Indigenous plants and homoeopathic health care rooted in these indigenous plants have been the go-to remedy since time immemorial. Indigenous African medicine has shown its use over and over, yet it appears that the success of these remedies has been forgotten. But now, science is bringing light to the application of these medicinal uses and companies like the Pheko PM Group are leading the charge.
Pheko PM Group is a biotech company co-owned by Oscar Monama and Mapheu Pule. Its purpose lies in addressing the urgent need for accessible, affordable, and culturally relevant health and nutrition solutions across Africa.
“Millions of people, especially in rural townships and underserved communities, lack access to modern healthcare, while traditional plant knowledge remains underutilised and undocumented,” Oscar Monama says. “At the same time, global demand is rising for plant-based superfoods and immune-boosting natural remedies.”
Binding Health Care with Business
“Our business fills this gap by integrating indigenous African plant medicine with modern technology, making it possible to standardise, validate, and deliver natural wellness products – both physically through agro-processing and digitally through our currently developed Phekolated App,” he shares.
Monama points to an important point here: it is vital to ensure that products are safe for human consumption. “We have so far had six products that have been tested and verified by SABS as approved for consumption using indigenous plants.”
“To harness the potential of African indigenous plants to create superfoods that improve health outcomes and empower communities through education, technology, and sustainable practices. We have a vision to drive and spearhead food nutrition to be affordable to the normal man on the streets and make it a norm for nutritional food to be accessible to the less privileged by making it affordable.”
Some of the products that the brand manufactures are moringa, sea moss and hibiscus. Among the products are capsules, tea and spice blends that consumers can purchase and use to their own benefit.
The Impact of Indigenous Medicines
Pheko PM Group has already made a measurable impact across social, economic, and environmental dimensions:
Social Impact
“We have empowered 30+ smallholder farmers through indigenous crop aggregation, training, and input support, as well as creating market access through our strategic partnerships with Green Tree Market agents at the Joburg Market
They are currently developing the Phekolated App (beta), which will give communities digital access to over 4 500 indigenous medicinal plants and symptom-matching tools, and other features.
“We have been supported by TIA (Technology Innovation Agency) to use indigenous plants to develop 8 new consumer products based on indigenous knowledge. The funding covers product development, formulation, lab testing, legal and commercialisation.”
Economic Impact
Pheko PM Group created employment for full-time and part-time agro-processors, sales agents, and community trainers through our strategic partners.
They were able to generate early revenues and B2B partnerships while keeping production community-based. Secondly, they were able to secure non-dilutive funding from TIA (new product development), Nedbank (competition won Nedbank Green Economy Award – 1st Prize Green SME Award 2024), and Hollywood Foundation Bambelela Awards Gauteng – 1st Prize winner 2024.
Environmental Impact
The environmental impact that they have made is to promote agroecological and organic practices across our farming network. For instance, moringa, one of the products that the brand sells, absorbs 80 kg of carbon annually. “We currently have a collective of over 100 trees from our strategic farmers’ network.
“We also championed seed-saving and biodiversity through community barter and propagation initiatives. Pheko is transforming indigenous wellness into a viable, scalable sector empowering people with tools for health, knowledge, and income.”
Pheko PM Group aspires to help individuals connect with natural, clean products that can help them heal naturally.
