A big celebration marked the opening of Cremedoce de Fronteira, a gelato shop with a training centre in Ressano Garcia, a small town in Mozambique on the border with South Africa. The centre opened on 26 April 2019 as a charity project to promote entrepreneurship, and the story was told from Bologna on 25 June 2019.

Who made it happen

The project is supported by Rotary Club Bologna – Valle dell’Idice, the Rotary Foundation, Rotary International District 2072 (Emilia-Romagna and San Marino) and District 4905 (Buenos Aires, Argentina), the Bruto and Poerio Carpigiani Foundation, A.G.A.P.E. ONLUS and master pastry chef Gino Fabbri, coach of the World Pastry Champions. Gino Fabbri flew to Africa for the opening and finished training the project’s first eight employees, five men and three women. For the celebration he made a cake combining local fresh fruit, Italian pastry know-how and Carpigiani technology.

Everyone shared a dream: to serve excellent gelato to Pope Francis, who was to visit Mozambique that September.

Guests at the opening on 26 April included Angela Passy Bastos, President of the Rotary Club Polana-Maputo; Bruno de Amaral, past president of the same club and first head of Global Grant Project no. 1758744; Bolognese Fabrizio Pedretti, first supporter of the initiative; Valentina Gianni of Agape Onlus; and representatives of the local administration, the parish, the border guard and migration services.

Training and jobs

In the year since launch, the trainees were guided by experts living in South Africa. The centre is both a daily production space and a venue for job training run by the Joao Batista Scalabrini Center, which has long focused on training young mothers and orphans. Two points of sale opened under the Cremedoce de Fronteira name: a gelato parlour and a traditional ice cream truck.

It all grew from March 2018, when three Mozambican students spent three weeks in Bologna on a gelato course at Carpigiani Gelato University, a pastry course at ISCOM Scuola di Gusto, a gelato and pastry course in a master class workshop and practical sessions with Gino Fabbri at Dolci Artisti in Cadriano.

Mario Pantano of Rotary Club Bologna Valle dell’Idice said Rotary, founded in 1905 and now counting 1.2 million business people, professionals and leaders in more than 200 countries, saw the project as strategically important because it gives young Mozambicans work in their own country. Gino Fabbri called it an extremely rewarding cultural, professional and human experience, and described a team keen to learn from the first minute.

What comes next

The centre has become a local reference point and has helped around ten members of the Joao Batista Scalabrini Center community start a small business producing and selling products that will also be served at hotels and resorts on the Mozambican coast popular with South African tourists. It runs under “Solidarity Project for Africa no. 1758744 of the Rotary Foundation”, with a contribution of 95,000 dollars to the Scalabrinian Sisters Center in Ressano Garcia. Once the start-up phase is complete, the second stage will provide technical and commercial training for the team now managing the centre. The partners were also planning a special flavour for Pope Francis, inspired by the colours and flavours of Mozambique.

What this means for gelato makers in New Zealand

This project shows how gelato can open up a trade and a livelihood anywhere, with the right training. Majors Group offers training through Carpigiani Gelato University, and our gelato shop guide explains the steps to starting your own business.

Source: Carpigiani news. Rewritten for New Zealand by Majors Group.