Alex Rose-Innes
It comes as no surprise that Vhongani Shumba managed to find a niche in the food market. A marketing and brand manager during the day, her mi butter, turned her into a business developer by night.
The world of flavoured butters is hallowed by cooks as that specific ingredient giving food a unique taste. Night-owl Shumba realised that her women-led company’s product could match the best in the market. Bringing a company to life while working full-time took incredible hard work and tenacity, but this fire brand of a young woman, did not let it deter her and her business had been featured as one of the top new brands at an expo aimed at successful start-ups in Africa.
Mi butter uses herbs, spices, extra virgin oil, roasted garlic and a variety of other flavourings to create a taste enhancing gourmet cooking. While similar products were on the market at the time of the start-up, Shumba decided to add more flavours to her brand and also ensured there was an added incentive for users to reduce the carbon footprint on the planet.
Using recyclable glass bottles, mi butter clients who return their empty bottles receive an amount off their next purchase. Using flavoured butter also saves money as it is not necessary to buy expensive additional spices and herbs as they are already part of the product and makes cooking that much easier. And with a sister boasting many years of experience in microbiology and an MBA, there never had been any doubt that this product would not only meet high customer standards, but would be a successful venture as well.
Mi butter was not Shumba’s first entrepreneurial venture. She had previously started and run a matchmaking business and a placement agency for domestic workers. For her, she says, it is less about the money, but following her passion. She proved that wise sage Confucius true who said “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”
Vongani can be contacted on vhongani@mibutter.co.za
