The man who went from delivering pizzas to building a water-bottling giant with 120 outlets across South Africa

Almost 20 years ago, Alfred Challis was delivering pizzas. Now, he runs one of the fastest-growing water businesses in South Africa.

Born on 17 January 1990 in the Western Cape town of Montagu, Challis has served as the founder and CEO of MANZI Water since 2023.

After his parents’ separation, Challis moved to Mossel Bay as a young child, where he earned his matric at the South Cape College.

Challis worked as a cleaner and pizza delivery driver before landing a job at an Oasis Water store in Mossel Bay, holding the position of store manager between 2008 and 2010.

Following this, he served as a consultant for the company, first in Pretoria from 2010 to 2014 and then in Cape Town from 2018 to 2021.

During this period, he also served as the store director of multiple Oasis Water branches in Parys, Welkom, and Fochville.

Challis left Oasis Water in December 2022 after nearly 15 years at the company, founding MANZI Water shortly thereafter.

The company’s name derives from ‘amanzi’, the Nguni word for water. Challis explained that the first ‘a’ was dropped to make the company’s name more unique.

Today, MANZI Water operates over 120 outlets across South Africa’s nine provinces, offering a range of non-alcoholic beverages and water-refilling solutions.

These products range from still and sparkling water to fruit juices and flavoured waters, while the company also serves as an official distributor of Thirsti’s beverage products.

In an appearance on BusinessDayTV’s Big Small Business Show, Challis discussed the motivations behind starting a purified water business.

“We wanted to address the water quality challenges in South Africa and create jobs while supporting local economies,” Challis said.

“South Africa’s failing infrastructure and the government’s inability to provide safe drinking water have created an urgent and growing demand, and we saw an opportunity to provide a reliable solution.”

MANZI Water’s unique business model

South Africa’s bottled water industry was estimated to be worth around R6 billion in 2025, with Challis expecting this to grow by around 6% year-on-year.

In order to stand out among industry veterans such as aQuellé and Valpré, MANZI Water decided to adopt a more unique approach to its business model.

Instead of a traditional franchise framework, the company operates on a licensed network, which is supported by a central governance structure.

MANZI’s licensees are thus allowed to operate semi-independently, keeping decision-making at the local level while adhering to certain operational and branding standards.

“We have a group of 20+ licensees,” Challis said. “They pay R850 per month per shop, and for that they get support from the Central Hub, which is our head office.”

“That’s it. Zero royalties. We take a 5% rebate on suppliers, but that is factored into the cost of the bottles, caps and the labels, so only the major suppliers.”

MANZI supplies its licensees with all of these materials for the manufacturing of its water products, with the only thing not directly supplied by them being the actual water.

Challis explained that the water used in its products typically comes from groundwater sources, such as boreholes, or municipal water sources.

Each MANZI licensee comes with its own built-in water purification system, which is used to manufacture and package all its products on-site.

During manufacturing, licensees must adhere to MANZI Water’s six-step purification process to ensure that the water is safe, clean, and meets the company’s quality and hygiene standards.

These steps include sand filtration, element filtration, reverse osmosis, carbon filtration, UV protection, and ozone treatment.

“Our biggest challenge is ensuring quality and consistency across a growing network of independent licensees from diverse backgrounds,” Challis said.

“We plan to continue expanding our footprint across South Africa, bringing safe, clean drinking water to even more communities while ensuring every drop makes a positive impact.”