Indigenous fruits add taste to dairy market
Timothy Lewanika | Tuesday May 9, 2023 06:00
The company has gained prominence for its locally sourced, succulent and rich yoghurt that continues to thrive despite operating in a retail market dominated by a lot of imported food products.
It opened its doors in 2010 and has been registering a positive growth trajectory ever since.
Litah Malejane, who is the corporate head of Dream Flavours, said in an interview the company was inspired by the desire to use locally sourced products to create flavour that resonates with Botswana’s story.
“We are very passionate about using our very own wild fruits of Botswana to make tasty yoghurts,” she told Monitor Business. “This came after realising that retail stores are packed with dairy products from outside the country and we wanted to come up with something that Batswana will like.”
Currently Dream Flavours supplies local chain stores such as Pick n Pay and Square Mart. The trajectory of growth, according to Malejane, has been so positive that they have grown to supply all Pick n Pay retail stores in Gaborone.
Malejane revealed that to get the company to where it is took a lot of support from local stakeholders such as CEDA to avail funding so that they could kick-start their project.
“Like any start-up, we didn’t have enough capital when we started to fund our initial journey and we had to look towards organisations like CEDA for funding,” she explained.
Talking about their competitive advantage, Malejane said the use of locally sourced fruits as raw ingredients to their succulent yoghurt makes them more appealing and attractive to the local market. This, she says, happens because people resonate with their products as they form part and parcel of what they know and are accustomed to.
“People like our African flavours and they are always showing keen interest in trying out our flavours especially of their favourite African fruits,’’ added Malejane.
She implored all Batswana to continually inform the company on which African indigenous products they love, so that Dream Flavours can continue to tap into their creativity and create more products that people enjoy.