Business Section
Pamwenatse’s Journey of Liquorices Food
Tell us about yourself
Pamwenatse Saima Heita is my name, but I’m mostly known as Nampa, and some address me as “Pam,” short for Pamwenatse. I was born and raised in Ondangwa. I’m the owner and founder of Liquorices Food, which I started two and a half years ago. Cooking is my hobby—I do it for fun, too. But I also enjoy a good book and a beautiful sunset view.
What makes your success story unique? (How did the business idea come to mind; how did you bring it to life?)
April 2020, we got national lockdown-COVID-19 results, I was on my 3rd year at Namibian Institute of Mining and Technology (NIMT). With the lockdown and being back at home in Ondangwa, I was bored, couldn’t do much or go anywhere because places were not operating. I came up with making Corndogs and walk office to office selling them. It was challenging, people don’t know what corndogs are and I had to make samples to sell. But I had to add something else to the menu that is known, and I added burgers. I would bake fresh buns every morning and with the help of my mother to make fries. And within 2 weeks I added pizza too. All this was done from scratch. I love baking.
The messiness that comes with mixing dough is very therapeutic. Fast forward: Lockdown was uplifted and went back to Arandis’, I went to continue with pizza making during weekends and on days when I did not have a lot of schoolwork.
How many people are on your team, what is your clientele, and what direction is your business taking?
I’m not sure I can say I have a team; I get assistance from my parents when I’m in Ondangwa, but in Windhoek I’m doing this alone, the baking or the tacos on Thursday. One day there will be a team though. The clientele is more on Street cuisine - Taco Thursday, and the sweet tooth lovers for the cake slices and cake jars that are available on day to day
What are the hopes and dreams for your business?
My dream is to own a Cafeteria one day in a small town, hopefully Ondangwa to be specific. with a franchisee as Slowtown/Seattle, creating a beautiful cosy place for introverts, tourists, businesspeople to enjoy a good cup of coffee with a freshly moist baked cake or yummy cheesy toast/sandwich.
What are your hopes and dreams for women in business in general?
I hope women in business will one day be able to genuinely uplift each other, be willing to nurture and help each other grow. You can go somewhere alone but imagine how far we can reach when we are a team, striving for the beauty within business.
Your relationship with food or your general views of Namibia’s indigenous food?
I believe ‘Food is Love’, to find the taste and to enjoy the taste in any sort of food indigenous or not, there should be a little sprinkle of love from the one preparing to the one receiving.
Food is symbolic of love when words are inadequate.”To contact me and support my
delicious makings contact: Pamwenatse S Heita Owner- Liquorices Food
iG handle: Liquorices_food
0812230400
Sai's Kitchen Success Story
Tell us about yourself
My name is Saima Ndapewa Mukwiilongo, I was born in Onambanda, Othika in Omusati region. I grew up in Havana informal settlement in Windhoek. My hobbies are cooking, travelling and solo dates. My business name is Sai’s Kitchen, Sai’s kitchen was established in 2017 we have been in business for 7 years.
What makes your success story unique? (How did the business idea come to mind; how did you bring it to life?)
My success story is unique because I was one of the few young girls who understood that the government cannot employ all of us and that some of us needed to be job creators toemploy ourselves and the next person.
I found interest in cooking at a very late stage in my growing up, i use to make creative meals for my siblings and I. In university I didn’t have a study loan so my father paid for me and my siblings, fast forward I decided to get a waitressing job at Andy’s in Klein Windhoek as a way of meeting my father halfway by paying for my taxi fare to school, buying school materials and assisting with my younger siblings where I can. Having a job while in university was not easy, I had to do my assignments and studies in the toilet most of the time. In my final year of study, I finally got a study loan and with my refund I decided to start a business at home, there was the birth of Sai’s kitchen. I always believed in starting where you are with what you have.
Starting a business in an informal settlement was challenging, I had two years of no profit, soat some point I decided to take Mondays off from work and do cleaning services and invest the money in Sai’s kitchen. I had so many hardships starting this business, but I was a young girl who believed, who worked hard to see her brand grow.
How many people are on your team, what is your clientele, and what direction is your business taking?
We have 7 people at the main kitchen including two drivers, 2 people at our branch in Auspanplatz at Kings lounge and 2 people at our Project Erasmus farm which was established in February 2023 to ensure and work on Sai’s kitchen being its own supplier and to possibly fill the gap of food security section in Namibia.
Our clientele is wide, most of our customers are from other locations such as KleinWindhoek/Kuppe, Academia, Khomasdal, Elisenheim etc. We are also part of the tourist attraction restaurant given our location and that we sell traditional food which people from other countries and continents are always eager to try. My dream is to have a bigger restaurant that caters most of the traditional food in Namibia not only Oshiwambo and a touch of a few African cuisines.
What are the hopes and dreams for your business?
Growth and stability, being able to hire a few more people to help reduce the high unemployment rate. To inspire the next girl to start her business. My hopes and dreams for the next woman is to succeed, to never give up, to be patient and to put in the work.
Your relationship with food or your general views of Namibia’s indigenous food?
Food is the universal love language that everyone understands, I like to make people happy through good food. My motto as Sai’s kitchen is to keep culture alive and to give other tribes experience of our traditional food.
Food Safety Heroes: Vera and Ruth
Tell us about yourself
My name is Vera Iiyambo, cofounded Iyalago Food Assurance Consultants (IFAC) with my business partner Ruth Martinez Lago. IFAC is based in the coastal town of Walvis Bay (Namibia) and have been in business for the past 6 years but boasts a collective 30 years of experience in the food industry
What makes your success story unique? (How did the business idea come to mind; how did you bring it to life?)
We started the business with two intentions, firstly to support ourselves after facing retrenchments and secondly, to fill a gap in lack of qualified food safety experts and trainers in the Namibian fishing industry. Like most small businesses, we started with door-to-door service flyers, put our best foot forward with our first clients and built up our reputation through strategic brand marketing. We now not only serve the fishing industry, but the entire food industry in Namibia.
How many people are on your team, what is your clientele, and what direction is your business taking?
We have a staff compliment of five (5) multi-disciplinary and well-qualified team of Consultants/Trainers. IFAC offers training and consulting services mainly to the business / corporate clients (B2B) segment. Our main business clients are in the fishing industry located in Walvis Bay and Luderitz towns in Namibia.
Our target business clients are
- Fishery product manufacturing companies
- Food service / hospitality industry
- Other foods (Dairy, Meat, Poultry, Fresh Produce, Pastry, Dry Food, Spices and Condiments) and packaging companies
- We also target individuals (mostly women) in the food manufacturing, service industry or those that aspire for jobs in the food industry.
- To ensure that everyone has access to our training services, we have created and successfully launched the IFAC Smart Center, an online training marketplace and learning management system
What are your hopes and dreams for your business?
Our vision is to build a highly competitive and efficient organization and expands Food Safety expertise within Namibia, and across the borders. Our mission is to deliver exceptional customer service by adding value to their Food Management Systems, through provision of the required knowledge, training and expertise to produce safe and legal food products. We also aim to obtain funding for our graduate mentorship program and continue to provide on-the-job training for women graduates in Food Science and associated fields. Finally, we would love to create a community program focusing on training food industry women on food safety and provide a mentorship platform for professional development.
What are your hopes and dreams for women in business in general?
We have incorporated transfer of expertise and knowledge through education of women graduates in our company strategy. We hope to Partner/collaborate with a corporate organisation or NGOs such as United Nations Development Fund, Namibia Trade forum etc. with similar goals of empowering women in the food industry, educate and train entrepreneurs involved in food production. It is our time to support and empower each other through information sharing and collaborations for success. Let us develop, harness and maintain good business etiquette and build lasting relationships with each other and our clients.
Vera Nelago Iiyambo
Co-founder & COO
IYALAGO FOOD ASSURANCE CONSULTANTS
www.iyalago.com
https://ifacsmartcenter.com
Cooking with Fortune
My name is Fortune Kangueehi, founder of Cooking with Fortune. Cooking has been my passion since I was a child which led to me entering MasterChef South Africa season 1 in 2011, reaching top 18 finalists on the show. After a 15-year successful career in marketing, I swapped my heels for an apron and started my business Cooking with Fortune in 2023. Other than cooking, I love people, socializing, reading, nature, and travelling.
I always knew that I wanted to do something with my cooking, but I wanted to do something that empowers people and makes a difference. Inspired by my frustration as a corporate mom, the business idea started with teaching domestic helpers to prepare dinners for their employers and has since grown into teaching group adults and kiddies as well as private individual lessons. Recently, I identified a need for caregivers of orphanages and Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres to learn how to prepare the limited produce they have nutritiously. I am in the process of sourcing funding to be able to offer this training at no cost to these facilities. Through Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), one such training was possible in November 2023.
My team is very small, I have one full-time employee and an intern. My target market is anyone who wants to learn how to cook but more excitingly my dream is to work with caregivers of orphanages and ECD centres across Namibia to childhood nutrition. Another segment is youth and unemployed to teach them a skill that can make them self-sustainable. Nutrition training is a very exciting direction that my business is taking because it is a key pillar in child development. In addition to that, the idea of creating employment by teaching a skill that someone can make a living off gives me purpose.
My dream for Cooking with Fortune is to have my own space where I can host my classes, events, etc. The space should be fully self-sustainable with its own energy, sewage system, food, water, heating, cooling, and drainage. I want to help people who cannot afford to pay for the classes in partnership with the private sector in Namibia.
Women in business in Namibia, especially previously disadvantaged women face many challenges. Amongst these is access to funds and clientele. We need to cultivate a culture of supporting women in business not only by buying the product or service but also by sharing and recommending. I dream that women and entrepreneurs in general thrive, create employment, and transfer knowledge for the growth of Namibia as a country.
I believe that cooking for yourself is a form of self-love and cooking for the ones you love is how you show them love. Namibia is privy to so many indigenous produces with very high nutritional value. Very shortly I am going to create a television show showcasing Namibian produce and the people behind it.
Fortune Kangueehi
Founder of Cooking with Fortune
https://www.facebook.com/cookingwithfortune
https://www.instagram.com/cooking_withfortune
https://www.linkedin.com/in/fortune-kangueehi-b221843a
Olive Bistro
My name is Anna-Liisa Amupadhi. I am the owner of Olive Bistro and Catering cc. I love cooking and hosting people as a hobby. I have been in catering, restaurants and event management business for more than 20 years.
Cooking has been my love of joy. I have been always helping and cooking for small events for families and friends for free. With my elder sister’s and friends’ advice and support, I was motivated and decided to leave my corporate employment to start my own business. My sisters and my close friends have been there for me, and they help a lot to build and sustain my business. I have never regretted to kick start my catering and food business although in the world of self-employment there are all types of challenges.
Currently, I have employed a team of permanent five employees, which comprises of one chef, two assistant chefs and two waiters. Depending on the availability of heavy-duty catering services, I sometime acquire temporary personnel to assist with cooking, delivering and setup of foods. My clientele is both private and corporate; different small, medium and large companies. We believe in offering quality and fresh food. We provide our services based on customers unique environments and specific requirements.
Having been providing fresh and unique foods to my customers, it has played a big role in my marketing strategy. I also believe in a word of mouth as my main marketing strategy and that cooking is an art and not a science.
My vision is to grow my business by diversifying into bigger contracts such as catering services for hospital, schools and mining sectors. In addition, one of my dreams is to own a modern classy restaurant in Windhoek.
I am encouraging all women in business sectors to never give up. Seek mental and financial supports and strive to push through their dreams. Business brands are never easy to realize and need special commitment, but in the end it’s worth it to live your dream.
Anna-Liisa Amupadhi
Owner of Olive Bistro
annaliisaamupadhi74@gmail.com
