Simba (South African company)

Simba (Pty) Ltd.
Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Food
Founded	1957; 67 years ago in Gauteng, South Africa
Founder	Leon Greyvensteyn
Headquarters	Isando, South Africa
Area served	Southern Africa
Products	Snack food
Brands	List Simba Chips; Cheetos; Doritos; Fritos; Lay's; NikNaks; ;
Parent	PepsiCo
Website	simba.co.za

Simba (Pty) Ltd. (commonly referred to as Simba) is a South African snack food manufacturer mainly operating in South Africa. It was founded in 1957 by Leon Greyvensteyn, and acquired by PepsiCo in 1999. It is best known for manufacturing potato and maize-based snack foods. They hold 63 percent of the South African crisps market.^[1]

History

The company's roots can be traced to 1939 when Elizabeth Ann Greyvensteyn, known as "Ouma Nannie", turned a family rusk recipe sold at church fetes, to a business making the rusks on a commercial scale for sale in Johannesburg.^[2]^[3]^: 33 They obtained a loan of R3,000 from the Industrial Development Corporation in 1940 to expand their business.^[3]^: 33 Andre Greyvensteyn, her son, joined the business in March 1945 when he left his job in Johannesburg.^[3]^: 33 The rusks were originally sold as Uitspan and Outspan Rusks but were later renamed as Ouma Rusks.^[2] In the 1970s, the rusk part of the business was sold to Fedfood which later sold the business to other companies.^[2]

In 1955, after a tour of America, Andre Greyvensteyn started the chip business and would become the chairperson of Simba in 1960 on the death of his father.^[3]^: 35

References

^ "A flavour of genius". The Marketing Site. Archived from the original on 14 April 2018. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
^ ^a ^b ^c "The history of one of SA's favourite snacks: Ouma Rusks". TimesLIVE. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Fyfe, Errol (April 1975). "Recipe for success". Panorama. 20 (4) – via Internet Archive.