Dream crystallises in juice bottle
“MUCH ingenuity with a little money is vastly more profitable and amusing than much more money without ingenuity.”
The quote is from renowned English writer — Arnold Bennet — and aptly sums up the journey of a 26-year-old Mutare graduate, a budding entrepreneur who has become a household name after launching a fruit juice that is now competing with established local beverages.
Faith Chimbiko is the brains behind a yummy juice made from boaobab powder that has become a sensation, particularly in Mutare, where it is currently manufactured and distributed.
“It’s humbling to realise that my efforts, determination and courage to launch a product when everyone else did not deem it possible have finally been rewarded,” said Faith in an interview recently.
The succulent fruit juice, Snack Attack Baobab juice, launched in August 2016, under the Kafay Mimshack label, is not only a tasty beverage borne out of passion, but also sums up the journey that Faith undertook to make her dream a reality.
From an inquisitive youth with nothing to hinge her aspirations on except an idea, Faith has distinguished herself as a visionary determined to make history as one of the few emerging young entrepreneurs.
A graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Venda in South Africa, Faith joins the rank of several graduates who are not looking up to the Government to create employment, but are pioneering in assisting their peers to get jobs.
Working with a team of four youths, including her long-time friend Liberty Chimonyo, Faith has launched a discernible brand while living her dream as a food connoisseur, something she had always wanted to do.
“The fruit juice was made out of love.”
With no single cent in her pocket, but buoyed by a passion to crystallise her childhood dreams of becoming a food connoisseur, sometime in 2016, Faith decided to experiment with several ingredients at home, while waiting to enrol for a Master’s programme. While she was rummaging through the kitchen cabinet, it dawned on her that she could experiment with the available ingredients and create something palatable enough to eat, and better still to drink.
Boasting a solid background in food science, where she had executed herself as a food enthusiast during her student days at the University of Venda and her subsequent internship, even winning an award for a dessert she created, Faith was not a novice in the food industry.
Her experiment eventually paid off when she made a crunchy, yummy juice from several ingredients, among them the baobab powder.
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