MTI provides strategic advice for Bangladeshi tea brand in UK expansion

Niche Bangladeshi tea brand Teatulia has retained MTI Consulting for strategic direction as it embarks on a UK expansion push, extending a partnership which has spanned for more than 15 years.

In what began as a social initiative to empower impoverished Bangladeshi communities, the fast-growing organic tea brand Teatulia has celebrated a milestone with the launch of its first tea bar in the UK. To mark the occasion, it was announced that the Sri Lankan-born boutique advisory MTI Consulting had been retained by Teatulia as its eyes further UK expansion, continuing a relationship that has flourished for more than a decade and a half.

“We are very excited about the launch of Teatulia Tea Bar in London and our future expansion plans across the UK,” Teatulia’s Director Kazi Anis Ahmed said at the launch ceremony, where he was joined by MTI Consulting CEO Hilmy Cader and other members of the MTI team. “We believe this is an opportune time to involve MTI Consulting, with whom we have a successful working relationship spanning over 15 years.”

Teatulia – presumably a play on the Portuguese term tertulia, an informal social gathering for intellectual discussion in a café-like setting – was established in 2000 with the idea on bringing Bangladeshi tea to greater attention and providing support to disadvantaged local communities through job creation, with the brand’s range of teas sourced solely from its own sustainable farm in the north of the country. Today, the tea farm employs over 600 workers.

With an initial boon from landing a stocking deal with Harrords in London in 2011, and a successful expansion into the US in 2005, Teatulia has now embarked on the next phase of its journey with the launch of its first UK tea bar close to London’s iconic Covent Garden – with further expansion plans in store. To help to chart that course, and provide implementation support, Teatulia has extended its relationship with MTI. 

Cader, who founded MTI in 1997 in Sri Lanka and Bahrain, (with the consulting firm having since extended its activities to more than 40 countries) said of announcement; “The UK tea market is currently experiencing drastic changes with increasing demand for herbal and organic teas and the rapid decline of traditional teas. MTI will assist Teatulia UK and Tea Bar to identify and capture these opportunities to position them as a premium organic tea brand in the UK.”

Speaking at an earlier presentation in the US, Teatulia’s Director Kazi Anis Ahmed (who also serves as the Director and Chief Strategy Officer of Teatulia parent the Gemcon Group), said; “We have been working with MTI Consulting for the last 15 years and as always, we are very pleased with the outcome of this project. Organic tea is one of the fastest growing food and beverage market segments in the world. In order to capitalise on the increasing opportunities, we have sought MTI’s expertise and advisory.”