The Story
- Mission: The International Society of Africans in Wine (ISAW) is a US-based 501(c)(3) whose mission is building sustainable communities through viticulture.
- Vision: To reduce poverty and create economic opportunity in Africa through the business of wine.
Foundation Platforms: Education, Economic Development, Advocacy: Viticulture (wine farming) is the largest contributor to the Western Cape’s economy in the agricultural sector. In 1994, for the first time, blacks had an opportunity to become landowners. 16 years later, there are only two black-owned family vineyards in South Africa’s $3 Billion wine industry. The ISAW Foundation was created to offer training for blacks (historically marginalized to grape pickers and maintenance positions), broadening their participation in the wine industry, and creating newfound economic opportunities in the rural communities of South Africa’s Western Cape Winelands. In short, the unfortunate legacy of centuries of discrimination is an uneducated and untrained workforce, jeopardizing the sustainability of an industry that employs over 275,000 workers.
