My Story

The Seed.

I come from a family who made a living through construction and a love for nature. For as long as I can rememberer, we have been a family business who attracted those with similar values and interests. 

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With this being said, my dad used to work long hours on the grader and would take me along. Why? "For good company of course". That's what I thought at least. My job was to catch the pesky horse flies (steekvlieg) within the cabin of the grader and put them in a bottle to keep them from bothering us. Once my job was done, I took a nap alongside my dad with the roaring sound of the grader that put me to sleep quicker than any lullaby. 

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The Water.

Lunchtime came along and that was the point where I realised my two favourite dishes were "Tamatie bredie" and  "Waterblommetjie bredie". As I got older my dad showed me a small dam on the farm that was about knee debt for a 14 year old boy that had "waterblommetjies" growing in them. My dad showed me how to nurture them, study them and eventually harvest them. I grew so fond of them that I even converted my motorcycle to sell them around our neighbourhood. What I realised at this point was, most people didn't even know about this delicious flower that grew in water. 

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Eventually as I grew older and forgot about this amazing flower that my mom cooked delicious meals with for lunchtime.  I wanted to explore the world and it's wonders, so I moved abroad to work in a place that seemed strange at the time, China. I was an English teacher who enjoyed every aspect of it, the food, the people and the culture. I slowly started to learn the language in order to make new friends and listen to their life stories and experiences.

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Each time I would go back to visit my home country, I would tell my friends and family about the amazing locals and expats I've met and that contributed to some of the best experiences that anyone could ask for. As me and my dad took a drive out to the farm, we went past the little dam where the "waterblommetjies" once grew. I thought to myself, what if ? What if there was a way to grow other plants in only water. 

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The Sun.

With lots of research and terrible ideas, I finally figured it out. Let's create a solution where we bring farmers and home growers a new way of growing crops, a better way. Without being knee deep in murky water and mud just to grow fresh vegetables without any pesticide sprayed all over it. I also wanted to bring factories and companies closer together to provide better solutions to their problems. Maybe I'll find a factory that could make horsefly catching easier for a five year old. 

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The Nurturing.

I started getting everything in order to bring A and B together. Once the research was done, I had to get the company in order. I registered a company with the help of my parents and a drive to build. Then I started to sell simple agricultural equipment online to boost my company's growth. It got to the point where I had to hire my first employees. FlatAfirca has grown into a company who doesn't just provide new solutions to farmers and home growers, but brings cultures and companies together around the world for new experiences and life stories to be told one day. 

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The Harvest

Be part of our journey and make it yours. Check out some of our amazing products and services that we provide, so that you could have a taste similar to what I had with my Moms cooking.

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Jarco Ferreira 

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From FlatAfrica