The Township Cannabis Incubator (TCI) has been assisting with scaling up Mpondoland indigenous growers and processors since 2023 but has had an ongoing resourcing problem. In January this year, new CEO Mntuwoxolo Perm Ngudle (pictured here), was appointed to get the entity onto a firmer, more sustainable basis.
Cannabiz Africa recently caught up with Ngudi, an industrial economist who specialized in public policy and African studies, majoring in industrial policy and research. Raised in Mpondoland, he brings a passion to the job along with his solid credentials.
Ngudle says that TCI is primarily a platform for support, technology transfer, best agricultural practice and for Small to Medium Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) to receive non-financial and mostly technical support.
He says TCI’s main focus is to provide the technical support for local growers so they satisfy GAP and GMP standards, assist with permits and licensing to ensure legal and other compliance, including certification with accredited bodies and authorities such as South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA), among others.
“The priority for us is to build an incubator that’s capable of supporting the traditional cannabis growers and to build an incubator that is science- and technology-fused for the primary production and processing. We also want to ensure that the landraces that are found in the region and the rest of the continent are able to be traced, along with their origin and areas of best cultivation,” he said.
The current facility is “a co-working space, similar to a production warehouse,” consisting of a mini-lab with cannabinoid-testing equipment and production equipment for oil processing, decortication and analysis. Permanently-stationed at TCI are the CEO, lab technician, business development officer and clerk, who are aided by contract service workers. Currently, the TCI can process up to 1 000 kg biomass a day.
The TCI offers incubatees a three year working cycle and up to 50 can be accommodated on site with the rest having to work out of “gardens, farms and communities”. They are supported by researchers from iYunibesithi Walter Sisulu (YWS), Nelson Mandela University (NMU)and Dӧhne Agricultural Development Institute.
He says sustainability is the key to industrialisation. “We want to ensure that the process does not only incubate people for many years without turning them into commercially viable and sustainable businesses. We want those we’ve incubated to have all the systems, end to end, from cradle to grave, in order for them to be sustainable cannabis growers, processors and traders.”
Ngudle’s aim is to expand the TCI into a national operation, despite the current limited resources, including physical operational space and infrastructure.
“The demand is greater than the current capacity in terms of technology and the equipment that we have,” he explained.
“We’re planning to expand into a bigger site with modern industrial machines and technology in order for our incubatees to be able to process, package and trade their commodities. And from there once their businesses grow, run their own entities or factories in order to be able to supply the global markets.”
The TCI is also working to find and identify the best cultivars and seeds that can be commercialised, particularly which landraces could be developed.
Ngudle’s dream is to centre Mpondoland in the cannabis narrative.
“We want our OR Tambo and Alfred Nzo regions to be the epicentre and basket where cannabis and cannabis-infused products are found. We want people to build sustainable businesses out of the incubation.”
“Let’s grow cannabis, let’s grow hemp, let’s do it legally and commercially, in a way that’s sustainable” he says.
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