Hans was born in Belgium and held a Master in Political Sciences from the University of Leuven. He fell in love with South Africa during a visit and decided to stay and make South Africa his home. Hans has been building fresh produce businesses in South Africa for the past 25 years and has created several enduring brands in the industry. He currently manages the Unlimited Group and particularly enjoys driving innovation and sustainability. He lives in the Winelands with his wife Farah and their three teenage children. Keen swimmer and an enthusiastic yet slow runner. 

With his warm personality, Johan is steering Unlimted Nuts business development by promoting the contracted planting of Almonds at various producers in the Southern and Western Cape. Johan facilitates processing arrangements, Almond economic modelling, the key technical requirements and accompanying producers to the Almond industry in Spain.

He was previously Business Development Manager (Agriculture), producer and ARC researcher. Johan gained extensive experience in managing table grape, vegetable and subtropical farms, business consultation, business plan generation, loan funding and grant applications in public and private sectors in the fruit, vegetable, and nut farming sectors. In addition, he has extensive experience leading technical and scientific teams that work on various agricultural products and has recently acquired, through extensive international travel, a thorough understanding of the most recent developments in South Africa and Spain’s almond and nut industries.

Education
Post-graduate Short Course – Project Management UCT
Hons Agric – Viticulture and Plant Physiology, Hons(B&A)- Business Administration
BSc. Agric—Viticulture, Oenology & Plant Physiology Stellenbosch University

Michael has been involved with Unlimited Nuts since 2015. He has extensive expertise in rolling out new planting projects of plums, apricots and almonds and works closely with all nurseries and researchers. He operates extensively in farming areas from Vredendal on the Westcoast to Alice Dale in the Eastern Cape. Michael is now responsible for evaluating all new varieties and rootstocks and all agronomic related technical input. He keeps up with the latest developments in his annual trips to Spain where he visits growers, the IRTA research station and processing plants.

With his extensive experience and knowledge, he advises growers on all technical requirements regarding almond production.  Michael loves to initiate new and innovative production practices like Super High-Density plantings, comparing with wider spacing and experimenting with new innovative horticultural inputs.  

Previously he has done research and varietal evaluation for the stone fruit industry at Infruitec/Agriculture Research Council Stellenbosch for 18 years, from 1982 to 1988. Co-researcher on almond variety evaluation and pollination in different climatic areas in the Western Cape – Robertson, Citrusdal, Wellington and Saron and Co-researcher on various other projects like rest breaking research trials.  

One of his passions is to motivate growers to successfully apply fewer chemicals when growing and improve soil health to engage in sustainable agriculture. He also believes maintaining good relationships is essential in fostering a better agribusiness.

Michael is married to Estrela and lives in Stellenbosch. He loves outdoor activities like camping, hiking, running and just enjoying nature. 

Fred van Alphen LLM MRE, started his career as a company lawyer with Philips Electronics, followed by a switch to real estate business. Having put Savills on the map in the Netherlands and sold his shares to the mother company in London in 2008, he started to invest in start-ups and venture capital activities, lately mainly sustainable businesses. He lives part-time in South Africa and gets excited about the agricultural space here.