Mmammidi Diversifies Products
Spira Tlhankane | Monday August 31, 2020 12:43
After graduating in 2015, Marumo didn’t sit on her talent. But decided to knock on doors selling corn and that’s how she acquired the name Mmammidi, which has also stuck to her business.
“I found selling corn motivating and settled for that. Corn is a seasonal crop so I came with an initiative of cooking traditional Setswana food on Sundays. I started off by calling friends and family to come and buy. With time we grew from just supplying friends to now an establishment as the demand got high,” she said.
Marumo said she cooks a variety of Setswana food from lebelebele, bogobe ba lerotswe to letshotlho and seswaa. Mmammidi also said the challenge is that the catering industry is getting saturated and customers are not increasing in numbers.
The lady who is based in Phase 2, Gaborone further said she used lockdown period to be strong and find other ways of growing her business. “COVID-19 has affected me positively and negatively. I have seen more mileage because I worked online during the lockdown. I was able to give social media marketing a chance and it grew my business,” she said.
She said at first she misused her money and then realised that her business was stagnant so she enrolled in online business courses online. “I invested so much on branding so I always wanted to improve my business. Catering businesses should invest on branding getting their products to people,” she added. Marumo also revealed that she had to change her mindset because there was a stigma that catering was for uneducated people and therefore people shun it. She said she still sold corn, but now she has grown to sell more different products.
“There is pressure that I should open a restaurant. I noticed a niche in the market, people want a normal life so I’m at peace with what I have now. I would like to multiply this going forward,” she said. Marumo said she always communicated with her customers to observe COVID-19 protocols.