Spices of Life

By+Sudeshna+Sarkar

THE customs officer at Heathrow Airport looked incredulous.

“Ogbono！” he said， peering suspiciously at the package he had confiscated from the passenger from Nigeria.“What on earth is that？”

Kabir Mohammed Bawa braced himself for the loss of yet another precious parcel of Nigerian food， brought as a gift for a friend living in the UK， thanks to airport officersignorance of African cuisine culture. But in his heart， he could feel revolt stirring.

“Each time I carried African foodstuff for family and friends living in the UK， they got confiscated at Heathrow Airport because of lack of effective packaging and labelling，” the 47-year-old told ChinAfrica from Abuja. “The last straw was in September 2010 when I carried ogbono in black nylon bags for my doctor friend and was asked at the airport what it was. I stood there helpless， telling the man it was ogbono and he looked at me， plainly thinking，‘What language is this guy talking in？ And I was perplexed how on earth did he not know that ogbono was the Nigerian name for the spice made from the kernel of the wild mango tree！”

Business with flavor

The bags were confiscated once again but this time it led to something positive. “After that experience， I decided to do something to stop further embarrassment of Africans carrying African food products at the hands of quarantine officers across the world，” Bawa said. “My diversifying into food production and processing was the result of the frustration I went through at the hands of customs officials.”

That is how Afro Foods， a food manufacturing and processing company， was born in Nigerian capital Abuja in 2011， going into business four years later after a painstaking research on the market demand. Taking this plunge was not difficult since Bawa had already cut his teeth on entrepreneurship in 2006.

Though both his grandfather and father had been astute businessmen with a flourishing family business of construction and general trading， Bawa had initially experimented with a civil service career， working as an accountant at the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board， an institution of Federal Government of Nigeria. But after 12 years， a growing conviction that he was not cut out for a salaried job made him quit and found his own building and civil engineering company， Afro Dimension， subsequently branching out into real estate and manufacturing.

Afro Foods is a little different since it has a mission： to spread and strengthen African food culture worldwide. Bawas vision is to see Afro Foods “not only on the kitchen shelves of every household in Africa but in grocery stores across China， Wal-Mart in the United States， on the shelves of Tesco， Sainsbury and Asda in the UK and across the world.”

The company processes organic ingredients integral to African cuisine， like cassava， cowpea， bean flour， fonio， yam flour and peeled beans. Most of the product ideas， he says， came from observing， asking questions， and once again， from personal experience.

Theres another anecdote. One day， while in the office， Bawa had a craving for moin-moin， a Nigerian delicacy made of peeled beans， also known as beans pudding. He rang up his wife and said he was coming home to eat it but in his heart， he knew it was impossible as it would take hours to wash and soak the beans and get the ingredients ready. When he came home， it was just as he had thought. The beans were still being washed.

“I stood in the kitchen watching the process and ended up sympathizing with my wife because of the rigors involved in the preparation，” he said. “At that stage， I came up with the idea of providing ready-for-use peeled beans.”

Unlimited potential

Afro Foods works with local farmers， providing them training and buying their farm produce， which is then processed， packaged and sold in Nigeria， other West African countries， and Europe. Besides shops and supermarkets， they are also sold on Jumia， the Lagos-based African answer to online retailer Amazon. In addition to individuals， other buyers are restaurants， hotels， wholesalers and importers.

“For me， the potential in the food industry is unlimited，”Bawa added thoughtfully. “This is because people will never stop eating.”

His assertion is backed up by figures from a 2013 World Bank report that says due to a combination of population growth， rising incomes， urbanization and international migration， Africas food systems， then valued at $313 billion a year， would triple by 2018. Also， almost 60 percent of the worlds uncultivated land suitable for food crops lies in Africa. In 2014， on the basis of the General Household Panel Survey conducted by Nigerias National Bureau of Statistics in collaboration with the World Bank Living Standard Measurement Study Group， it was estimated that Nigerians spent 399.65 billion naira （$1.31 billion） on food monthly. The government， on its part， spends around 1.3 trillion naira（$6.5 billion） annually on food imports.

Afro Foods seeks to tap this virtually unexplored food commodities market at home and exports around the world. However， he admits that there are several challenges. Though from a wealthy family and with a successful business track record， Bawa has found it difficult to obtain bank loans.

“What I have realized in the course of doing business is that your friends or family are the first point of harnessing finance because if [they] dont believe in you to entrust their money... no one will. They are the ones who know your capacity more than anyone else，” he said in an interview with Kenyas The Nation daily. “Some of the challenges I faced at the initial stage… [were] stringent bank conditions to access funds. This I have taken in my stride to concentrate toward sourcing funds from other areas.”

Bawa told ChinAfrica that he started with his savings as well as support from the Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria， a state program in which four ministries collaborate with the private sector to create more jobs and funding for entrepreneurs.

The other major challenge is food safety. There have been frequent cases of contaminated foodstuff or produce with high level of pesticide residues causing deaths in Nigeria. Cowpea beans， especially， were dubbed “killer beans”after a high incidence of fatalities due to their consumption. The incidents made the EU declare a one-year ban on certain Nigerian food products in 2015 while the Nigerian Agency for Food and Drug Administration Control （NAFDAC） banned the sale of beans without its approval.

Bawa says Afro Foods has trained about 3，000 farmers and obtains its raw materials from them. The ingredients are then processed using quality machines and packaging materials and checked by NAFDAC， receiving its certification for sale only after passing the test.

The China touch

There is an important Chinese factor in Afro Foods.“China has become the hub for low-price and quality food processing machinery in the world，” Bawa said. “Afro Foods imports its unique packaging bags and processing machines from China.”

Bawa is looking for a partnership with Chinese foods processing companies or investors. “This can be a partnership to expand Afro Foods， or open a plastic bag manufacturing company， or set up an agro warehousing， processing and commodity trading center.”

He is also interested in marketing his products in China.“China with a growing African population and an inquisitive food consuming population is one of our target areas. Though our products are mainly known to Africans， its the aim of the company to make African foods a global food where not only Africans will patronize the products but other nationals too.”