Sustainability, Quality and Community Drive This Award-Winning Tunisian Producer

Summary

Tunisian com­pany Olyfo, founded in 2020, won a Silver Award at the 2025 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition due to their exper­tise in farm­ing, milling, and bot­tling processes. Olyfo exports 100% of its olive oil, focus­ing on qual­ity and sus­tain­abil­ity, and aims to become a global bench­mark for high-qual­ity olive oils from Tunisia.

From the agri­cul­tural heart­lands of Tunisia’s Kairouan and Zaghouan region, a rel­a­tively new com­pany earned a Silver Award at the 2025 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition. For the founders of Olyfo, the win did not come as a sur­prise.

“This year, we knew we would have won. We have accu­mu­lated enough exper­tise over the last four years to know what we needed to do dur­ing the farm­ing, milling and bot­tling processes,” Ahmed Hamza, co-founder and man­ag­ing direc­tor of the com­pany, told Olive Oil Times.

While Olyfo was offi­cially con­sti­tuted in 2020, the farms behind it were founded between 2015 and 2017.

Today, the com­pany man­ages tra­di­tional rain­fed and super-inten­sive olive groves. Overall, Olyfo cul­ti­vates about 150,000 olive trees across 300 hectares.

Olyfo’s busi­ness model inte­grates mod­ern prac­tices and inter­na­tional stan­dards with tra­di­tional farm­ing. According to the com­pany, this approach allows for the devel­op­ment of col­lab­o­ra­tion and ties with the local farmer com­mu­nity.

“We work directly with local farm­ers and millers, sup­port­ing them with knowl­edge, fair prices and long-term rela­tion­ships. This eth­i­cal model strength­ens rural com­mu­ni­ties while main­tain­ing con­sis­tent sup­ply and qual­ity,” said Yahya Chemli, Olyfo co-founder and direc­tor of pro­duc­tion and qual­ity.

“We are always shar­ing the best lessons learned with the com­mu­nity of farm­ers, millers and com­pet­i­tive exporters around us,” Hamza added. ​“We also work on build­ing strong part­ner­ships with neigh­bor­ing farm­ers and millers as the com­pa­ny’s export capac­ity is grow­ing.” 

Olyfo exports 100 per­cent of its olive oil, both in bulk and bot­tled form, to a dozen coun­tries.

“Bulk allows a faster return on invest­ment, with our bot­tled olive oils mostly com­ing from the tra­di­tional orchards,” Hamza explained.

According to the com­pany, sus­tain­abil­ity is the key to its busi­ness. ​“The work we do aims at main­tain­ing the soil fer­til­ity and enrich­ing bio­di­ver­sity while also pro­vid­ing a viable income to involved farm­ers,” Hamza said.

According to its founders, sus­tain­abil­ity is present in every step of the company’s oper­a­tions, includ­ing an organic approach to farm­ing and invest­ment in long-term soil fer­til­ity.

“Besides cli­mate volatil­ity, water man­age­ment is key,” Chemli said. ​“That’s why we rely on pre­cise irri­ga­tion con­trol through tech­nol­ogy and invest in drought-resis­tant cul­ti­vars and organic soil prac­tices to boost resilience.”

“We use con­nected sen­sors for pre­cise irri­ga­tion, apply cow manure to enhance soil fer­til­ity and sow fava beans to nat­u­rally enrich the soil with nitro­gen,” he added. ​“This sup­ports healthy trees and ensures long-term soil sus­tain­abil­ity and prod­uct qual­ity.”

Olyfo grows Chemlali, Koroneiki, Arbosana and Arbequina olive trees in Kairouan, with Olyfo co-founder Salma Lassir Amara grow­ing Chetoui olive trees in Zaghouan.

Apart from those main cul­ti­vars, the Tunisian com­pany can choose from dozens of other local olive tree vari­eties with inter­est­ing fla­vors.

“I believe we have a fruity and aro­matic olive oil that embod­ies the beauty of our farms in Tunisia, specif­i­cally Kairouan,” Hamza noted. ​“Still, we exper­i­ment with the deli­cious Sayali and its mint notes, with Besbessi, Jarboui, Zalmati and oth­ers.” 

“Many cus­tomers tend to buy the same qual­ity olive oil over time, oth­ers also like to explore dif­fer­ent nuances of fla­vors,” he added.

According to Chemli, Olyfo’s olive groves are in the per­fect loca­tion to ben­e­fit from diverse ter­roirs.

“In the north, in Zaghouan, we have cool breezes and fer­tile hills for our Chetoui,” he said. ​“In the cen­ter, in Kairouan, we face extreme heat but ben­e­fit from around 300 days of sun­shine yearly, which reduces dis­ease pres­sure.” 

Founded by three friends pre­vi­ously engaged in busi­ness, engi­neer­ing and agri­cul­ture, the com­pa­ny’s name comes from the Afrikaans word for olive, Olyf, with the addi­tion of an ​“o” that stands for ​“oil.”

As the com­pany expands its reach in sell­ing qual­ity olive oil abroad and engag­ing a larger num­ber of farm­ers, it hopes to shape a vir­tu­ous cir­cle for the whole com­mu­nity.

“As our busi­ness expands, we hope to be soon able to insti­tute the Olyfo Foundation. Its work will be to give back to the com­mu­nity,” Hamza said. ​“There is so much to do, from schools, health sup­port for kids, music and cul­tural oppor­tu­ni­ties.”

The com­pany expects to be increas­ingly involved in con­fer­ences and events to share knowl­edge about mod­ern tech­nolo­gies and a sus­tain­able approach to farm­ing.

According to Olyfo, focus­ing on qual­ity is the main chal­lenge. ​“It is not an easy game in a mar­ket that val­ues price over qual­ity,” Hamza said. ​“Yet, that is the mis­sion we set for our­selves. We aspire to become one of the world’s lead­ing brands of olive oil and are up for the chal­lenge.” 

According to the com­pany, most clients under­stand qual­ity and the work it implies.

“Quality is becom­ing the main dif­fer­en­tia­tor, espe­cially in pre­mium seg­ments. Polyphenol con­tent, trace­abil­ity and sen­sory excel­lence are now pri­or­i­ties for edu­cated con­sumers and buy­ers,” Chemli said.

“They also rec­og­nize the invest­ments that qual­ity requires and the patience needed to bring a supe­rior organic qual­ity to the world,” Hamza explained.

While expand­ing its busi­ness, Olyfo can fol­low the path of other large com­pa­nies that have brought Tunisian olive oil world­wide.

“I believe there is a rev­o­lu­tion of olive oil in Tunisia,” Hamza said. ​“So many new play­ers are try­ing to sell Tunisian pre­mium extra vir­gin olive oil, and I am sure such efforts will place Tunisia at its well-deserved posi­tion on the world stage,” he added.

According to Chemli, Tunisia is ready to shine glob­ally, not just as a bulk exporter but as a pro­ducer of high-qual­ity olive oils.

“With the right posi­tion­ing, sto­ry­telling, and con­tin­ued qual­ity focus, Tunisian olive oil can become a global bench­mark,” he said.

Hamza added that some brands are already suc­ceed­ing and open­ing doors.

“We must keep learn­ing, push­ing and shar­ing lessons learned with Tunisian col­leagues in the sec­tor. This can only ben­e­fit the coun­try and busi­ness,” he said.

The olive har­vest lead­ing to the tri­umph in New York was dif­fi­cult.

“We faced many chal­lenges, includ­ing reduced worker avail­abil­ity and very hot weather dur­ing sum­mer. On some days it exceeded 48 ºC,” Hamza said.

As the new sea­son unfolds, mar­ket insta­bil­ity and tar­iffs imposed by the United States are hav­ing an impact.

“The tar­iff sit­u­a­tion has been a major blow for the busi­ness. We were for­tu­nate enough to have our efforts suc­ceed in other coun­tries such as the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Taiwan,” Hamza said.

“Yet, the U.S. mar­ket remains a strate­gic focus for our com­pany, and we would love to share our pas­sion for great qual­ity olive oil with the American con­sumer,” he added.

Good news for the com­pany comes from the signs of a promis­ing olive sea­son. To date, the out­look in the groves is good.

“It’s too early to make pre­dic­tions, but we’ve had good rain­fall recently, and the flow­er­ing sea­son is going well. It gives us hope for a strong har­vest, but we’re watch­ing closely,” Chemli explained.

“We can just hope that sum­mer will be gen­tle on the trees,” Hamza con­cluded.