Wild Ride has achieved?Money from the competitors and IMANA FOODS, make up a fund to promote conservation, tourism and community development projects along this coastline.
So far, this fund has established three “Riding Wild” mountain-bike hiring ventures run by locals for tourists to explore the natural beauty of this area, and has also provided much needed funds for local schools.