Mozzarella Cheese

I’ll be updating about the past week’s events soon, but I wanted to talk first about the cheese business because it’s been a focal point of the last few weeks. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the older girls at Malayaka House are developing a ‘cooperative of businesses’ because there is almost no job market in Uganda. Right now we have a craft shop that produces handmade jewelry, aprons, and bags; a pizza restaurant that serves dinner to guests at the house every Tuesday and Thursday; and a mozzarella cheese business.

Jacinta, the oldest girl at Malayaka, has been making her own mozzarella cheese for a few months now. She was taught by an Italian man who lives in Entebbe and owns a popular restaurant. Right now she’s making about 13-20 kilograms of cheese each week, depending on the demand from our clients. On days when she makes it, she gets up at 6:00am and takes two boda bodas (motorcycle taxis) to a nearby farm. At the farm she purchases 70 liters of milk and then transports them home with the help of the boda drivers. Each driver sits with a jug in front of them, and Jacinta also holds one behind the driver. Once she gets back home she works for several hours in her kitchen and usually has about 6.5 kilos of cheese made by noon.

Right now she sells cheese regularly to three clients: Anna’s Corner, a small café; Entebbe Backpacker’s, a nearby hostel; and Boma, a backpacker’s and restaurant. Whenever they call with an order, Namatov, another one of the older girls, delivers the cheese via boda boda. Jacinta also sells 2 kilos of cheese to the pizza business each Tuesday and Thursday as it is used on the pizzas here. Jacinta, Namatov, and Marta, a volunteer, have been visiting local restaurants and trying to find more clients. They’ve been dropping off samples, spreading the word about the Malayaka businesses, and even inviting people to the house for our pizza nights.

Namatov is the bookkeeper for all of the businesses and she’s been keeping detailed balance sheets for months now. When Evan and I first arrived here, we put some money into the businesses, but after just one week of organization the cheese business has been self-sufficient. Every time Jacinta needs to buy milk, the money is taken from the business’ profits, and the balance continues to rise. After working with the girls for the last 4 weeks on this business, they are already eager to expand. They have a system that works well, and we’ve found that there are very few competitors in the area. Rennet, the ingredient that is needed to make mozzarella, isn’t produced in Uganda so the Malayaka House gets it from volunteers that come periodically from Spain. This is somewhat of a nuisance, but we’ve found that it may work to our advantage. Many restaurants that the girls have visited informed them that they currently import their mozzarella from Nairobi, Kenya because they can’t find a local supplier. This is excellent news for Jacinta and Namatov because they can make a good profit on each kilo while still giving these restaurants a much better price than they’re currently paying.

They’ve also found some stores that import mozzarella from Kenya and would be interested in buying from the Malayaka House instead. The issue with this is that we need to find a way to package the cheese effectively. Right now, since they only sell to places that use the cheese for cooking, they haven’t needed to package it. We’ve been researching for the last week, trying to find the appropriate machine that can vacuum seal each kilo or half kilo of cheese, but we’re having trouble. There is so much potential here for this business and, in turn, some job security for these girls as well as the ones that will follow in their footsteps.

I’m hoping that we can continue to help this business grow because it has already proven to be so beneficial for the girls involved. When they come back home after visiting a restaurant or talking to a hostel owner, they are smiling ear to ear and simply overjoyed about the entire experience. The confidence they’re gaining from creating a product that people all over Entebbe enjoy is really inspiring to watch. These two girls are 19 years old, they grew up with the label of ‘orphan’ hanging over their head, and now they are developing skills and a greater sense of self-esteem. Jacinta just came to Malayaka House 18 months ago, she has 2 young children, and her life has been anything but easy, but the pride she has in her work and her ability to talk to clients is absolutely remarkable. In just a short amount of time we’ve all seen tremendous growth in this business, but as we learn from our experiences and develop a better knowledge of packaging and marketing we hope it will expand even more.