SPECIROZA JOSEPH
What can one do with Tsh 20,000? The amount is just a peanut but for Zahrouk
Khalfan Ahmed, a mother of three – two boys and a girl; it was all she had,
when she started her business venture.
She says Rocky’s Products, a food processing firm at Kariakoo, was born out
of that little cash a few years ago.
She considers herself to be successful businesswomen, saying she has reached
a point of no return as far as doing business is concerned.
Dream come true
Reflecting back, she says: “Ever since I was a child I always thought one
day I would venture into food processing business.” The idea was vague at
the beginning but as she grew up it became clear.
“As I became an adult, what hindered me from venturing out was lack of
capital, a predicament that affects millions of women in Tanzania.
It was after a long struggle she managed to raise Tsh 20,000 as initial
capital for her business, she says with a sigh of relief.
Playing hide and seek with TBS
“I started off making chill sauce, mango pickle and garlic paste,” she says
with obvious pride. She would pack her products in plastic bags.
Due to the fact that, her capital was too little, she was making the
products at home and selling to neighbours only.
She knew, it was very important to get the necessary certification from
Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) but at first it was an impossible task.
She had to operate the food business without any licence at first, until she
was able to raise her production base to levels high enough to support
requirements of TBS.
Every time she was selling her ware, her eyes would be wide open looking out
for health officials or TBS officials.
“I kept selling my wares to the neighbourhood to escape the eyes of TBS,”
she says.
Things get better ..
Her mother advised her approach Small Industries Development Organisation
(SIDO), where it would be possible to be trained on food processing,
preservation and business skills in general.
She is grateful because SIDO became instrumental in making her what she is
today. “The training was the beginning of a new chapter in my life,” she
says. The expansion of my business was as a result of the training and
instructions that I got from SIDO and TBS,” she says.
The training turned him into a real businesswoman. She worked with TBS to
improve her ware until it was certified. This helped her to create a new
market niche and even open an office in Dar es Salaam city.
In her take she added chicken masala, fish masala, biryan masala, tandoor,
black and white pepper food, beef masala, curry powder and mango pickle, all
this making her shop, a centre for customers looking for such products.
As time went by, Zahrouk says she started packing her wares in bottles of
different sizes.
Expanding to regions
She says she adheres to the standards set by TBS, which entailed, among
others things, showing ingredients and date of manufacture and expiry dates.
She has expanded beyond Dar es Salaam and hired sales agents in Morogoro,
Tanga, Singida and Dar es Salaam.
“I also intend to extend the business to Arusha and Mbeya regions,” she
says.
Initially, she was buying raw materials for her wares from traders at the
famous Kariakoo Market but with time, Zahrouk opted to buy the materials
directly from rural farmers. These are mostly tomatoes, garlic, mangoes,
cooking oil, pepper among others.
Fears about venturing overseas
Using simple blenders at home, she processes her products and packs them.
However, sometimes, when a need arises, she sends the raw materials to large
machines for processing.
She laments that imported products have flood the local market.
“It is a great challenge and hindrance to business growth for up-coming
entrepreneurs like me,” she says. Many Tanzanians prefer imported products
instead of locally made good, she adds.
She is eager to export her wares but she has learnt that local products are
unacceptable abroad. She could not explain why. Talk of the fear of the
unknown.
She calls on the government to help local investors to get necessary
certifications that would enable their wares to qualify for the export
market.
Zahrouk appealed to Tanzanians to support local products by buying them as
they were as good as imported ones.
“Sometimes local products are better than imported because they are fresh,
have not taken a long time to reach the market as is the case with foreign
imports,” she expounds
In the future, Zahrouk said she hoped to own a food processing plant that
would enable her to supply her wares to the whole country.
Zahrouk is a member of the Tanzania Women Chambers of Commerce (TWCC), AWAN
East Africa, SIDO’s Women Entrepreneur Development (WED), GETSBY, TAFOPA and
TANCRAFT.
=ENDS