Pear trees being delivered.
What if the future of South Africa’s fruit industry didn’t just grow fruit but grew people, communities, and opportunities?
That’s the vision behind Cultipowered NPC (hereafter referred to as “Cultipowered”), a purpose-driven initiative redefining who benefits from agricultural innovation. By channeling profits from cultivar development into real-world transformation, from supporting emerging farmers and funding student bursaries to addressing rural infrastructure challenges, Cultipowered is building a sector shaped by inclusion, collaboration, and long-term growth.
A purpose-driven entity
Cultipowered is an independent entity with a clear focus: to facilitate, support, and fund empowerment initiatives in the fruit sector, particularly for historically disadvantaged individuals and communities.
Established on 1 April 2022 when Culdevco restructured its shareholding and transferred 51% ownership to Cultipowered NPC, this bold move enabled Culdevco to achieve Level Two B-BBEE status. More importantly, it laid a foundation for targeted transformation in South Africa’s deciduous fruit industry. Through this structure, profits from cultivar commercialization are reinvested into meaningful development projects, ensuring that the benefits of publicly funded research are more widely shared.
First graduates from the Vine Academy, 2024.
Investing in transformation
Up until early 2025, Cultipowered funded several impactful initiatives in collaboration with key industry players, which includes:
- Hortgro (R1 278 400): Five stone- and pome-fruit farms were supported with seedlings through SAPO.
- SATI (R622 000): Table grapes farms in the Cape Winelands were supported with energy generation infrastructures to mitigate against and minimise the risks of loadshedding during the irrigation and harvesting period.
- The Vine Academy and Model Farm (R2 250 0000): Sponsorship of bursaries was awarded to deserving students studying for a National Diploma in Plant Production with a Specialisation in Viticulture NQF 5. The funding helped alleviate the financial burden and enabled the students to pursue their academic goals.
Wilton September from SATI with recipients of generators.
Why transformation still matters in 2025
High input costs, energy insecurity, climate volatility, and mounting compliance demands make it increasingly difficult for small-scale and new-entry farmers to compete on a level playing field. Load shedding, for example, has forced many farmers to divert scarce resources toward generators and diesel just to keep irrigation systems running. For farmers already operating on tight margins, these costs can be debilitating. Water availability and infrastructure challenges, too, continue to limit expansion and productivity in rural regions.
This is why the Cultipowered model is so critical. By reinvesting profits from cultivar commercialization into targeted support for emerging farmers, students, and rural infrastructure, Cultipowered ensures that innovation isn’t just technical — it’s social and economic. Transformation isn’t about short-term gestures or compliance checklists. It’s about addressing structural inequities, unlocking potential, and ensuring that access to opportunity doesn’t depend on legacy or land ownership, but on vision, partnership, and sustained support.
Cultipowered is helping redefine those who benefit from agricultural progress. And in doing so, it’s helping build a fruit industry where transformation is embedded not only in strategy but in impact.
Looking ahead
Cultipowered will continue to drive inclusive growth in the fruit industry through strategic, long-term investment in people and potential.
Our ongoing focus areas include:
- Funding training and development initiatives for entrepreneurs and workers across the fruit value chain
- Providing scholarships, bursaries, and research grants to grow skills and knowledge
- Coordinating access to new cultivars for emerging growers to help level the playing field in commercial agriculture
This work is made possible through collaboration with Culdevco, the government, research partners, and industry stakeholders, ensuring that success in agriculture is not determined by background, but by access, innovation, and shared progress.
Be part of the journey
Cultipowered continues to grow through meaningful collaboration with individuals and organisations who share our vision. There are many ways to get involved or stay connected as we work toward a more inclusive and sustainable industry:
1
Collaborate and contribute:
Join through funding, skills, or strategic partnerships that support training, research, and infrastructure for emerging growers.
2
Share opportunities:
Connect aspiring farmers, students, or communities to the resources and networks they need to succeed.
3
Stay connected:
Follow progress, learn from Cultipowered’s work, and help share stories that inspire inclusive growth.
