Frustration often sparks the best ideas and for Ashley Maslamoney and Yumna Monier from Sunningdale, Cape Town, it did just that. What started as a passion turned into a thriving business, Wild Plum Growers, offering an impressive 27 varieties of exotic mushrooms, setting them apart in a competitive market.
It all started in 2020 when Monier, struggling to find a quality, affordable plant-based protein, sparked an idea that saw the couple explore mushrooms.
“We started by growing mushrooms for our own consumption, but as demand from our local community grew, we saw the potential to scale,” Maslamoney explains.
Monier says, unlike common store-bought varieties, they offer a diverse range of exotic and gourmet mushrooms, each packed with superior nutritional benefits and rich, distinctive flavours.
“Our mushrooms are grown sustainably, without harmful chemicals, ensuring a fresher, healthier, and more flavourful experience for our customers.”
Yumna Monier
Self-funded from the ground up
Their business officially launched in April 2024 and sells four of the mushroom varieties in retail stores, making their in-store offering exclusive.
In addition, the duo have tapped into the rising demand for home gardening and sustainable food production, by empowering others to cultivate their own mushrooms.
“We are able to manufacture 1 000 grow kits a month. Our one grow room – which is 1.4m x 2.7m – can produce about 500kg a week,” Maslamoney explains.
Some of their varieties include the Oyster Mushroom Grow Kit, Reishi Mushroom Grow Kit, and Earthy Mushroom Grow Kit.
Maslamoney tells Food For Mzansi that they stepped out of their comfort zone, leaving the corporate world to focus solely on the business full-time. The duo started everything from their own pockets, estimating hundreds of thousands since 2020 up to date.
“Neither my wife nor I have an agricultural background; we’ve just loved gardening and agriculture. Yumna comes from a financial background, she was an investment specialist and I come from an IT background.
“We are coming from different backgrounds, but our love for nature has given us the ability to keep this business going,” he adds.
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Building a business with limited resources
According to Maslamoney, due to their modular approach, they grow vertically, so not much space is needed.
“For example, a 1.2mx1.2m stand can produce 250kgs per harvest and a harvest period takes anything between five and nine days,” he explains.
Despite limited resources, they’ve built a thriving operation by making the most of a smallholding in Klipheuwel and renting machinery to keep production going.
Maslamoney adds, “We also rent machinery to manufacture our produce. We are looking for finance to purchase our own machines and have a turn-key solution that we do everything in-house.”
Monier says in many ways, the pandemic gave them the opportunity to turn a challenge into something meaningful and lasting.
As a business couple, they split roles. She drives product development and operations, ensuring top quality, while he focuses on growth and partnerships.
“Together, along with our dedicated team, we handle everything from cultivation to customer engagement, making sure that every aspect of our business reflects our passion for sustainability and community empowerment,” Monier explains.
Expanding retail presence in Cape Town
Maslamoney says starting a brand is more than just launching a product, but is about solving a problem, creating value, and staying the course.
Wild Plum Growers recently opened a shop in Tableview Mall and the duo are planning to open two more shops in mainstream malls in Cape Town before the year ends.
In addition, they recently closed a deal with Takealot to sell their products, marking a significant milestone since they started.
This article was first published by our sister publication, Food For Mzansi.
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