Namibia has a new, local and yummy product on the market.
It’s a peanut butter produced in the Olympia suburb of Windhoek by a company with the name Pro NamYum Investment, owned by Natasha Chanakira.
“This peanut butter is produced locally, it’s an organic product,” Chanakira said. “By organic it means it’s natural and no additives added. It’s just peanuts and salt. So it’s healthy and yummy.”
Omutumwa: “You started this company in July, as we know this is the period of Covid-19, companies are closing. But you’re opening, how?”
Chanakira: “I think it’s an opportunity for us as locals to start producing our own food. Corona gives us an opportunity to produce things by our-self as a country.”
Omutumwa: “Why did you name this product ‘NamYum’?”
Chanakira: “‘Nam’ is for Namibia. ‘Yum’ is peanut butter, because peanut butter is ‘yummy’. I wanted a catchy name. (Laughs) The peanut butter is yummy. It’s NamYum, made in Namibia. When you eat it it’s very yummy, it melts in your mouth, hmmm, yummy (laughs).
The company has five people on its payroll and so far they have been supplying on a small scale to members of the public around Windhoek.
“We are ready to supply to the supermarkets as soon as demand has picked up. Right now we are busy doing marketing,” Chanakira said. “So far the market is reacting well. We are getting some sales.
“All I can say is that people should embrace local products. Imagine that during this corona situation the borders were closed so that we couldn’t get food from outside, the situation could have been serious for us.
“This teaches us that producing our own food is the best thing we can do as Namibians.”
In the photo: Natasha Chanakira, the woman behind the NamYum brand.
