By Momodou Jarju
For almost eight years, Aja Musu Bah has laboured in the Gambia’s media fraternity. During this period, she has served as a reporter, news anchor, show host, and a columnist at Foroyaa Media Company. But then, new inspiration dawned on her. A change of heart for a new adventure came calling, and she took it with both hands.
“Life is all about taking risks and boldly overcoming daily challenges. Thus, I now follow the desire of my new aspiration which is being an entrepreneur,” the budding businesswoman said.
American author Napoleon Hill in his “Think and Grow Rich” book did assert that “whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” If Napoleon’s thoughts are anything to go by, then Aja Musu’s unwavering conviction to pursue her desire is a good tee off.
Few months before she quit journalism, Aja Musu had already started producing the products she earmarked for business and selling them. She got positive feedback from customers and never looked back. In February 2023, Musu’s Spice was born: An agro-business brand which processes natural fresh vegetables into finished spicy products. It has since been incorporated under the Companies Act 2013.
Musu’s Spice is also here to unburden the working class women who do not have the time after work to go through the stress of preparing meals for their families.
“Therefore, our products are already made to make cooking easier and faster for the aforesaid individuals,” she affirmed.
Also, it’s Musu’s Spice avid objective to join others to fill the food security gaps in the country. And at the same time improves her clients’ nutrition quality.
The Products
Musu’s Spice products range from pepper sauce, vegetable seasoning powder, garlic and ginger powder, turmeric powder, clove powder, onion powder, beef and chicken seasoning powder, tomato powder and other spicy products.
The young and enterprising CEO of Musu’s Spice disclosed that the aforesaid products don’t contain any artificial preservative element and are equally sugar and gluten free. Plus they come from natural varieties such as raw fresh peppers, ginger, garlic and other aromatics which add appetite, flavour and taste when added into one’s meal.
In a bid to ensure sustainability, Musu’s Spice has established a vegetable garden to substitute the vegetables she buys from the markets.
Current Challenges
Like many ventures, challenges always look far from abating. Financial constraint is one glaring obstacle that Aja Musu pointed out she is grappling with at the moment. The journalist-turned-entrepreneur doesn’t have a shop where her products can be sold. And as a small scale business, paying rent equally poses challenges.
Aja Musu also intends to expand her business. She plans to acquire machines which will enable faster processing of her products. At the moment, she is doing the processing manually.
“The materials use for packaging products is very expensive and whenever they are scarce in the Gambian market, I have to order them from Senegal or Nigeria which is very expensive,” she explained, adding that this often delays the production.
She strongly believes that with financial aid, her business will have the transition it needs and equally become more competitive.
“With financial support, my ideas can be realised, the business will be expanded and that will create employability, hence it will serve as a complementary effort towards the Government’s stand on youth employment,” she said.
Aja Musu is thus calling on the Ministry of Agriculture, NGOs, philanthropists and any Samaritan to help her small scale business to grow.
For any assistance, you can contact Aja Musu on +220 3255745 or send her an email on [email protected]. She can also be followed on her social media handles at Musu’s Spice.
