Who we are:

We are a trading company based in Brussels, Belgium specialised in the trade of plant/raw material from mainly Africa.

The company is headed by two managers, Olivier Couffon and Moritz Hirsch, who are passionate about the development of plants that are useful to our well being and about Africa and its unbelievable potential as the source for plant materials.  

We are the leader in the export of cinchona bark with an annual turnover of about 2500 tonnes. We also have a strong position in a variety of other plants such as rauwolfia vomitoria, strophantus, centella or terminalia.

Our Vision:

Our vision is to develop in Africa strong local partnerships where we can share our experience and develop new ways of cultivating plants to foster sustainability and quality.

Our Milestones:

Partnership in Cameroon:

We created a partnership with Dr Bertrand Sandjon, a botanist, chemist and pharmacist, who is an authority for all therapeutical plants found in Cameroon. He also is the owner the most extravagant pharmacy of Douala.

Dr Sandjon is passionate about promoting quality and travels across Cameroon several times a year training local producers how to select the right plant and how to collect it. With Bertrand we have a programme where gradually we are only sourcing a certain type of Yohimbe Bark. The advantage is that it gives us a product of much higher quality and at the same time keeps an ample supply of young growth that will regenerate stock.

Partnership in the RD Congo:

In the Democratic Republic of Congo we joined with Kahindo Muvunga, a major coffee exporter and one of the most outstanding entrepreneurs in this part of the world. He lives in North Kivu, a beautiful but very remote region of the RD Congo, in the midst to the very best cinchona plantations of the world. With Kahindo Muvunga with have invested in 2200 ha of land and set up a team of 140 men headed by an agronomic expert to cultivate cinchona trees.

Plantation in Burgundy, France:

In France we have a small plantation of English Yew (Taxus Bacatta), a plant used in the production of Paclitaxel, a major chemotherapeutic drug. The trees are now 10 years old and we are harvesting our second year of production. We are very excited about the quality: even though we only produce about 4t per year, the quality is at least 50% above standard. The plantation is on a historic site, the Abbaye de Quincy founded in 1133 by the Cistercian Monks and can be visited throughout the year.