Queen Esther Shares the Journey of “Womaae Foods” on SVTV Africa’s Business Link
Queen Esther is a Ghanaian entrepreneur based in Kumasi, and the CEO of Womaae Foods, a fast-growing food brand known mainly for its shito products. In an interview with DJ Nyaami on SVTV Africa’s Business Link show, she opened up about her business journey, challenges, and lessons learned in the food production industry.
Queen Esther revealed that she started producing shito in large quantities, later expanding into different packaging options, including bottled and sachet shito. She also added a small beauty line as a side hustle to support the business.
According to her, she and her husband jointly decided to go into shito production on a commercial scale. The business has been running for three years, and although it has not been easy due to strong competition, they have remained consistent and resilient.
She explained that bottled shito often spoils when consumers use spoons repeatedly. To solve this problem, Womaae Foods introduced sachet shito, neatly packaged in sealed bags, which improves hygiene and shelf life.
Queen Esther shared one of the most painful moments in her business journey. During a mass production process, all the shito got spoiled, leading to a loss of about GH₵350,000. She explained that the machine used for production had oil contamination, which mixed with the shito and destroyed the entire batch.
At the time, the business was running TV and radio advertisements and had secured many distributors and wholesalers. Unfortunately, all the affected products had to be withdrawn from the market. The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) later invited them for quality control checks, which they complied with at great cost.
She also recounted other challenges, including paying farmers in advance for bags of onions, only for some to disappear with the money. At times, she and her team had to travel deep into farming communities to source raw materials directly from farms.
Initially, the business operated in Accra, but things changed when their landlord saw their advertisements and increased the rent threefold. This forced them to relocate back to Kumasi, where they set up their factory in their own house, converting half of it into a production facility.
Today, Womaae Foods employs about 25 workers, all of whom are paid weekly. Queen Esther warned entrepreneurs to be careful about renting production spaces, as landlords can sometimes disrupt growing businesses.
Womaae Foods now has distributors across various regions in Ghana, and despite the many setbacks, the brand continues to grow steadily.
Queen Esther’s story is a powerful reminder that entrepreneurship is not easy, but with persistence, teamwork, and faith, success is possible.
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