22 December 2016
2008 Paralympian Sarisa Ferreira has developed her small farming business, Areli Veg, into one which employs 100 women permanently and another 50 part-time as her partnership with us has grown.
Starting from a small farm in Patensie in the Eastern Cape, Ferreira started supplying two lines to our fruit and vegetable distribution arm Freshmark in 2012.
![Shoprite partnership helps Sarisa Ferreira’s business to create jobs for women](/articles/Newsroom/2016/shoprite-partnership-helps-sarisa-ferreiras-business-to-create-jobs-for-women/_jcr_content/root/container/container_623787083/container_146590027/image.coreimg.jpeg/1663015990505/sarisa-ferreira-a.jpeg)
By taking hands with Sarisa, Areli Veg was soon able to diversify and expand to a bigger variety of fruit and vegetables. It started with only a handful of employees, but now provides training, mentoring and jobs to many women.
This partnership has seen Areli Veg grow from delivering two crates a day to 20 crates per product per day.
Sarisa has since bought another farm to increase her production volumes.