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ABOUT BIG FIVE GROUP

An African group
with a human mission

A multi-pillar African enterprise headquartered in KwaZulu-Natal — eleven businesses, one system, built to serve people.

WHO WE ARE

One group, not separate brands

Regenerative agriculture, fortified nutrition, ethical commerce, delivery, leadership and philanthropy sit in one group — not as separate brands.

VISION

A prosperous Africa — for everyone on it

We envision an Africa where well-being is not a privilege — where families eat with dignity, leaders decide with integrity, and communities build economies they own.

Prosperity, for us, is more than GDP. It is food on the table, skills in the hands of the next generation, ethical enterprises that create jobs, and systems people can trust. We care deeply about the well-being of all people in Africa — rural and urban, producers and professionals, today's workers and tomorrow's children.

Our vision is to help Africa prosper — by accelerating food security, transformative leadership, and economic empowerment through scalable solutions that create lasting opportunity.

MISSION

Feed. Educate. Empower.

Our mission is to put our skills, capital, platforms, and relationships to work where they matter most — so Africa can feed its people, educate its leaders, and empower its enterprises.

That is why the businesses exist. Each pillar of Big Five Group is a deliberate instrument of the mission:

  • Feed —Big Five Agri and Foods deliver nutritious, accessible, and regenerative pathways that strengthen food security — and Big Five Waters, our newest pillar, adds UMTHOMBO vitamin- and mineral-infused sparkling and still water: good water for our people.
  • Educate —Super-Cube® and Big Five Learn develop ethical, whole-person leaders for business and public life.
  • Empower —SupplierAdvisor® with SAM, Direct, Access, and Impact equip suppliers, entrepreneurs, and institutions with tools, markets, intelligence and delivery capacity for self-reliance.

The future of this mission is intelligent: ethical AI and robotics where they multiply dignity, Super-Cube® for human leaders, and SAM (SupplierAdvisor Messenger) as the always-on guide inside the commerce OS we run on. We do not chase tech for theatre — we use intelligence so Africa can feed, educate and empower at scale.

We deploy evidence-based models that equip leaders and organisations for ethical decision-making, innovation, and meaningful societal impact — aligned with the UN SDGs, including Zero Hunger, Quality Education, and No Poverty.

VALUES

What we refuse to compromise

Our values are not posters on a wall. They are how we hire, partner, trade, and deliver — every day.

Humanity

People come first. We design for dignity, well-being, and the common good — Ubuntu in practice, not just in words.

Innovation & progress

We advance continuously — new products, better systems, smarter platforms — so Africa is never left with yesterday’s tools.

Integrity

Honesty, transparency, and ethical commerce. Where applicable, our companies are verified on SupplierAdvisor® so trust is earned.

Excellence

World-class standards in food, leadership, project delivery, and partnerships. Good enough is not enough for Africa.

Compassionate empowerment

We do not create dependency. We transfer skills, open markets, and build capacity so communities rise under their own power.

Humility & collaboration

We learn, partner, and improve. Progress is a team sport — with governments, enterprises, and communities.

SOFI 2026 · FAO / IFAD / UNICEF / WFP / WHO

The challenge facing Africa

The United Nations' State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI 2026) is the multi-agency reference for hunger and nutrition. Global indicators eased slightly — but Africa remains the epicentre of undernourishment. That is the landscape our vision, mission and values answer.

309M
People in Africa faced hunger in 2025
~20% of the population · ~1 in 5
645M
People globally faced hunger in 2025
~7.8% of the world · SOFI point estimate
2.7B
Cannot afford a healthy diet worldwide
Economic access — not only calories
150M
Children under 5 stunted globally (2024 JME)
~23.2% · off-track for 2030

Africa first in absolute hunger

Africa is the region with the largest number of people facing hunger (overtaking Asia in the latest SOFI reading) Absolute numbers remain extremely high even where prevalence eases slightly.

Healthy diets out of reach

About 2.7 billion people worldwide cannot afford a healthy diet (SOFI 2026) Fortification and affordable staples are structural answers — not boutique nutrition.

2030 still off-track

If current trends continue, hundreds of millions could still face chronic undernourishment by 2030 — with Africa carrying the majority share Pathways still imply ~~60% of residual undernourishment in Africa.

Figures are multi-agency UN estimates (FAO · IFAD · UNICEF · WFP · WHO) — not Big Five audited counts. Sources: SOFI 2026 FAO news · SOFI flagship page.

How the Group is geared to respond

From challenge to system

The eleven pillars turn that hunger landscape into programmes with proof.

Mission · Feed

Feed

SOFI challenge: Hunger on the plate and in the ground — ~309M people undernourished in Africa; healthy diets unaffordable for billions worldwide.

Group response: Agri regenerates soil and offtake. Foods fortifies affordable staples and institutional packs (including NSNP pathways). Waters adds UMTHOMBO™ — vitamin- and mineral-infused sparkling and still water.

Mission · Educate

Educate

SOFI challenge: Food-system failures are also leadership failures — tools without ethical judgment multiply harm under climate, conflict and capital pressure.

Group response: Super-Cube® whole-person leadership for executives, public servants and youth so ministries, enterprises and programmes can hold multi-stakeholder complexity.

Mission · Empower

Empower

SOFI challenge: Without trust rails, capital pathways and programme discipline, nutrition never becomes a plated, auditable outcome.

Group response: Royal is in the process of partnering with the Zulu Royal Household; Connect verifies trade; Direct moves product to where people already are; Access opens institutional capital; Global extends corridors and partnerships; Impact runs the PMO; Foundation funds with proof.

THE ECOSYSTEM

How the group works as one

Each business hands work to the next. Impact compounds instead of competing.

Integrated, not siloed

Each pillar strengthens the others — produce to plate to proof. Produce → fortify → move → fund → verify → lead — impact compounds across pillars.

Mission-led businesses

Commercial excellence funds scale; people define success.

Standards that travel

Verification, Super-Cube® and SDG design across the group.

Proof over theatre

SupplierAdvisor®, Impact PMO, certifications and honest SOFI-aligned language — not overclaims.

African for Africa

HQ KwaZulu-Natal · Africa-wide ambition · corridors that serve dignity, not extraction.

THE ELEVEN PILLARS

Every business. One system.

Open a pillar for its own page. Here: what it does, and how it hands work to the others.

Feed

Regenerative production, fortified nutrition and vitamin- and mineral-infused water — food security with quality, shelf life and dignity.

Agri

Regenerative Farming • Provenance • Farmer Partnership

Mission · Feed

Regenerative agriculture with rural farmers — restoring land, training producers, verifying practice, and supplying Foods, Direct and institutional programmes with provenance markets can trust.

Impact signatureAmbition for Africa: plan to unlock 2.8M hectares of regenerative opportunity, train 50k+ farmers, target ~47% income increase potential, and reach 54 nations in our African vision — delivered step by step with partners.

Enter Agri

Foods

Fortified Nutrition • Super-Competitive Institutional

Mission · Feed

Fortified African staples and ready meals — porridges, soya, one-pots and soups — for households, schools and institutions. About ~50% cheaper than wholesale and retail pathways (internal analysis) — super-competitive for government and feeding schemes, including NSNP-approved 5kg institutional packs. Food is a repetitive business: reorders should sustain and grow with market traction.

In the ecosystemTurns Agri outputs into shelf-stable products with audited quality and SupplierAdvisor® commerce.

Impact signatureProgramme-reported delivery to date plus ~50% cost advantage vs wholesale/retail (management/internal). NSNP programme landed with DBE at 2.5m children/day plan scale. See /methodology.

Enter Foods

Waters

UMTHOMBO™ Sparkling & Still • Vitamin- & Mineral-Infused • 500ml

Mission · Feed

UMTHOMBO™ sparkling and still waters, all infused with vitamins and minerals, in 500ml bottles — five sparkling flavours (Naartjie, Litchi, Passion Fruit, Lemon-Lime and Mixed Berry) plus UMTHOMBO™ Still. Good water for our people.

In the ecosystemCarries Feed into the bottle beside Agri and Foods — UMTHOMBO™ sparkling and still water, all infused with vitamins and minerals.

Impact signatureFeed in a bottle: every UMTHOMBO™ water, sparkling or still, is infused with vitamins and minerals — good water for our people, beside Big Five Agri and Big Five Foods. See /waters.

Enter Waters

Educate

Super-Cube® doctoral leadership for nations and enterprises — ethical decision-making at scale.

Big Five Learn

Super-Cube® Doctoral Model • Ethical AI Leadership • SAM-Ready Decision Culture

Mission · Educate

World-class leadership development rooted in Dr. Craig R. Muller’s Super-Cube® doctoral model — paired with ethical AI coaching so leaders can run nations, enterprises and intelligent supply systems.

In the ecosystemBuilds the human capability that runs every other pillar — governance, culture and integrity.

Impact signatureSuper-Cube® DBA thesis (UKZN, 2020): leadership is largely learnt (genes explain about 24–30% of who holds leadership roles; about 70–76% is linked to experience, environment and learning). Cohort and organisational outcomes shared in partner briefings — see /leadership and /methodology.

Enter Big Five Learn

Empower

Distribution, capital access, SupplierAdvisor® commerce and international route-to-market. Foundation funds proof-based programmes. Impact plans and delivers the work that spans the other pillars.

Royal

Honouring the Zulu Royal Family · Feed · Educate · Empower

Mission · Empower

Big Five Group honours the Zulu Nation and is in the process of partnering with the Zulu Royal Household to Feed · Educate · Empower their communities.

In the ecosystemPlaces Agri, Foods, Big Five Learn, Connect, Direct and Impact in service of the partnership — led by the Royal House on custom, protocol and community.

Impact signatureIn the process of partnering with the Zulu Royal Household — a partnership in progress, not a concluded agreement. See /royal.

Enter Royal

Connect

SupplierAdvisor® • SAM Messenger • AI-Powered Trust • On-Chain Ready

Mission · Empower

The operating system for ethical African commerce — SupplierAdvisor® with SAM (Grok-powered messenger), AI trust, lot-level control and on-chain pedigree. Big Five Connect is how the Group trades the future.

Impact signatureSupplierAdvisor® globally — with SAM intelligence and Big Five Connect as the Group’s digital nervous system. Product scope and terms: supplieradvisor.com.

Enter Connect

Direct

Route-to-Market • SANTACO Containers • Last-Mile Dignity

Mission · Empower

Last-mile and route-to-market infrastructure — micro-hubs, containerised distribution and digital matching — so producers and institutions keep more value and communities eat with dignity. Partnered with SANTACO to roll out 15,000 containers at major taxi ranks and rural communities for Foods supply, with Wi‑Fi for surveys, marketing (sales revenue) and Big Five Learn / Super-Cube® education.

In the ecosystemTakes Agri and Foods into the taxi-rank and rural container network.

Impact signatureLogistics pillar for Foods and institutional programmes — plus SANTACO partnership to roll out 15,000 containers at taxi ranks and rural communities (plan scale). Programme-reported nutrition impact where Foods and Direct deliver together. See /methodology and /direct#santaco.

Enter Direct

Access

Government Funding • CSI Optimization • Sovereign Capital Access

Mission · Empower

Government, CSI and development capital pathways for verified African enterprises — including institutional access that supports school nutrition ambitions such as NSNP for the DBE.

Impact signaturePlanning to feed 2.5 million children a day via the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP) for the Department of Basic Education (DBE) — institutional access that turns public mandates into daily meals.

Enter Access

Global

Distribution • Route-to-Market • African Standards Abroad

Mission · Empower

Building distribution and route-to-market strategy across priority African and European markets — exporting regenerative supply, fortified nutrition and ethical commerce with African standards intact.

Impact signatureThirteen priority markets (including Somalia in Africa and DE · HU · GE in Europe) and a clear expansion horizon across Africa and the world — see /global.

Enter Global

Impact

Project Management • Cross-Pillar Delivery • Results Across Africa

Mission · Empower

The project management arm of Big Five Group — orchestrating programmes across Agri, Foods, Leadership, Connect, Direct, Access and Foundation to deliver measurable impact across Africa. Big Five Impact supports the Director General of Health in South Africa with initiatives to accelerate and promote health and wellness in South Africa, Africa and beyond.

Impact signatureThe connective tissue of the group: multi-pillar delivery with gates and KPIs — and support for the Director General of Health with initiatives to accelerate and promote health and wellness in South Africa, Africa and beyond.

Enter Impact

Foundation

Registered NPO • SupplierAdvisor® Listed • Measurable Impact

Mission · Empower

The philanthropic engine of the group — registered on SupplierAdvisor®. We design, fund and measure high-impact initiatives with radical transparency.

In the ecosystemFunds the projects that Agri, Foods, Big Five Learn and Impact deliver.

Impact signatureNPO philanthropy linked to Group delivery — transparent programmes and Partner-grade reporting. Specific deployment totals are shared in dated briefs, not as open website vanity figures.

Enter Foundation
ONE VALUE CHAIN OF IMPACT

From soil and service to scale

How the eleven businesses hand work to each other — meals, skills, jobs and verified outcomes.

01

Produce & nourish

Agri regenerates land; Foods fortifies nutrition people actually eat; Waters adds vitamin- and mineral-infused water.

02

Move & access

Direct builds route-to-market; Access unlocks capital and institutional pathways.

03

Trade & lead

Connect verifies commerce on SupplierAdvisor®; Big Five Learn develops Super-Cube® decision-makers.

04

Serve & scale

Royal serves the Zulu Nation partnership; Global opens corridors; Impact delivers; Foundation funds.

AI · ROBOTICS · ON-CHAIN · SAM

The intelligence layer for Feed · Educate · Empower

SAM, on-chain verification, robotics and a live operating pulse sit under the eleven businesses.

SAM

SupplierAdvisor® Messenger — Grok-powered · in-app · ethical commerce

AI-powered trust

Verification, ratings, matching and risk intelligence on one chain.

Robotics & automation

Automation that multiplies packing, hubs and last-mile dignity.

Live pulse

Enterprise telemetry so operators see the chain before it fails.

Dr. Craig R. Muller, Founder & CEO of Big Five Group
FOUNDER & CEO

Dr. Craig R. Muller

Visionary architect of kingdom-centred leadership and sustainable impact in Africa.

Dr Craig Ross Muller is the creator of the Super-Cube® leadership model and the founder and chief executive of the Big Five Group, based in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The model grew out of his Doctor of Business Administration at the University of KwaZulu-Natal: a thesis on leadership skills development, completed in December 2020 and conferred in 2021, built as a case study of an African FMCG business network. He surveyed 132 people and interviewed ten directors to learn which leadership skills matter and how they can be developed, published the research in peer-reviewed journals in 2022, and has since seen the model taught in accredited programmes, including the 12-week intervention with leaders at Imana Foods and Kerry Foods.

He has spent more than twenty years in blue-chip FMCG, supply-chain optimisation and global consulting. He holds an MBA (2006, with a distinction for his dissertation on sub-Saharan vendor reliability) and a Postgraduate Diploma in Management (2004) from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Natal (2002). His certifications include PMP, PRINCE2, Managing Successful Programmes and Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.

The Big Five Group’s mission is three words: feed, educate, empower; Super-Cube® and Big Five Learn are how it educates. Craig’s conviction, and the argument of his book Leadership Is Learnable, is that Africa’s progress depends as much on the skills of its leaders as on its resources, and that those skills can be learnt by anyone, at any age.

Above all, Craig is the very proud father of Georgia and Benjamin, and hopes this work will inspire them, and their generation, to do good and help humanity move forward.

Creator of the Super-Cube® leadership modelAuthor of Leadership Is Learnable (2026)20+ years FMCG, supply chain & consulting
Cover of Leadership Is Learnable by Dr Craig R. Muller
Out now in paperback and Kindle · Comprehensive edition

Leadership Is Learnable

The Super-Cube® model, the evidence behind it, and how to develop leaders at every level

Paperback:
R299 / $17.99 · ISBN 978-1-0483-6161-2
eBook (Kindle):
$8.99 · ISBN 978-1-0483-6160-5
Details
312 pages · 6 × 9 in · full colour · Big Five Group · published October 2026

Education

  • D.B.A.2021

    Doctor of Business Administration — Leadership skills development

    University of KwaZulu-Natal · South Africa

    Thesis (December 2020): a leadership skills development model (Super-Cube®), a case study of an African FMCG business network.

  • M.B.A.2006

    Master of Business Administration

    University of KwaZulu-Natal · South Africa

    Dissertation on sub-Saharan vendor reliability — distinction.

  • P.D.M.2004

    Postgraduate Diploma in Management (Advanced Management)

    University of KwaZulu-Natal · South Africa

  • B.Comm2002

    Supply Chain, Human Resources & Economics

    University of Natal · South Africa

Professional certifications

  • Project Management Professional (PMP) · PMI2009
  • Managing Successful Programmes (MSP) · OGC2008
  • PRINCE2 · OGC2008
  • Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MCP) · Microsoft2008
  • Enterprise Project Management — EPM (MCP) · Microsoft2008
  • Lean Six Sigma Black Belt · Acuity Institute2007

LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE

Who leads the Group, and the records behind it.

Our leadership team

Leadership

Dr. Craig R. Muller

Dr. Craig R. Muller

  • Founder & CEO, Big Five Group
  • Information Officer (PAIA and POPIA)

D.B.A., University of KwaZulu-Natal (2021). Creator of the Super-Cube leadership model. Author of Leadership Is Learnable (2026).

Over 20 years of blue-chip experience in FMCG, supply chain optimisation and global consulting.

Full profile
  • Bianca Westhorpe-Pottow

    Bianca Westhorpe-Pottow

    Marketing & HR Director, Big Five Group

  • Brad Funnell

    Brad Funnell

    Sales Director, Big Five Direct

  • Thabiso Ncgobo

    Thabiso Ncgobo

    Operations Director, Big Five Direct

  • Jomo Gecaga

    Executive Director, East Africa

  • Russel Hastings

    Executive Director, East Africa

Company

Operating company
Big Five Foods (Pty) Ltd
Company registration (CIPC)
2025/108507/07
VAT number
4280321847
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