Dear VooDoo Spirits/Tambour Original Investors,

It's certainly time for me to give you all updates on what's been happening with us. To start with, we have 2 pieces of really exciting news.

First, our fully-owned subsidiary, La Distillerie Beninoise, recently won a US$150,000 tourism grant through the World Bank and Projet de Compétitivité et du Tourisme Transfrontalier (PCTT). Our project consists of setting up our production facility for distillery tours incorporating cultural references to this local spirit and will include a tasting room on the roof of the facility. We were one of four projects to receive the funding from over 400 applicants. This facility upgrade will greatly help us in promoting Tambour in Benin to international visitors, while providing additional revenue streams and offering the ability to sell directly to a larger percentage of consumers, increasing our profit margins.

Second, and of special interest to me as I grew up in the area, we now have distribution secured for Upstate NY and have placement in one of the biggest liquor stores in Rochester, Marketview Liquor. We are looking to expand our presence in the area and would love any suggestions or warm introductions that you could provide us, especially those of you living in or from the area.

In slightly older news, we have received, installed, and are using our new 500L still that we were able to buy from our WeFunder raise. Additionally, we recently sent our third shipment to the US (our biggest yet!), and are in the process of rolling out new distribution in the Washington DC area (shortly including Maryland as well) and NYC (in addition to Upstate NY). Please be patient with us through this transition of distributors (who we think will serve us better). Also, please don't hesitate to provide warm introductions to any places that you think would be good matches for us in DC, MD, or NY. 

We are currently looking for more funding with the goal of further increasing production (including using our new equipment to its full capacity) with the goal of increasing distribution in the US and select markets in West Africa by the end of the year.

Remember that for those of you not in the areas where we have distribution, one of our vendors is able to send to 38 states through online orders.

I'll leave you with a few pictures. 

Until next time, don't hesitate to reach out! 

Best,
Jake Muhleman and the rest of the Tambour team

The award ceremony for the Challenge Fund where we won US$150,000. 
Left: Our mentor and Deloit, Paris employee, Jean-Luc Taborin, Center: Me, Right: Finance Minister Romuald Wadagni presenting the trophy

Left: The view from the roof of our facility, Middle: a shot from inside our facility including our newest still, Top-Right: Employee Joyce filling bottles, Bottom-Right: The facade of our facility

US Ambassador to Benin, Lucy Tamlyn, her husband, and 2nd in charge of the facility, at a recent visit to our facility.