A royal seal of approval

● It’s not just locals who are enamoured of Thula Ndema and Thato Masondo’s recycled frozen desserts.

On Monday, after a surprise visit from the Duchess of Sussex, Sorbae Frozen, the pair’s thriving sorbet company, got a shout-out on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's official Instagram account.

The duchess visited Victoria Yards in Johannesburg where she was introduced to the couple and other entrepreneurs at the Lorentzville development.

The pair started their business in 2017 when they decided to use overripe fruit from traders that would otherwise have been discarded. Since then Sorbae has gone from a cooler box by the side of the road to a little business operating from Victoria Yards.

Ndema said they recently received a grant of more than R50,000 from the Global Philanthropy Alliance and were able to buy two freezers and an industrial blender and juicer. Next year they plan to open their first brick-andmortar store.

Masondo said they weren’t told until the day who the VIP visitor was, but once they found out they were very excited.

The couple pride themselves on their unusual flavours created from the fruits and vegetables available to them.

On offer this week were limecucumber, ginger-lemon, orangethyme umqombothi (traditional beer) and guava sorbet. The duchess’s “favourite flavour was pumpkin chai spice — which she thought was very original”.

"She was friendly and open with us and wanted to hear our story. We spoke about our mission and how we want to be a company that employs more people,” Masondo said.