06 Jun 2019

Driven by her creativity and innovation, youth entrepreneur Ms Bonolo Masibe has taken it upon herself to popularise the hitherto shunned and looked down upon sorghum and millet by producing wonder products from them.

The founder and recipe maker of Sorg ‘n’ mileats, said in an interview that millet and sorghum should be part of the healthy eating proponent’s diet, hence her products.

“The idea was to produce something local, we wanted to come up with ways to promote sorghum,” she said.

Ms Masibe said she produces popped sorghum and millet chocos among other millet and sorghum products.

“The right cooking techniques and a good recipe can uplift any ingredient. We can have popped sorghum the same way we do with popped corn,” she said.

Furthermore, she said the only thing that is commonly made out of sorghum is sorghum syrup, which overshadows the fact that just like any other raw products, sorghum can be played around with.

Speaking to BOPA, at the on-going Youth Expo, Ms Masibe’s sister and co-worker, Ms Nonofo Mosime said sorghum is an important cereal in relatively drier tropical regions like Botswana.

She said despite perceptions that sorghum and millet are food of the olden days, chocolate flavored confectionaries made from popped sorghum have high nutritional value and are appealing to children.

“The reason for this lack of awareness about the nutritional benefits, is the not-so-sumptuous taste and the tag of “a poor man’s food,” she said.

Ms Mosime added that being rich does not have to mean excluding sorghum and millet from one’s diet.

She said as children learn from their parents, if they eat healthy, they will also learn to eat healthy.

“Millets were a part of our grandparents’ diet, it is only in the past few decades that consumption has reduced.

We need to embrace the goodness of millets,” she said.

She said that it took them two years to try out recipes and finalise them.

“We would cook and ask people to taste and give us feedback and  we are currently trying some more recipes so that our buyers can have different flavours to choose from.

Ms Masibe, who makes her products from home and sells to individuals, however, hopes to get a place and expand the business. ENDS