As South Africa celebrates Women’s Month under the theme “Empowered Women Empower the Nation”. Dr Tara Southey, co-founder of TerraClim, a spin-out company from Stellenbosch University’s (SU) entrepreneurial journey began with a research question: How can a better understanding of climate help farmers make better decisions? The answer has grown from years of academic research into a business with ambitions beyond South Africa’s borders.
From the Karoo to the vineyards
Southey describes herself as a “Karoo girl at heart”. She grew up in Victoria West, where her parents were sheep farmers. Her mother took sheep wool through the different stages of production to create jerseys for the catwalk, giving Southey an early glimpse of how individual parts of a process can come together to create something of value.
Her parents later moved to the Cape Town area and began breeding racehorses, while Southey attended school in Somerset West. Although she once considered studying medicine, another career eventually captured her imagination: winemaking.
Time spent in wine tasting rooms introduced her to a lifestyle that combined agriculture with creativity and travel. An internship at Uva Mira, working with Matthew van Heerden, strengthened her interest in what happens in the vineyard. “I realised I was far more
drawn to the growing side of things,” she says.
Research with a purpose
Southey completed her undergraduate studies in winemaking at SU before pursuing a master’s degree investigating climate change and its impact on grape quality, particularly anthocyanins and tannins in Cabernet Sauvignon.
Her research explored how environmental conditions, soil and terroir influence the way grapevines express themselves. She then moved into a PhD, focused on the effects of climate on the South African wine industry and began investigating remote sensing as a supplementary resource to physical weather stations.
After completing her PhD, she surveyed the South African wine industry during the 2016/2017 drought to understand what producers needed to adapt. A clear need for better access to climate and terrain information emerged, leading to founding TerraClim.
Turning data into decisions
TerraClim initially focused on understanding climate impacts in the South African wine industry and how this knowledge could help the sector. However, the opportunity did not stop at vineyards.
The company has since expanded across different agricultural commodities and has worked with Grain SA, Potatoes SA and Hortgro. Its work looks not only at how different crops respond to climate variability, but also at questions such as which cultivars are best suited to particular areas.
For Southey, the value lies in turning climate information into practical decisions. TerraClim’s work can inform procurement and planting decisions, as well as seasonal positioning. This is supported by climate data centralised through partnerships within its
weather station network.
“TerraClim is very much no longer just mine to run. It’s a team driving the business forward now, which is exciting and, at times, a little daunting,” Southey acknowledges.
She describes the company as an “organic, ever-evolving system” and believes remaining adaptable has been an important part of its growth.
Learning to lead
Building TerraClim has also required Southey to make the transition from researcher to CEO – and that transition has brought its own lessons.
Leadership has also required her to become more conscious of how she communicates. She says, “As a woman in this space, I’ve found that direct expression can sometimes be read as ‘emotional’ when it isn’t; it’s simply how I communicate.”
She has learnt that leading a team requires continuously communicating the company’s vision and purpose, while recognising that people receive information differently. Other entrepreneurs were experiencing the same growing pains, and fellow CEOs were willing to share their own “war stories” over coffee. That experience reinforced something that has become increasingly important to Southey.
“Taking the time to build relationships and meet people where they are, has become something that differentiates us as a company. It’s not just about selling or building a product, it’s about the impact of how that product is used,” she says.
Building for the next stage
TerraClim is now expanding into new markets and commodity sectors, with an eye on opportunities in the insurance and finance space. At the same time, the company is addressing one of the realities of commercialising research-led innovation. Its products originated through research and development and were not initially designed for operational scale.
TerraClim is therefore restructuring its back end to support its transition more firmly into the market. Currently at seed stage and working towards a Series A raise, TerraClim is seeking the funding and channels that can help it scale significantly.
Purpose before certainty
Southey’s advice to aspiring entrepreneurs reflects her own journey from researcher to founder, which is to have conviction, but remain willing to learn. “Trust yourself but never be so sure of yourself that you assume you’re always right. There’s always room to adapt and to weigh other people’s opinions and insights,” she advises.
She encourages entrepreneurs to identify a genuine problem, test whether their solution addresses it and speak to as many people as possible. Her story is one of connection between research and industry, climate and crops, data and decisions, and entrepreneurship and purpose.
For Tara Southey, that journey started by listening to the land, the science and the people working closest to both. Today, TerraClim is turning those insights into tools designed to help agriculture make better-informed decisions in an increasingly variable climate.
